WAES endorses Burmaster’s
budget
Partners in the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools
(WAES) have endorsed State Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth
Burmaster’s 2007-09 budget proposal that asks for an
increase in public education spending of over $600 million,
calling it “a recognition that schools are inadequately
funded and that the funding system itself doesn’t work
for all the children of the state.”
Citing “a rising inequity in educational opportunity
for our children,” Burmaster criticized the present
school-finance system. “Public education in Wisconsin
is threatened,” she said bluntly.
Burmaster said rising costs, increasing poverty, and, “most
of all, revenue caps are limiting our ability to offer all
children the same educational opportunities … Increasingly,
it does matter where you live in our state as to the education
opportunities your child receives.”
The elected head of the Department of Public Instruction
(DPI) made her comments in the annual state-of-education assessment
before the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators
in Madison. She spoke in the Capitol Rotunda.
“The State Superintendent put politics aside and gave
an accurate appraisal of the problems communities, schools,
parents, and children face,” said WAES spokesperson
Jay Mitchell, superintendent of the Superior School District.
“Teachers are being laid off, class sizes are increasing,
programs and services are being cut. Many children are already
losing their shot at a successful future, and, unless we do
something, many more will suffer.”
Mitchell said, “Superintendent Burmaster recognizes
that harsh reality and has proposed a budget that begins to
put a broken system back together.”
Seeking to “lessen the threat to equity in educational
opportunities for students across our state,” Burmaster
started Wisconsin on the road to adequate funding by continuing
two-thirds funding through an additional $422 million in general
school aids, sizeable increases in existing categorical aid
programs, and the addition of several new programs. Total
state aid for education would grow $662 million during the
’07-’09 biennium under her proposal.
Burmaster said that Wisconsin’s schools are at a crossroads
and it is time to recognize that “the single best investment
we can make is in our children.” She said, “Those
who continue to lead people to believe that public education
costs too much must be called to answer, ‘What is the
cost of failing to prepare every child for the 21st century?’”
In addition to calling for maintaining the state’s
commitment to two-thirds funding of education costs, the State
Superintendent’s budget proposal includes:
-
$26.5 million to help between 170 and 190 small, rural
schools where poverty is a factor. This new program applies
to school districts with fewer than 2,000 students with
a poverty rate of at least 20 percent and with under 15
children per square mile. Burmaster offered this plan
in her last budget, but it didn’t make the final
document. According to a DPI spokesperson, this piece
of the budget “recognizes that small, rural schools
are the lifeblood of their communities.”
-
$75 million increase (over the biennium) in special
education funding.
-
More revenue is also included to fund school district’s
transportation costs. Although this categorical aid applies
to all districts, it is vitally important to small districts
in rural areas. There is an increase from $180 to $220
per student reimbursement for those transported over 12
miles. Additionally, the DPI budget refunds to school
districts the 31-cent motor fuel tax.
-
$364,000 increase for middle school gifted and talented
program grants, doubling the current expenditure.
-
$3 million increase for bilingual programs in schools
that already meet the student threshold and another $6.2
million to go to school districts that offer bilingual
programs (about 200) but don’t meet the threshold.
-
$21 million to fund the SAGE program for smaller class
sizes according to current law which provides a per-student
increase to $2,250.
-
An additional $1.8 million in a health initiative to
address the shortage of school nurses.
-
An adjustment in state support of the Milwaukee voucher
program, relieving Milwaukee property taxpayers of almost
$27 million in taxes.
-
Increases in the low-revenue ceiling from $8,400 to
$8,700 in the first year and to $9,000 in the second.
-
A proposal to increase the current 75 percent hold-harmless
for declining enrollment districts (60 percent of the
districts in Wisconsin) to 100 percent, and a provision
to guarantee that no district receives a lower revenue
limit authority than it did in the preceding year.
The State Superintendent’s budget also includes incentives
for master teachers to work in high-poverty schools; new revenue
for K-5 programs in Milwaukee, Beloit, Racine, and Kenosha;
nutrition and milk programs in public and private schools;
transportation for open enrollment students; after school
grants; community-based 4-K programs; and other programs and
services. The entire budget and the Superintendent’s
address can be found at the DPI
website.
Virginia Wyss, WAES partner and former Janesville School
Board president, said, “Those who understand what has
happened to public schools and public school students during
13 years of revenue limits owe the State Superintendent a
debt of gratitude. She recognizes the significant need of
our schools if we want to prepare our young people for the
future.”
“We need to stand behind her efforts,” Wyss said.
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