Funding reform forum brings out 100 in Ashland

Jack Norman, research director with the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future and staffer with WAES, talked with over 100 people in Ashland, Nov. 30, about school-funding problems that are affecting children all over the state.

Over 100 people meeting in Ashland, Nov. 30, sent a message to Governor Jim Doyle that it’s time to put the needs of public school children at the top of the state’s priority list.

The message was in the form of a postcard asking the Governor to increase school aid in his 2005-07 budget because, “If we really care about our children and our futures, then we need to do the right thing and we need you to lead the way.”

Specifically, Gov. Doyle is being asked to include in his 2005-07 budget five recommendations from Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster and his own Task Force on Educational Excellence.

This message was the outcome of a public forum at the Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center that was co-sponsored by the Ashland and Bayfield County League of Women Voters, Building Connections in Special Education/ARC of the Northwoods, CESA 12 school districts, and WAES.

According to an article in the (Ashland) Daily Press, an additional outcome of the forum was a group of area voters who will visit with Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) and Reps. Gary Sherman (D-Port Wing) and Frank Boyle (D-Superior) to ask them to talk with the governor about increasing state aid to schools in the upcoming budget.

Ashland’s forum was the first in a series to be held around the state. The first was held in Milwaukee on Nov. 17, and the next event will be in West Allis on Dec. 13. Others are planned in the Janesville/Beloit and Kenosha/Racine areas, Dane County (Monona Grove), the Eau Claire area, Stevens Point, Columbus, Appleton, and the Niagara/Florence area.

Severe challenges face northern school districts

Panelists discussing the challenges faced by schools and children because of the state’s funding system were (left to right) Sheila Schulz, board member and parent from Ashland; Christina Kintop, board member and parent from Superior; Henry Lamkin, district administrator in Drummond; Sandy Raspotnik, teacher from Washburn; and Gayle Gonsior, parent and board member from South Shore

The forum began with a panel of teachers, parents, district administrators, and school board members discussing with the crowd the serious problems faced by CESA 12 school districts due to the state’s funding formula.

Ashland School Board vice-president Sheila Schulz said that 46 percent of students are low income, but instead of offering needed programs to help them, her board was forced to cut $250,000 from its current budget, ranging from Saturday recreation to textbooks. She said that despite everything, the district still had to resort to charging fees for extra-curricular activities.

“The current funding system, Schulz said, “is just a road block to our success.”

Panel members also included Gayle Gonsior, parent and school board member in South Shore; Sandy Raspotnik, a Washburn teacher; Christina Kintop, a parent and board member from Superior; and Drummond superintendent Henry Lamkin.

Then, Jack Norman, research director for the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF) and WAES staffer, told the group about the serious and worsening fiscal problems facing school districts from CESA 12 in the northwest to Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha in the southeast, and everything in between.

He also talked about the solution offered by an Adequacy model of funding reform and the roadblocks to reform thrown up by some members of the Legislature.

Following Norman’s presentation, a second panel talked about the possibility of short-term help for children and schools and, in the long-run, reform of the funding process. Superior Superintendent Jay Mitchell urged those in attendance to sign the postcard asking the governor for increased revenue. It won’t solve the problems, he said, but it will help us to survive

One of the organizations hosting the school-funding reform forum in Ashland was the Ashland and Bayfield County League of Women Voters. Pictured is League President Jo Bailey welcoming the crowd of over 100.

The recommendations referred to on the postcard include:

• Increased revenues for programs for children who have English language difficulties
• Additional aid for services and programs for children from poverty
• Transportation aid changes aimed at children in small, rural school districts
• A “cost-out” study to determine what a quality education costs in Wisconsin

Looking at the long-term hope for change, the discussion focused mostly on changing attitudes about public education, especially among legislators, who make spending decisions, and community members, who pay taxes.

In addition to Mitchell, members of the second panel were Brian Pahnke, assistant state superintendent for the Division of Finance and Management; Kathleen Adee, Washburn teacher and member of the Governor’s Task Force on Educational Excellence; Dr. Hilary Pollack, professor of reading at Northland College; Mark Jansen, administrator of the Bayfield School District; and Ken Kasinski, administrator of the Ashland School District.

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