“I am here to represent the Highest Return on Taxpayer Investment School District in the State of Wisconsin,” Neitzke said. “West Bend is a model school district for responsible spending. We are AA rated and are the lowest-spending school district of our size in the State of Wisconsin. We are nationally recognized, we have high ACT scores, deep programming and are recognized by the College Boards for our Advanced Placement offerings.”

Neitzke asked the Joint Finance Committee to look seriously at responsible low-spending school districts like West Bend and provide the supportive tools needed to continue success for students. “We’re proud of our frugal reputation, we’re proud of our student achievement and we ask that you take the necessary steps to support responsible school districts like ours so that we don’t have to further reduce spending,” he said. “I ask that you look to make other school districts operate with the efficiencies we’ve discovered who spend more than $9,100/student before you ask us to spend less. Please find ways to reward the districts that have demonstrated responsibility. Find ways to give local school boards more flexibility, and find ways to allow fiscally responsible districts like West Bend to maintain their programs for students like we have.”

The bill, authored by Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, and Rep. Andre Jacque, R-Bellevue, would offer parents of first and ninth graders enrolling in parochial and private schools a non-refundable tax credit of $1,500 and $2,500 per student, respectively. The tax credits would be extended to second and 10th graders the following year, with additional grades added every subsequent year until all students are covered by 2021.

“With the government already subsidizing private education by up to $6,500 per year for Milwaukee residents, the proposal would offer assistance, albeit a lesser amount, for outstate parents who want an alternative to the public school for their children,” Grothman said.

Grothman said the proposal would save money because every time a person goes to a private school instead of a public school it saves the state around $10,000 a person.

He also said the bill would allow parents upset with their current school system another option.

“Whether their concerns are Wisconsin’s declining test scores, a radical new sex education program pushed through the Legislature last year or public school teachers proselytizing a liberal political agenda in their schools, it is unfair not to provide a little assistance to independent-minded parents,” Grothman said.

Grothman is proposing this tax credit when our state budget deficit is billions of dollars and with the proposed spending cuts of over $500 per public school student (that he supports).  Our own district is looking at $3 million in cuts largely because of the budget proposal. So in this current situation of drastic education cuts throughout the state, how exactly does it make sense to be helping fund private schools? If there is this kind of money to give as a tax credit for private schools, then why isn’t it being used to help fund public education and reduce the proposed spending cuts?

It was a bittersweet victory for incumbent Todd Miller Tuesday when he was re-elected to a second term on the West Bend School Board.

Miller and two of the other four School Board candidates, Mark Maley and Rick Parks, formed an alliance midcampaign and hoped to serve on the School Board together.

But that was not to be.

Miller received 6,866 votes or 21 percent, followed by Parks with 6,188 votes or 19 percent. Coming in third – and earning a spot on the board – was Bart Williams with 5,646 votes or 18 percent. Maley received 5,386 votes or 17 percent, Doug Rakowski, 4,721 votes or 15 percent, and Susan Kornemann Hansen, who dropped out of the race in February, received 3,094 votes or 10 percent.

“I am very disappointed,” Miller said.

The reductions, which include effectively 27 teaching positions and 14 coaches, bring the total number of staff eliminated since the 2008-09 school year to 72 teachers and 23 coaches. The district currently has 552 teachers.

    “There is no one on the leadership team who takes this lightly,” said Superintendent Patricia Herdrich. “When facing reductions, challenging decisions have to be made. … It’s not desired, it’s because of the current state we are in.”

    The financial hardship the district is facing is the result of a combination of factors, among them a stateimposed revenue limit that does not increase with the pace of district expenses.

    “Think of revenue limits as a household income,” Herdrich said. “If your healthcare costs exceed your (income) you have to bring another portion of the household budget down.”

    Factors that drive the district’s budget increases include utilities and energy costs, salary adjustments, special education services, fuel and transportation, and open enrollment — students who live in the district who attend school outside of it.

    The preliminary budget assumes increases of 4.6 percent in utilities and telephone service and 2.5 percent in transportation.

    Compounding matters, the district will be receiving $513 less in state aid per student than last year.

The district will be able to shift about half of the impact of the $6 million in reductions to employees, through Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill. The remaining $3 million is coming from reductions in departmental budgets, staff and, in some cases, opportunities to students. The diving program, for example, is being completely eliminated at the high school level because participation is low.

This previous article further outlines the positions to be cut and which coaching positions are involved. It includes the last elementary librarian, a middle school librarian, 4 elementary teachers, 6 middle school teachers and 8 high school teachers.

 Senator Glenn Grothman had this to say a few weeks ago: “As for the cuts to school aid, Grothman said area districts have no reason to panic. “I’ve been led to believe Gov. Walker made special provisions to take care of low-spending districts like West Bend,” he said. We’d like to know where those special provisions are and why a low spending district fiscally responsible district like West Bend is having to cut $3 million dollars while other wealthier and higher spending school districts are in many cases having to cut very little, if at all.

In other news, the district is further exploring the starting up of charter schools within the district which may help make up for funding lost thru declining open enrollment:

In an effort to retain approximately 100 students who transfer to virtual schools, taking with them about $6,800 in per-student revenues, West Bend will be launching its own online academy in fall, Neitzke said.

    This summer and fall, the district will also be exploring three types of charter schools – a projectbased program, a blend of virtual and traditional schooling and a charter school at the elementary level.

    In November, School Board members voted down a proposed charter school that would have operated independently of the district but required district funding. Neitzke said charters being explored would be administered by the district.

Bart Williams says he served an elected term on New Berlin’s School Board, “which led a very comparable district.” He doesn’t say it was a oneyear term. The districts are not comparable. New Berlin has less than 4,800 students; West Bend 7,000. Superintendent Kreutzer told me New Berlin’s per pupil expenditure is $13,000. West Bend’s is $10,700. West Bend has more kids and less money.

    William’s says, “We funded a new elementary school within the budget.” What he doesn’t say is that New Berlin’s fund balance dropped to 3 percent, triggering a letter from Moody’s concerning dropping their bond rating; $4.7 million is drained annually from their operating budget to retire non-referendum incurred debt. This wouldn’t be fiscally possible in West Bend.

    A West Bend District open records request revealed e-mails in which Williams assaulted people’s character, ethics and professionalism. “you-Mr. Hillman-deliberately try to alter the truth.” “Ms Herdrich: This speaks directly to your character, which we find totally unacceptable” “made false written representations,” “didn’t fulfill her ethical and professional responsibilities” “Mr. Carlson refuses to take personal responsibility for his actions.”

    Williams scorns the determinations of the district’s legal counsel: “inherently biased,” “provably faulty,” “unacceptable and non-fact-based,” “flawed analysis and unproven and/or irrelevant conclusions.”

    Williams filed a series of complaints against the district on topics such as a community survey, what was not on the district’s web site, politics in the schools, distribution of flyers on school property as well as various accusations against Joe Carlson and Dr. Herdrich. These complaints were found to have no legal merit but required responses that cost the district more than $5,000 in legal fees.

    Mr. Williams has displayed a consistently demeaning and belligerent attitude toward members of the School Board and administration. He is confrontational, nontransparent and misleading.

    Kathleen Meindl West Bend

 Update: Williams has added a website here.

Another area where opinions diverged was whether an operating referendum should be considered in the next two years.

    Rakowski and Williams were strongly opposed. Maley was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Miller and Parks said it should at least be considered.

    “I cannot speak for two years but I can speak for this year,” Rakowski said. “We do not need it this year. We have monies available. If we control our spending we can keep teachers in the classroom.”

    Williams proposed a oneyear tax increase moratorium on any type of referenda.

    “The reason I say that is the Badger Middle School referendum barely squeaked by by less than 1 percent,” he said. “It’s there but we are paying for the bonds for the next 18 years. We need to give the taxpayers a break and let the economic recovery take hold and not threaten that with another excuse to raise taxes.”

    The board will have to at least pose the question, Maley said.

    “It should be up to the public to decide how much they are willing to pay for an education that looks significantly different than what they experienced in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s,” he said.

    “I am just not sure how we will fill the hole,” Parks said. “We may at least have to put the idea in front of the voters.”

    If the board did push for an operating referendum, Miller said he didn’t think it would pass “in this economic climate and in this community.”

    “I would hope it would,” he said. “Because the fact that an operational referendum would be initiated and pass would tell me that this community strongly believes in their school system.”

One part of the interview that could have been made more clear was the candidates’ feelings on charter schools:

All agreed that starting a charter school in the district is a good idea, that West Bend students are prepared for college success and career training and that the district is on the right track to addressing facility concerns.

While they all said they support a charter school in West Bend, there is a big difference between a non-instrumentality charter (such as the Crossroads Academy proposal) and the instrumentality type of charter that the District Administration supports. It would be interesting to know where all  the candidates stand on the previous charter school proposal by Crossroads Academy. Most of the candidates had spoken out publicly against Crossroads, but we are unsure of William’s opinion on it.

You can watch a short video clip from each candidate where they expand on their vision for the School District here.  In addition,  the West Bend Chamber of Commerce is hosting a candidate forum (which includes those in the mayoral and aldermanic races) on March 22at 6 p.m. at the City Hall in the Common Council Chambers.

 After much consideration, I am announcing my withdrawal as candidate for one of the three open seats on the West Bend School Board. At this point, personal reasons will not allow me to give all the required dedication and the needed amount of personal time.

Thank you to all my wonderful friends and supporters; I would like to encourage them to extend their trust in me and vote for Todd Miller, Mark Maley and Rick Parks. I am confident that these three candidates have the best interest of our children, the West Bend School District, and community in mind. Our School District is facing difficult challenging decisions and we need Board Members that will find solutions to problems, rather than following a personal agenda.

Again thanks to all my supporters, friends and family and please do exercise your right tovote on April 5th….!

Susan Kornemann Hansen, West Bend

 

Like Susan, we are also giving our support to Miller, Maley and Parks.  We believe they are the candidates best equipped to handle to very tough budget challenges ahead.  They all have a history of supporting public education in West Bend with their time, efforts and words. 

If you will be out of town for the April 5th elections, strongly consider voting with absentee ballot. This article from last year has directions for where to get your ballot, addresses, etc (ignore the dates!).

This article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel discusses details about the budget proposal. More details about the proposal can be found on the school district website front page, under “budget update”.

In recent years, school districts have had revenue cap increases of about $200/pupil which was a decrease from earlier in the decade. Despite allowing increased spending each year, the revenue caps were usually not enough for most districts to keep up with rising costs and this has resulted in programming cuts and staff reductions year after year.  The new revenue cap decrease along with the significantly reduced state aid is a double whammy.  The per pupil revenue loss is different for each district and is estimated to be $517/pupil for the West Bend School District. This article from the Journal Sentinel further explains the scenarios and has a short interview with West Bend School District Administrator Dr Pat Herdrich:

In setting the revenue limit decrease at a percentage instead of a dollar amount, Walker also ensured that lower revenue districts would not lose a greater percentage of revenue than wealthier districts, instead creating a range of losses linked to district spending.

According to information from the state Department of Public Instruction, the 5.5% revenue cap reduction would lead to losses that range from about $517 per student in the Mukwonago, Slinger and West Bend school district to $874 less per pupil in the Nicolet Union High School District. Milwaukee Public Schools is set to lose an amount near the state average: $556 per pupil.

The average per pupil cut in the four-county Milwaukee area is $599. Though her school system is losing less than that, West Bend School District Superintendent Patricia Herdrich said it also has less to lose than others.

“Obviously, because we’re a lower revenue district, we’ve already made significant cuts,” she said.

Even with the governor’s plan to have public employees pay 12% of their health care and 5.8% of their salaries toward their pension costs, Herdrich said her district still would likely come up nearly $4 million short.

“To take that hit programmatically, the impact is going to be significant for us if it plays out the way it’s going to.”

The changes to collective bargaining and increased contributions by teachers toward healthcare and pension are supposed to soften the blow, but the blow will still likely be huge.  It is sounding like West Bend could be looking at reductions in the $3-4 million range, even after the provisions in the budget repair bill. However these numbers are still in flux and dependant on many variables.  From the March 2 Daily News:

Since 1993, the state’s property tax limits have gradually risen to reflect increasing costs, and reducing them makes it more difficult for schools to make up the lost money.

    “It’s essentially a double cut,” said West Bend School District Superintendent Patricia Herdrich. “There is a reduction in state aid of $500 per pupil and no ability to off-set the cost.”

    Herdrich said in West Bend, the district could need to make as much as $6 million in programming reductions.

    Districts would have more flexibility to react to the cuts, Walker said, if his budget repair bill eliminating most collective bargaining is passed.

    In the West Bend School District, that would free up about $2.9 million.

    Over the next several days, school officials will be working to get a better grasp on how exactly the individual districts will be impacted by the budget.

There will be budget presentations on the following dates to the School Board and any community that wants to attend:

Several of the candidates have facebook pages or websites with information about their vision for the District and/or questionairres they have answered:

Susan Kornemann Hansen’s  facebook page and her website here

Mark Maley’s facebook page and his blog here

Rick Park’s facebook page and his website here

Update: in late March, Bart Williams added a website here

Recently the Daily News posted answers from two questions from each of the candidates. An excerpt is below, but read the entire article here.

Q: Do you have ideas the about what the district could do to improve its financial situation or enhance program offerings?

    Kornemann Hansen: Realistically, I was thinking it would take six months for me to get a real grasp on the situation. It is such a huge dynamic of circumstances. You’re dealing with the students, the curriculum, the employees and staff issues, the buildings, the community, the taxpayers, so it isn’t just “boom” we are cutting physical education and so be it . There has to be balance. Complicating things are the reductions at the state level. How do you cut $2 million from the budget, year after year for the foreseeable future when your belt is already so tight? Washington County really votes with their wallets closed and this shortsightedness is going to start showing. We get a really good education on a really small dime, even Rep. Pat Strachota said that. But I don’t know how long we are going to be able to maintain that.

    Maley: I am in favor of virtual programming/ virtual schools. I believe we need to ramp up our virtual program, or find someone who can ramp up our virtual education program or dismiss it. We currently have virtual programming in physical education. That is the last subject we should have offered virtually, since many of those students got into virtual PE in order to get out of actual PE. Those students often fail virtual PE and have to take a real PE class over. This is a program with promise but it needs to be brought to fruition in the next six months.

Miller: Other than cut there isn’t really anything else the district can do. Unfunded mandates from the state are not helping us at all. Our hands are tied on a lot of areas that people in the general public aren’t going to know about. I hear constantly “pay the teachers less,” or “make them pay more for benefits.” It’s not that easy. I served on the negotiations committee for the last contract and that was an eye-opener. Certain things we have to bargain. I’ve heard this in the community too: “just go to arbitration.” The problem with arbitration is when an arbitrator uses comparables, they don’t use comparables from the private sector. They will compare our wage offer and our benefits offer to Slinger, Kewaskum, Elmbrook and other school districts. That’s no help to us either. Our teachers took a pay freeze in the first year (2009) and there were other districts that did that but if we had gone to arbitration we would have never got that.

    Parks: I am mainly interested in finding ways to help balance the budget and preserve as much as we can, or, the business side of the district. There is an awful lot that a candidate for the school board doesn’t know going in and from my standpoint I really don’t know the gory details of collective bargaining agreements, I certainly don’t know chapter and verse of the DPI regulations that one has to adhere to and I think it’s important that you learn the environment and listen to the community, as well. It’s hard to say how you will address certain issues the only safe bet is that you will have to.

    Pheng: We need to have an adult discussion. I had a boss in the military who told me about the rucksack principal. He said, when you go on a mission, if you give a soldier a big rucksack, he is gonna fill it up. He will bring a lot of stuff that may or may not be necessary. The bigger the rucksack, the more stuff you put in it, the heavier it is, the more tired you get. He said give them a small rucksack because you have got to really really think about what you need to put in it or what the military calls “Mission essential.” When you have a smaller backpack, you can move faster, you don’t get as tired and you are more effective. Does that step on a lot of people’s toes? Yes. Instead of making a rucksack big and carrying everything they think they’ll need — make it small and force them to think about what they really need.

    Rakowski: Instead of just saying, “here’s my thought we should do this,” it would have to be worked out with the school board. And the board has to agree on which way to go. I am running because I feel that I would have input that would help guide the board. You can compare it to my work in industry. I might come up with an idea for reducing costs. You could come up with an idea for reducing costs but we might find out that neither one of them can be implemented or we would implement yours and not mine for other reasons that you and I would not initially see in how we feel the costs should be cut. But the goal was that we would cut costs.

    Williams: Private-public partnership could hold down taxes and allow the community to be more involved because now they have contributed to this piece of school and they will be more interested and invested in the success of it. There are lots of opportunities to do that here in West Bend.

A candidate forum was held Feb 8 and Daily News coverage is here. We will update with times it will be replayed on the local cable access channel.

Update: A podcast is available on the city website to watch the candidate forum online. Click on “Chamber of Commerce Forum”.

Not This Charter School, Not At This Time

Proposal Misses on Timing, Curriculum and Finances

Four members of the West Bend School Board made a common sense decision not enter into contract negotiations with Pastor Bruce Dunford of the First Baptist Church for Crossroads Academy, a proposed noninstrumentality charter school. Tim Stepanski, Randy Marquardt and Dave Weigand stumbled in their responsibilities as board members.

    If negotiations had been approved, it is possible that the lowest-spending district in Wisconsin would be funding the state’s most expensive charter school. There were clear and compelling reasons for voting against the negotiations. They largely boil down to money.

    1. Crossroads would be expensive. Under a plausible enrollment scenario for 100 students reviewed by the board, Crossroads would cost $7,701 per student and be one of the highest in Wisconsin. Only Milwaukee Public Schools’ noninstrumentality charter schools are higher at $7,775. Pastor Dunford agreed with the financial projections. In contrast, the full cost at Barton Elementary is $7,242 per student.

    2. There was an ongoing net cost to the district. While revenue limits continue to drive program reductions and higher class sizes, Crossroads would be another ongoing drain on district resources. Pastor Dunford did not challenge this fact.

    3. The proposed curriculum offered nothing innovative. During the 90-minute work session, Pastor Dunford offered little difference between the Crossroads’ curriculum and the West Bend School District’s, other than “the amount of emphasis to be placed on the founding historical roots, the history of Western civilization.”

    4. The proposed curriculum was not complete and did not reflect state law. It included no world language, no art, no music and no special education. The administration demonstrated the curriculum was incomplete and Pastor Dunford did not dispute this conclusion. School Board members would have been irresponsible to enter into negotiations without knowing what they were buying. Writing curriculum acceptability as a contingency clause in a final contract to address this concern, as suggested by Pastor Dunford, should not be an acceptable alternative.

    5. Starting negotiations would cost money now. The board would have committed to spending tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to negotiate a multi-year contract for which the curriculum and full costs are unknown.

    6. The proposal was being rushed. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has a recommended plan exceeding two years for starting a new charter school, including a grant process for a full year of research and curriculum development. Pastor Dunford was trying to get this done in months. None of the parties involved, including School Board members, could responsibly do their due diligence on this accelerated timeline.

    Two board members who claim to be fiscal conservatives are prepared to spend money negotiating a school contract without knowing what would be taught or if it offered significant educational advantages over what is available in West Bend today. Stepanski previously vowed in the West Bend Daily News: “If it’s going to hurt the district I will not support it.” Yet despite the negative financial projections, he too voted for it.

    It is ironic that three board members who continually indict the West Bend School District for spending too many taxpayer dollars now support a high cost charter school. While calling for ever greater accountability from the district, they are willing to turn control of more than $700,000 of taxpayer money to Pastor Dunford. This willingness comes at the expense of further program reductions and higher class sizes for the 7,000 students they are responsible for.

    Pastor Dunford deserves credit for starting a conversation. Charter schools may, and perhaps should, have a place in West Bend. But not this one at this time. Taxpayers, educators and students deserve leadership from all board members on this issue.