SubscribeState Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers has a new proposal for school finance reform. The proposal largely is based on repealing the school levy credit and putting that money into state equalization aid instead. It also focuses on giving more state aid to districts with a larger percentage of low income students and guaranteeing [...]
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Tag: West Bend School District
Legislative Agenda- WBSD Asks For Relief
Dr Pat Herdrich, Superintendent of West Bend Schools, and the leadership team presented a summary to the School Board at the June 21 meeting of their requests and recommendations to the State Legislature. The document included discussion of the negative impact of the School Levy credit on school funding and the unsustainability of the revenue [...]
Preliminary Budget Passed By School Board
The West Bend School Board voted to pass the preliminary budget for 2010-11 school year:
West Bend School Board members approved a $77,398,235 preliminary budget for the 2010-11 school year Monday night in a 6-1 vote.
Dave Weigand was opposed.
“Part of my concern (with the preliminary budget) is that it is based on the supposition that we [...]
West Bend Teacher Contracts Approved
The West Bend School Board unanimously approved the tentative contract agreement with the teachers for the next 2 years, avoiding the arbitration process. Concessions on the part of the teachers will mean that some of the proposed cuts will be postponed for at least one more year:
The West Bend School Board approved a tentative agreement between the West [...]
Re-Post of West Bend School Board Questionairre
We are re-posting the previous post with the School Board candidate questionairre below, with only the 4 winners of the primary listed:
A questionnaire was sent to all West Bend School Board candidates and their answers are published below. Each response has been published in full, adhering to our word limits. The purpose of this questionnaire [...]
An Explanation of the Levy Credit
During discussions about school funding in Wisconsin, the topic of the school levy credit is frequently mentioned. It was brought up recently in Dr Herdrich’s letter to Senator Glenn Grothman. Relatively recent changes with the levy credit at the State level has decreased the amount of State aid West Bend and many other districts receive. Your [...]
West Bend Chamber of Commerce Offers Opinion
The West Bend Chamber of Commerce had a Guestview piece in the March 23 Daily News regarding the School Board election and the difficulties our School District is facing. An excerpt here:
As business owners we are by nature fiscally conservative, but we recognize the need to prudently reinvest in our local infrastructure, especially our school [...]
Results From Focus Groups
Some common themes emerged from the focus groups at the March 22 School Board meeting. All of the individual and group feedback can be found on the District website here. Daily News coverage here:
Class sizes were the number one area of concern, Neitzke said, with “strong advocacy” for preserving the gifted and talented programs and [...]
School Board Budget Meeting & Public Focus Groups
The West Bend School Board meeting March 22 focused on trying to explain to the public in everyday language the reasons for the budget problems in West Bend. Ted Neitzke, assistant superintendent, used a fictitious family to “tell the story” of what has been happening in West Bend with education over the years between 2003, [...]
Letter to Senator Grothman
Dr. Herdrich wrote the following letter to Senator Glenn Grothman in response to comments he made at a legislative breakfast. Parts of the letter are also directed at Representative Pat Strachota. There is a lot of passion in the local debate regarding the best way to address the financial problems the district is facing. It appears [...]