And You Think OUR School Board has Brass Ones?

Come on!  Really?!?
Are you people nuts?
We all know that EVERY school district has a Phil who has his/her own pair of "our dough" pants.  Every school district budget has a pork-based foundation.  Let';s not forget how the evil Sun Prairie electors cut their school tax levy to the bone in 2009 ....only to find that the district STILL had a $1.3 MILLION dollar surplus.

Here's hoping that SOME brave group of DeForestonians stands up and cries "bullspit!".  ANYONE could easily make a case that the DeForest school board is grossly overstepping its authority.
The state of education is NOT going to progress here or anywhere until school districts across the land wake up and smell the coffee.
Of course, what's more infuriating is that the newspaper article itself appears to applaud the tactics of the school board, by stating that,

" The school board is authorized by state law to levy the amount of money they believe is needed to operate the schools. The vote by the electors at the annual meeting was only advisory."

You MIGHT want to read that statute a little more closely.  First mistake was suggesting that the vote of the electors is "advisory"!  Advisory? Really?!? REALLY?  We don't think so.

Read the article.

It's not WHAT they do so much as HOW they do it

Thanks to Chamber of Commerce president Pete Simon,the school district now will fit into a new channel set aside for education, and the chamber membership dues would be a flat rate of $400.  That's a far cry from the $1300 fee that had been imposed on the school district as "just another business".

While it is a logical and sensible move for a school district  and partner with its local chamber of commerce, and just as logical that a school district be operated AS IF IT WERE a small/medium/large business, a school district is NOT a private business.  School districts are an arm of local government and are supported by state and local taxes.  Chambers of commerce serve to support the local business membership.  There are plenty of avenues available to "promote" local school districts without the need for a Chamber to promote them.  Essentially, a chamber of commerce benefits far more from having a school district be a member/partner than a school district does.  And that is why charging $1,300 per year for the Sun Prairie Area School District to be a member of the Sun Prairie Chamber of Commerce was ludicrous.  Thanks to Pete Simon, the chamber has come to its senses.

How do we pay this $400 membership?

The school board started off with good news: Sun Prairie actually received $321,327 more in state aid than was originally projected at the annual meeting.  That means the tax levy could be lowered by the same amount. Emphasis on could.  Deputy District Administrator of Business Operations Phil Frei indicated that two options were available to the board:

(A) raise the tax levy by $400; or 

(B) cut $400 from another area in the budget.

Which do you suppose they chose?

Enter "Nickle and Dimin' Jim"

Not to be confused with Diamond Jim Brady, old Nickle and Dimin' Jim McCourt (formerly known as Seabass) made a motion to take the $400 out of the tax levy instead of instructing administration to find somewhere in Phil's "Our Dough" pants from whence the $400 could come.

Are you kidding us?

(channelling our best imitation of "Really!?! with Seth and Amy here")

Really?

REALLY, Jim?

Are you that guy that charges a pack of gum to his credit card?  Really?

You pissed and moaned about establishing what amounted to be a very insignificant --and ridiculuous-- charge to teachers for a "Personal Appliance Fee" but leap to lay another $400 on the taxpayers here?  REALLY?

Really.  You reduce the tax levy by $320,000 only to tack back on another 400?  Really?

So you actually ADDED a whopping $400 to a 45.5 MILLION dollar tax levy? Really?

The school district budget is well over $72 MILLION dollars and SOMEWHERE in there you couldn't come up with FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS? Really? Really!

What were you thinking? 

And let's not forget that it was none other than that tax cutting machine Caren Diedrich that seconded your silly ass motion to add the $400 to the tax levy.   

And the whole freakin' board --save John Welke who had the sense to be ill and not be a part of this nonsense---voted unanimously to support the Dimin' Jim / Nicklin' Diedrich move.

Way to screw up a really well done job up to that point!

Back to the Good News

So...subtracting $321,327 to the original tax levy approved by electors on 10/11/10 and then ADDING BACK $400.00 brings us to a final levy of $45,503,644.  The new projected mill rate winds up at $12.12.

We're baaaaaack

SP-EYE is coming off a much needed hiatus.
With the budget and tax levy in the can, it's time to refocus our efforts on other things that have been relegated to back-burner status.

Things to come:

• final housekeeping on the tax levy
• update on the Chamber of Commerce membership
• how did other districts fare in their annual meetings?
• how's that retirement incentive going?
• how's the Local 60 negotiation coming?  Using the screwdriver are we?
• many other melon tweaking issues

Stay tuned!

School Board: Only 43% Committed to Community Engagement

Now that the Annual Meeting is over, a little housekeeping is in order.
2 weeks ago, a certain community resident submitted an e-mail request to all 7 school board members.  If one were to perform an Open Records request for school board members e-mail received on October 3, 2010 said request would be identified.


The following is information from that e-mail:

-------------------------------------------
Sent: October 3, 2010
To:  All school board members
...
I would appreciate a simple acknowledgement that you received this.   Another frequent theme I hear is that several school board members don't respond to e-mail at all.  I'd like to be able to tell them otherwise.
---------------------------------------------

For the record, only 3 school board members responded.  Kudos go to:  Jill Camber-Davidson, Terry Shimek, and John Welke.  These 3 were able to set aside any personal feelings and respond as requested to a member of the public.


Caren Diedrich, Jim McCourt, David Stackhouse, and John Whalen offered no response whatsoever.  Very nice, people.  You've successfully demonstrated how petty and minuscule you really are.  THIS is how you engage the community?  You do NOT get the luxury of picking and choosing to which community members you respond.  You were elected to represent ALL of us.

School Tax Levy Set

This past Monday evening, the Annual Elector's Meeting was held.  

District Administration, perhaps listening to the community substantially compressed their presentation to 14 slides and about 15 minutes tops.  That allowed residents plenty of time to speak, and it seems as if many just wanted to be heard.  Overall, we commend Phil Frei for his abbreviated, yet information packed presentation.

Tax Levy increase to be 3.18%

The tax levy which was approved was $45,824,571, which translates to a 3.56% increase over last year.  When asked to explain the difference, Deputy District Administrator and Business Manager Phil Frei responded that once the board approves the levy for the public meeting, it can only be changed by the electors.  He added that due to the receipt of more computer aid than expected, the actual levy increase is expected to be 3.18%.  This means the actual final levy once the smoke clears is projected to be about $45,656,424. 

Clearing the Mill Rate ($12.16) confusion

Most people are more concerned with the mill rate than the tax levy, since the mill rate determines how much the average homeowner will have to pony up for property taxes.  While this year's mill rate represents an 8.2% increase over last year, we cannot lose sight of the impact that depressed real estate valuations had on the mill rate.  The city of Sun Prairie's Equalized (property) Value was down over 5%.  In recent years, the district averaged over 5% GAINS annually.  This year, the final numbers were down 4.9%.

If this year's tax levy were imposed on last year's Equalized Value (i.e. using a "flat" 0% increase to property values) the mill rate would be approximately $11.70.  That means that a $0.46 mill rate increase ($115 on a $250K home) is solely attributed to declines in property value...NOT the district budget.  That is an important consideration.

The Bottom Line

• The district is opening an $80M high school and a $20M renovation for the new Upper Middle School.
• The budget is over $3,000,000 underneath the Revenue Limit (which will help next year)
• The school board seems to be holding a tight rein on salary increases and insurance premium co-pays.
• A 3.18% levy increase while opening $100M of construction (essentially 2 new schools) is seriously a pretty decent accomplishment.

Yes, we'd all like a 0% increase.  But like desire for world peace; albeit nice that's seriously unrealistic outcome.

Next (gulp) Year

We've heard the rumblings that we should expect a double digit increase to the levy next year.  This is where the rubber hits the road, and the school board has to give serious thought to thinking outside the box regarding the 2011-12 school year.

Grumpy Cookie...Not Amused?

It seems that the spouse of a certain district staffer has waaaaaaay too much time on their hands.   Is our Cookie Grumpy??
We suspect that they are not amused.  
Last time we checked, conflict resolution procedures didn't include sending anonymous mail or creepin' about taking pictures. 
Really?  REALLY?


Conflict Resolution Tips
Being the community-minded resource we are, we offer these helpful tips to resolve conflict:

• Communication is the key.  The personal touch is best.  Or pick up the phone.  Sending "anonymous" mail and creeping about are neanderthal at best.
• Focus on the present. If you’re holding on to old hurts and resentments, your ability to see the reality of the current situation will be impaired.  Tit for tat is so unbecoming.
• Pick your battles. Conflicts can be draining, so it’s important to consider whether the issue is really worthy of your time and energy. 
• Be willing to forgive. Resolution lies in releasing the urge to punish, which can only adds to our injury by further depleting and draining our lives.
• Know when to let something go. If you can’t come to an agreement, agree to disagree. You can choose to disengage and move on.

Dancing On Thin Ice?

The following e-mail is yet another in a blast from two school board members. This one was sent by Jim McCourt from yet another of his "private" e-mail addresses.
Hmmm...he signed it "Board Treasurer". Anyone else think this is getting dangerously close to working a government (school board) agenda outside the watchful eye of Open Government advocates?
If he was going to sign it "Board Treasurer", why not just send it from his school board account? A little worried about letting any responses received be viewed by the public eye?

From: jmcmg
Date: Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 8:06 AM
Subject: [CHBest] School District Electors Meeting Tonight at 7 pm - High School Auditorium
To: CHBest@yahoogroups.com



Just a friendly reminder that tonight is one of the most important meetings of the year for the school district. This is the meeting in which the electors vote on the annual tax levy that will be used to fund the budgets of the school district. The school board and community have spent a great deal of time putting the budget together that will adequately fund our schools for the 2010/2011 school year. Please attend this meeting to hear all the details and make your vote count for the tax levy. Let's not let a few individuals in the district decide what is best for all students. Thanks.
Jim McCourt - Board Treasurer

It's Official - No Social Security Increase (Again) For 2011

Those on a fixed income just got even more fixed...
"As if voters don't have enough to be angry about this election year, the government is expected to announce this week that more than 58 million Social Security recipients will go through another year without an increase in their monthly benefits.
It would mark only the second year without an increase since automatic adjustments for inflation were adopted in 1975. The first year was this year."

Wisconsin State Journal article: No boost for Social Security checks in 2011

A Plea for the Electors

Dear School District,
The Annual Electors Meeting, as the title suggests, is not YOUR meeting.  It is OUR meeting.  And as such, we respectfully request that you limit the amount of our valuable time which you take up with your tedious presentations.  Instead, how about allowing the Electors the maximum time to speak their mind, vote on a tax levy, and go home to their families.  
Your information can easily be reduced to a handful of slides and 5-10 minutes.  We neither want, nor need, a sales presentation.  Less talk; more listening.


Thank You,
The People

Sun Prairie STAR Not Showing Whalen the Love

From: "John and Kelly Whalen" <jkwhalen@charter.net>

Date: October 9, 2010 9:00:01 AM CDT

Cc: <jewhale@spasd.k12.wi.us>

Subject: Important Reminder

Dear Friends,

Below is an invitation that I submitted to the Sun Prairie Star in hopes that it would be printed.  Because they elected not to do so, I am taking a more grass roots approach.  Please take the time to forward this message on to your friends and family living in the district.

Thanks for your assistance, and I look forward to seeing you at the Annual Meeting.

John

 Please Attend the Sun Prairie Area School District's Annual Meeting - You are wanted!

On Monday, October 11, 2010 at 7:00 pm, the Sun Prairie Area School District will be having its Annual Meeting at the High School Performing Arts Center (888 Grove Street, Sun Prairie). As the President of the SPASD School Board, I would like to extend a personal invitation to attend.  This is an opportunity to see democracy in action.  As an elector (18 years of age, living in the District for at least 10 days) you will have the power to vote on some very important items that affect education in our community.  The most important is the local tax levy.  Historically, attendance at the Annual Meeting is low - significantly less than 1% of the eligible participants.  This invitation is an attempt to greatly increase attendance.  Let there be no confusion as to why I am doing this.  As a Board member, I want to be confident that the tax levy we are proposing is acceptable to the majority of the community.  It is unfair to have such important decisions made by a small group on either side of the issue.  Decisions affecting the whole community must be made by a representation of the whole community.

Please visit the District's web site for all of the information regarding the Annual Meeting (www.sunprairie.k12.wi.us).  A recent editorial and advertisement made the claim that the information on the website was incorrect.  For the record, that information was for last year's annual meeting - and was correctly labeled as such.  If you have any questions about this information or have difficulty finding it, please email me atjewhale@spasd.k12.wi.us, and I will help you out.

YOU ARE WANTED!

Sincerely,

John Whalen

Geee...You don't suppose this Whalen e-mail and the McCourt e-mail were sent out ONLY to people that supported them, do you?  How exactly does that provide for "representation of the whole community"?  Smells to us like Whalen & McCourt are VERY worried about who might be turning out tomorrow night...and what might be on their collective minds.  Will there be tea?

How Does Sun Prairie Compare?

We're sure you'll hear about how Sun Prairie stacks up against other Dane County school districts.  That's nice, but it's hard to compare school districts the size of Madison, or the size of Deerfield to Sun Prairie.


But...how does Sun Prairie stack up against similar-sized school districts?
We scanned the web and, where the information was readily available, we have captured the amount of Education Jobs Fund dollars the district obtained, the 2010-11 tax levy, the 2010-11 tax levy increase, and the 2010 mill rate.  Please note that other than Sun Prairie, district enrollment numbers are the most current available from DPI.


Items of note:

• Hudson went with a 0% increase, while West Allis actually reduced their tax levy a bit.
• MANY school districts dipped into fund balance to reduce the tax levy.
• Sun Prairie currently stands with the highest mill rate.

Disclaimer:  This information was the latest available to the public.  Some school districts have not held their Annual Electors Meetings yet.  Therefore these numbers could change.

We Can Do It With ONE Slide

Unless someone makes a motion (hint, hint) to limit the district presentation to something like 10-15 minutes, we are likely in for a massively boring, stupendously "spun" slideshow at the Annual Elector's Meeting this Monday.

We think you all are sufficiently informed that you do not need to hear the district core values, or mission statement.  You don't need to hear the sleep-inducing process of developing a budget.  And certainly, if you want to have your head spun, just could sit at home and watch the latest campaign ads on the tube.

We figure that (A) you're smarter than that, and (B) if you have a question, you'll ask it.  

In a perfect world, the school district would have a page on their website that offered the current, up-to-the minute details on key financial information that you need to know when making a decision regarding the levy Monday night.  But that's not going to happen.  So we offer THIS...our best estimate of the numbers you need to know.

Why did the mill rate increase if the tax levy dropped?
Funny story! Glad you asked.  You remember how a couple of citizens, namely Roger Fetterly and Rick Mealy have been trying to get the board to understand that their pie-in-the-sky hopes that property values INCREASED this past year (yeah...right) are just out to lunch?  Well, reluctantly, the board/district dropped their estimate of equalized values from a projected INCREASE of 1% to flat or 0% back in July (we're not gonna say we told you so :).  Then these same citizens told them that 0% wasn't enough.  How is it that two citizens seemed to be aware of information on equalized values released by the Department of Revenue in early August, but the school district seemed oblivious.  These data indicated a significant DROP in property values (-5.5% in the city of Sun Prairie alone!).  The district also seemed to ignore newspaper articles that announced that equalized values for Dane County dropped over 3%.  (It's nice to see that although we pay for TWO newspaper subscriptions for the district office, no one seems to read them). Yet still they used their "0%" number.


And THEN the Annual Meeting booklet became available about a week ago and--lo and behold--suddenly the district was using -3% as their equalized value projection (we don't even think the school board was aware of this change!) and a mill rate of $12.00.  Wait!  It gets better (or is it worse?) Just this past week, school board members--not the public, mind you" were alerted to the fact that on Monday night, the NEW number you will see is -4.66% for equalized value.


A 4.66% drop in equalized value translates to a 4.66% INCREASE in the mill rate without any change to the tax levy!

So...you'll have to sit through 45 minutes of yada.. yada.. yada.. just to get the information above.

Vegas Oddsmakers Put The Annual Meeting On the Board

Las Vegas oddsmakers have established some betting lines for the Sun Prairie Annual Elector's Meeting:


The over/under for number of attendees is 300
The over/under for number of slides in the district budget presentation is 40
The over/under for length of the district presentation is 45 minutes
The over/under for the amount which electors will motion to reduce the proposed levy is $250,000


Odds for who will be voted as meeting chair are:
Caren Diedrich 200:1
John Whalen: 15:1
Jim McCourt 9:2
Anyone who is NOT a school board member: 2:1

Well...SOMEBODY Wants You!

Isn't it funny how mass e-mailing campaigns get around?  We received this from several sources today.

From: Jim McCourt <james.mccourt@yahoo.com>

Date: October 8, 2010 10:31:00 AM CDT

Subject: URGENT SPASD Annual Meeting

Please Attend the Sun Prairie Area School District's Annual Meeting - You are
wanted!

On Monday, October 11, 2010 at 7:00 pm, the Sun Prairie Area School District
will be having its Annual Meeting at the High School Performing Arts Center (888
Grove Street, Sun Prairie). As the President of the SPASD School Board, I would
like to extend a personal invitation to attend.  This is an opportunity to see
democracy in action.  As an elector (18 years of age, living in the District for
at least 10 days) you will have the power to vote on some very important items
thataffect education in our community.  The most important is the local tax
levy.  Historically, attendance at the Annual Meeting is low - significantly
less than 1% of the eligible participants.  This invitation is an attempt to
greatly increase attendance.  Let there be no confusion as to why I am doing
this.  As a Board member, I want to be confident that the tax levy we are
proposing is acceptable to the majority of the community.  It is unfair to have
such important decisions made by a small group on either side of the issue.
Decisions affecting the whole community must be made by a representation of the
whole community.

Please visit the District's web site for all of the information regarding the
Annual Meeting (www.sunprairie.k12.wi.us).  A recent editorial and advertisement
made the claim that the information on the website was incorrect.  For the
record, that information was for last year's annual meeting - and was correctly
labeled as such.  If you have any questions about this information or have
difficulty finding it, please email me at jewhale@spasd.k12.wi.us, and I will
help you out.

YOU ARE WANTED!

Jim McCourt

(red text emphasized to highlight interesting statements)
Funny how none of these people expressed concern over the tax levy vote being "unfair" when the meeting was very hush-hush and less than 30- residents, most school district employees or school board members would attend! 


iInteresting that it comes from Seabass' personal Yahoo account and not his school board account.   Things that make you go, "Hmmm"

How Are Other Annual Electors Meetings Going?

Here's one synopsis of a 2010 Annual Elector's Meeting we found on the wires, and, interestingly enough it's of a similar sized district:  West Bend.

Let's see...

• Concerns about non-resident voting...check!
• Loooooonng "enormously boring" PowerPoint presentation...check! (ours was at 45 slides last count)
• 500+ people in attendance....guess we'll see
• A large teacher presence....surprise!

..and it includes some videos.  Enjoy

West Bend Annual Meeting Review

Point-Counterpoint: the Annual Meeting "Transmittal Letter"

2010 Annual Meeting Letter of Transmittal
September 21, 2010
To the Electors and Citizens of the Sun Prairie Area School District:

This year, ...due to diligent attention to federal programs and carefully timed borrowing, we were able to lower the financing costs for [Sun Prairie High School and Cardinal Heights Upper Middle School] by $2.4 million this year and $39.9 million over the life of the bonds!

That's laying it on a little thick....don't you think?  Uh....hello...recession?   President Obama's Stimulus Funds?  Ringing a bell here?  It required "diligent attention"? Please! Even Tim Culver had to cringe when he wrote this.  Carefully timed borrowing?  Again...PLEASE!  You're charged with borrowing responsibly.  That means you don't borrow $100M out of the chute for a 2-year project.  You do it in stages.  Any idiot that just rolled off a turnip truck knows that.  It just so happened that your borrowing "stages" coincided with the biggest recession since the Great Depression.  Now, if Dr. Culver wants to claim that he created the recession in order for these stars to align so perfectly, then...yeah...we'd call that "diligent attention.... and carefully timed".  Stop taking credit where none is due.

At last year’s annual meeting, by a vote of 124 to 60, electors unexpectedly lowered the tax levy proposed in the planning budget under which we had operated since the previous July.

Again...HELLO!  YOU want to hold the Elector's meeting in October.  Many residents feel that the Annual Elector's Meeting should be held in July (like it used to be as recently as 2004!) so the Electors can approve a tax levy BEFORE you start a new fiscal year of spending...instead of midway through the 4th month! 

...to lower the levy to the greatest extent possible, we have taken some calculated risks against future years in this proposed budget. We used the surplus we were able to meticulously achieve last year to lower this year’s levy. This means our ‘rainy day fund’ or fund reserve will remain flat and become a lesser percentage of our entire budget.

OK, there's stretttttccccchhhhing the truth...and then there's ripping it to shreds.  The school board "policy" is to maintain a fund balance equal to 10% of the annual expenditures.  Since your budget calls for expenditures of $72.3M, then your fund balance needs to be at $7.3M.  At the start of this fiscal year, fund balance was at $8.5M, and even after using $700K this year, it will close out at AT LEAST $7.8M.  That means there's $500K MORE in your rainy day fund than--by school board policy---you need.   And please...no more campfire scary stories about spending fund balance will ruin our bond rating.  It plain and simply never happened.  And across the state, many districts are taking money from their "rainy day" fund.  As we told you last October....it was a downpour then, and it remains so now.  Finally, last year the projection was for fund balance to dip down to $7.2M and ...HEY!....you might remember that at the end of this 'difficult year' you had a $1.3M surplus and fund balance ROSE to $8.5M.  Meticulously?  We don't think so.

The School Board has taken a hard line on employee raises, granting just a 1% increase coupled with reduced health care benefits for two employee groups (administrators and administrative support) and is entering into negotiations with the two largest employee groups with similar resolve to hold the line on costs.

Do we think this was a good move?  Absolutely.  But calling it a hard line is a tad disingenuous, dontcha think?  Newsflash...state employees and county employees have been under wage REDUCTIONS and FURLOUGHS (16 days, not 1 day) for over a year.  That will continue at least until July 2011.  And, very likely, state employees won't see raises till beyond 2013.  Oh...and people on fixed Social Security incomes?  They really DID become fixed in 2010 with NO increase....and all signs point to NO INCREASE for 2011 as well.  So we're not spilling any tears over the board issuing "only" 1% raises.   And let's not even discuss the ridiculously small amount school district employees STILL pay for health and dental (what are those?) benefits.

The bottom line for me is that our children's education, the basis of their economic futures, should not be placed at risk during our present economic down cycle.  To continue to provide excellent education there needs to be a tax levy increase of at least 3.6% just to maintain our schools and programs and pay for voter-approved debt.

Yes, we absolutely agree that a 3.6% levy increase is far better than the 8% you told us back in March.  But don't even BEGIN to tell us that a 3.6% increase is the absolute bottom line.  We know about the district's "our dough" pants.  There's plenty of money still in those pockets and you know it.  Let's just start with the $500K in fund balance.  Do you REALLY want us to call it all out for you?  We don't think so.  Not that we're advocating "taking it" at the Elector's meeting, mind you, but you need to come to grips with the reality that the people of this community are alert and getting rapidly in touch with the crazy school district spending.  We support a quality education.  We don't support a few fat cats getting rich at the expense of taxpayers.  


We do not mean this as a personal attack, but the simple reality is that $88,000 for an elementary school librarian or high school language teacher is a little hard to swallow.  This closing comment from Dr. Culver can be interpreted as a thinly veiled threat that if the Electors vote to reduce the tax levy one penny, then the school board is prepared to take action to override the levy decision.  That would be a mistake, people, because this community can prove beyond a shred of doubt that there are still a lot of empty calories in the school district budgetary "diet". 

Check This Out!

Did you know that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website publishes salary information?

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/dataondemand/33534649.html?appSession=722262941750237&RecordID=&PageID=2&PrevPageID=1&cpipage=1&CPISortType=&CPIorderBy=

Enrollment Soars...338 new SPASD students

The budget planning metric budgeted for 133 students over last years total.

At the infamous, "official", 3rd Friday count, that tally was actually 338, for a whopping grand total district enrollment of 6969.

Elementary enrollment is up 77 kids to 3072.

Of course, "they" will caution us all that these numbers are constantly in flux.  But the bottom line is that we have to take a number at some moment in time, and the official date to do so is the "3rd Friday" of the school year.

What does 338 new students mean?

1. For this year, the Revenue limit will be much higher than expected....meaning the district COULD spend much more (although they must raise the levy to do so...they don't get state aid for these "new kids" till next year).  The Revenue Limit is based on the 3-year rolling average that they talk about.

2. Next year, we will see more state aid as a result of the new kids.   Next year, we will average the Sept 2010 3rd Friday count with the January 2011 count, add summer students from summer 2010, and --VOILA! -- that number will be used to calculate how much aid we will receive next year.  No 3-year average....we're just basing everything on the prior year's data.  So...effectively, there's a delay in incoming aid.

3. Will the drums start beating to initiate planning for an 8th elementary school?  As soon as spring 2011?  Hmmm?

How much equalization aid do we get per student?

From this year's Annual Meeting Booklet, we received $28,791,625 in "equalized aid" last year.  This number was based on enrollment from 2008-09, which was 6165.   If you divide $28,791,625 by 6165, you get about $4,700 in aid per student. 

Now let's check our simplified projection.   Last year, we had 6631 students.  Using our simplified figure of $4,700 in state aid per student, we would project receiving $32,546,445 in aid THIS school year (2010-11).    Lo and behold, what figure do we see in the Annual Meeting booklet for state aid we're receiving THIS year? $32,393,942 .  That's pretty close for government work, eh folks?  Our estimate was high by about $150K (0.47%), which is less than the money Phil carries around in his "our dough" pants.

The bottom line is that we constantly hear about all this wizardry about these calculations and we won't have all the information until October.  Horse puckey@!  We know last year's enrollment numbers...welll...last year.   We can estimate the amount of equalized aid based on last year.   

A note of caution:

Do we have this 100.0% 'dead-on balls accurate'?  No.  we wouldn't presume to have a perfect understanding of the way things work.  We're just a bunch of nobodies here. But we're pretty darn close.  The school district of course, will just say, "that mean blog is all wrong".

But what they will NEVER do, is publicly explain to you or anyone else WHERE it's incorrect.  Why? Because this is the stuff they do NOT want anyone to understand.  They like to wave their hands and operate under smoke and mirrors like a dime-store magician.  If you understand this stuff, then YOU become empowered...and the district is not all that keen on empowering you.

If the district REALLY wanted to do a service---and we'll offer this challenge--- then they should come up with a simplified explanation of how things work.  Not a 45 minute 50 slide dog-and-pony show, mind you, but a simplified 1-2 page explanation they can post on the website.

Geee...wouldn't that just smack of community service?

...And the Line Holds

Many of you may have turned off the Packer game in disgust to check in on the school board.


The main issue of the night was DO WE or DO WE NOT hire a new administrative Human Resources position specializing in minority relations and recruitment.


As board member went around the table, it sure started to look like John Welke would stand alone in his no vote.  But Stackhouse was pretty quiet and that';s usually an indication that he's not supporting something.  Then Jill Camber-Davidson, who had apparently been leaning to vote Yes, voted "no:.   So here it was:  McCourt/Diedrich and Whalen in favor of hiring the $69K position and Welke/Stackhouse/Camber-Davidson opposed.

What would Shimek do?  In a surprising move, Mr. Shimek voted "NO"---as he did two weeks ago-- and the line held firm at the goal line.  Kudos to Mr. Shimek for standing pat like a newbie holding a pair of kings at the blackjack table.


Do we--as a district-- need to clean our own house a bit as it relates to multi-cultural acceptance?  Absolutely.  But hiring a new HR position is not going to solve that problem.  That message needs to comes from the top: Tim Culver.  And it has to be a message of zero tolerance that is backed up by the HR equivalent of a trip to the woodshed.


People in this district, and some in the community, need to come to grips with the reality that Sun Prairie has not been a farm town populated by European or Scandinavian descendants for quite some time.  The world is a melting pot, and Sun Prairie is just a bowl from that pot.  Having a minority recruitment specialist is not going to change peoples' attitudes.  Attitude adjustment therapy needs to come from the top.