2011 Closeout - Was Act 10 ALL Bad?

We're in duck and cover mode...purely from the title of this entry.

But, you know what, folks?  Whether you are a Walker devotee or a Walker detractor, you have to admit that EVERYTHING that Act 10 did was not bad.  Yes, at its heart, Act 10 was a heinous attempt to cut public employees down at the knees.  That was neither right nor fair.  You can argue whatever you like, but the fact remains that for these scorned public workers, benefits were improved over the years IN LIEU OF salary increases.  Rightly or wrongly so, that is what it boiled down to.  Publicly, governors declared victory by giving public employees only modest raises (1-2%) each year.  In some years, they got nothing.  Quietly, however, behind the scenes, they negotiated with the unions to pick up the tab for a greater percentage of benefits...or offered another few days of annual leave(vacation).

This didn't happen overnight, people!  This process developed over the past 25-35 YEARS!  We know of many examples of private sector workers who took a job with in the public sector at a substantial demotion in terms of pay.  These workers made a choice to do so in exchange for enhanced job security.  Again...be it right or wrong, that's what they did.  It took many of these workers 10 years or more to be earning the same salary they did when they left the private sector. But it was a choice, and they were OK with their choice.

Don't tell us that the private sector is struggling.  Certainly, many private businesses and employees have suffered since the economic crisis which began over 3 years ago.  But many are faring much better.  We are hearing of BONUSES being given this holiday season.  Public employees have never and WILL never hear of such a thing.  We also know many private sector employees that have good to excellent health and retirement benefits.

What Governor Walker and Act 10 did was to institute an 8-10% reduction in take home pay for ALL public sector workers.  He made them pay more for benefits, but did so without increasing the salary that these folks gave up in return for the benefits.  Now he has proclaimed that state employees won't see a raise for the next 2 years... at least.   The last raise any state employees will have seen was back in 2008.

So...that's the despicable part.  There was however a silver lining.  What Walker did, along one tangent, was to do what none of the school boards across the state was willing to do: stop the madness.  If you think state and municipal employees had it good...you never looked into school teacher and administrative compensation.  In Sun Prairie, teachers and administrators were paying $200 per YEAR for health insurance that cost the tax payers more than $14,000 per year.  Yep...that's barely more than 1% of the premium cost.  And to make matters worse, teachers [still] work off a grid that gives them an automatic 3% salary increase every year.  Even if the board votes for a 0% salary increase, each teacher moves one step on the grid each year and gets awarded a 3% increase.  THAT is how a "2% salary increase" actually translated to a 5% increase in the salary budget...because in addition to any annual approved increases, the board still had to pay for automatic "step" increases.

To make matters worse, for every 6-12 credits earned by a teacher, they get a "lane increase" that adds another 2% to their salary.

How many of you receive an AUTOMATIC raise of at least 3% per year..EVERY year?  We thought so.
So, what the Governor did was to force districts and school boards to do what we all wonder why they hadn't done on their own.  After all...it's all for the children...right?

Act 10 cut revenue limits and then made rules for public employees to all pay a specific share of their retirement contributions and health insurance benefits.  Most districts rushed to use the "tools" which Walker provided.  Duh!!! They had too!  Without those savings, and with the reduced revenue caps, it was comply or cut staff (hello...Milwaukee?).  If only these school boards had done this on their own, maybe we wouldn't be in this position now.

In the end, nobody likes bully tactics.  So the way things were done was wrong.  We do not agree with Walker and his Act 10 in entirety. But something had to be done.  The state was writing checks it couldn't cash.  School districts were spending money like they printed it themselves.  Where else do the employees (e.g., district administration) earn more than the CEO (State Superintendent Tony Evers), the Governor, or even the President of the United States?  Yes, we have district administrators in this state that earn more than the President.  That doesn't make sense.

Walker is not good for this state.  He had a couple of good ideas, but the same can be said for some of history's greatest screwballs and monsters.  When one considers his absolute disregard for union rights,  the cronyism, his business interests, his sugar daddies, his lack of transparency, and the spectre of the John Doe probe, we need a do-over.  But, what we do NOT need is to go back to the way things were, either.

EVERYONE needs to be paid a fair wage and be treated equitably.  We cannot tolerate the way workers belonging to the former Local 60 have been treated....perennially forced to accept the short end of the stick.  School districts have always balanced their budget on these peoples' backs...the ones who can least tolerate the load.  We need to pay teachers a fair and decent starting wage (raise the floor), but at the same time, we can't have kindergarten teachers or elementary school "librarians" earning over $90,000 either.  We need a salary cap...just like in major league sports.  Statewide...hell, nationally...we need to rethink the compensation given to school district administrative staff.  Sure they are important in molding our children's futures.  But doctors and nurses save lives...and can be paid less than the average administrator.

2012 is  huge year for this school district, this state, and this country.  We have a number of major decisions at stake.  And we have this one chance to get it right.

Teachers....we appreciate what you do.  But please remember that you are paid for working only 9 months per year.  You can try to rationalize that if you like, but every worker can make the claims you do.  Do you honestly think that you are the only people that work "for free" on nights/weekends...or all summer?  Really? Now is the time for EVERYONE to GET REAL.

Happy New Year.  May 2012 be brighter...a LOT brighter...than 2011.

Welke Wipes Egg Off District Face

At the December 12th meeting of the school board's FTT committee, we heard the UW Applied Population Lab's analysis of growth projections.  It all lead into what we've been expecting:  the district believes it will very soon need more elementary school space.  And district administration has a one-track mind: BUILD.  That means (in their minds) another Horizon/Creekside palace.  Of course, Phil Frei said that "there have been discussions" regarding other options.  When questioned, however, we learned that said "discussions" had been held in private  and (we assume) school board members were not present.

Wrong song, bucko!  These discussions MUST be held in public.  Thankfully, FTT committee chair John Welke stepped up and made it abundantly clear that the SCHOOL BOARD had not made ANY decisions regarding a new school.  He also emphatically stated that any such plans would go through the FTT. So just hold the phone, Tyrone!

The STAR quoted resident Rick Mealy as asking whether the district had considered increasing class sizes at least as an interim measure.  For the record (ahem!),  Mr. Mealy prefaced his remarks by saying that "while he was not advocating for such, measures such as increasing class sizes MUST be fully vetted by the district/board".  Mr. Mealy was simply demanding full disclosure of what options had been considered and why those that were rejected had been rejected.  That is only right and just.  There are numerous options to building a new palace.

One resident who caught wind of the FTT meeting had the following to say:
It’s not books, copy paper, teachers, and desks that cost big money, they grow incrementally with each new student, who brings a pot of state aid and perhaps a new house and it’s taxes with him. It’s what I would call periphery that kills the budget. If you build another building you have all sorts of stuff that you don’t duplicate when you just add a class or two.

• Principal
• Secretary
• Lady to sit by door
• Librarian and library
• Custodians
• Grass to mow
• Sidewalks to shovel
• Guidance Counselor
• Psychologist
• Social Worker
• Case Manager
• Cook
• Aides (may increase incrementally)
• PA System
• Copier
• Gym and equipment
• Playground equipment
• Oh, yeah, a piece of land and a building
• Etc.

This is exactly why the district needs to look at options. How many more teachers could we pay if we didn’t have to pay for all of this?

and we'll add some other big "hidden" costs:
Gas for heating
Electricity
Water/Sewer

Creekside cost 14.5 MILLION dollars. and that was 3 years ago.  A similar building would cost upwards of $16-17M now.  And then we need land, as our resident points out.  

We need to be more creative in this school district, folks. Adding bricks, mortar, and bodies is not necessarily the answer.

2011: The Headline That Wasn't :(

Weber Grills Seabass!
If only....

Folks , we've had this one just waiting in the wings.  We wished upon many a star bright.  We know that rookie school board member Tom Weber has the financial wisdom.  We firmly believed that he has sniffed out the whereabouts of the copious socks of money hidden in the budget.  And frankly, we've grown weary of Jim "Seabass" McCourt's approach as Treasurer of the school district.

Therefore, we hoped against hope that we might see Mr. Weber go all flame-on and grill the Seabass on all his cockamamie explanations for the financial sleight of hand at foot.

Even though we never got to use it as a headline, we can still dream...can't we?

Shimek OUT; Whalen All IN

Folks....we WILL have a new face on the school board next April.
Terry Shimek told several members of the public that he was NOT running for re-election.
We wish Mr. Shimek the best in his endeavors; we know he'll be around, as he has been for about 15 years.

Now on to Mr. Whalen, who seemed to be somewhat clandestine as he gathered fellow board member signatures for his nomination papers.  Whalen has been on the board for 6 years; in our opinion, 3 more would be to be too much.  Johnny, We Hardily Know Ye....and the school board needs someone with a thought in his head other than Tim Culver's.

The early leader would appear to be Mike Krachey.  Krachey brings a lot to the table as a long-time resident, member of the school board's FTT committee, and someone with a strong business mind.  We also understand that nomination papers were taken out by Gary Naud.  Little is known about Mr. Naud.  We'll find out for certain who's in the race come January 3rd.

Fumbling Towards Equity

With sincere apologies to Sarah McLachlan...

Way back last spring, the good Dr. Culver brought forward a situation report in the interests of securing equity for all staff.

"...it is in my heart to speak up for these 31employees and say let all employees take the pain at the same time."                                                  

---District Administrator Tim Culver

This would not make them entirely "whole" (e.g., they would have to pay FICA and other required taxes on the miscellaneous income), but on the district end there is no added cost above what is already in the budget. We would be spending funds that were not mandated by law to do so. But, please consider letting all employees take this pain at the same time. We aren't strapped for this $32,500 in this year’s budget - we had planned to use it to compensate these employees through June 30.

---District Administrator Tim Culver

---

Cut to present day.
What happened to Culver's desire for equity?  Three (3) GINORMOUS inequities remain.  When will the school board/district do something to fix them?


1. Culver's Miscellaneous Funny Money
Culver's contract:  l. In lieu of other expense reimbursement for miscellaneous costs incurred carrying out official duties, District Administrator shall receive $125 per month to defray miscellaneous out-of-pocket expenses.


Who gets ANY money for which no receipts are required?  He can do nothing and just pocket the additional $125/month.  People this kind of benefit exists no where else but Wall Street and school district administrators.  


2. Culver's Mileage re-imbursement
Culver's contract:  k. Flat monthly payment for the use of personal automobile of $325 per month for use in district and in Dane County.


Other administrators (gulp) got that rolled into salary and now must submit mileage reimbursement reports, like us normal folk.  How come King Tim gets treated differently?

3. Dental Health Insurance Premiums

All employees EXCEPT Local 60 pay 5% of their dental insurance premiums.  Local 60 get it all the way with a ted hot poker and pay 14.5%.  Why are we stickin' it to the lowest paid employees?

Keeping Up With the Jones #2 - Payments In Lieu of Health Insurance

Muskego-Norway School District will pay employees who opt out of health plan 
Journal Sentinal Online Dec. 6, 2011

 The least expensive of three options to encourage employees to opt out of the Muskego-Norway School District health insurance plan has won the approval of the School Board. The district will continue to pay employees 87.4 percent of the premium for single coverage if they take insurance from the employer of a working spouse. That will come to about $6,900 next year. The $784,785 cost of the opt-outs is sizable, but the program has been shown to actually save money for the district, said board member Brett Hyde. In a full year, the opt-out plan would avoid nearly $1.5 million in premiums, leaving a net savings of $673,560, said Scot Ecker, director of business services.  

 Of the 36 area districts in CESA 1, 23 give opt-outs ranging from $9,216 in Shorewood to $3,000 in Mukwonago and Cudahy, Ecker said. Of the 23, Muskego's $8,676 this year is fifth highest. The median opt-out is $6,000.

Least Expensive Option?
Really?  REALLY?  Um....just spitballin' here...but wouldn't the least expensive option be to pay them ZERO?  After all...that's tax dollars we're talking about.  So...um...we don't think so.

Cost Avoidance?
We always love the term "cost avoidance".  Suddenly we go from "avoiding" costs to realized savings.  What happened to the word POTENTIAL?  After all...how many families do you know where both spouses select the family insurance from their respective employers.  Herro...McFry....those benefits usually COST the employee something out of pocket...right?  Who in their right mind is going to pay double the amount of out-of-pocket cost to have TWO insurances, which ultimately does very little to lower one's personal out-of-pocket costs?  Especially school districts, which generally have really excellent health plans.  And then you have to deal with the issue of who is the main carrier and then they want to charge a chunk to the "secondary" carrier.  We have never met a family that enrolls in TWO family plans. So let's not kid ourselves...we're not "avoiding" any costs at all.

Is it a Win-Win?
Payments in lieu of taking insurance is most definitely something right out of Dr. Feelgood's game plan.  It's a nice thing to do to offer employees some benefit instead of watching empty-handed while co-workers receive a benefit with real dollar value.  That benefit can easily amount to as much as $1,000 per month--or more.
What does the district get?  Well....in Sun Prairie a family health plan costs about $16,000.  The district typically pays about 91%, or roughly $14,200.  It costs the employee about $1,400 per year.  Currently SPASD offers a benefit of $300/mo ($3,600/yr) to employees who opt not to enroll in a health insurance plan.   So, in our case, we--the taxpayers-- pay these employees $3,600, when POTENTIALLY we could be shelling out $14,200 each.  Looking at from only this angle, it looks like a no-brainer for us to offer this option.

What we're forgetting, however, is this: if the employee did NOT stand to gain $3,600 (i.e., pay them $0 for opting out), what's the likelihood that they would then choose to enroll in the insurance?  Many of the 75-100 employees who receive this cash benefit have spouses that work in the district (or the state, or a municipality).  They already are receiving equivalent health benefits.  Now, it is possible that, in the absence of the "opt out" benefit, some may drop the spouse's insurance and choose the district's.  Would those employees whose spouse work in this (or another) district simply choose to enroll in the insurance as a giant "Nyah Nyah!"?  Not when that "Nyah! Nyah!"  costs them $1400 per year (or more).


Does it make sense?
Certainly offering payment to employees in lieu of enrolling in insurance is a fairly common thing.  The amount, however, is considerably variable.  We've only looked at school districts.  State employees, for example, are not offered this benefit.  Neither are most municipal employees.  We're aware of such plans in the private sector, but they generally offer much less (we hear as low as $50/month).

But in this economy, people (ahem...board members!) need to start getting real about benefits that the taxpayers can no longer support.  Or you may find yourselves very unhappy when you go to referendum.   A school district is not a Koch Brothers' private sector venture.


What could we do with $270-300,000 annually if we eliminate the benefit?

Obviously, the possibilities are endless.  We could give it all back to the taxpayers to lower their property taxes.  OK...forget we said that; a majority of the current board would NEVER do that.

It could fund, in future years, 50% or more of the "6 initiatives" introduced in the 11th hour of the budget process.  Or....we could apply it to the salaries line and raise the entry wage paid to teachers.  Wouldn't that be a nice, zero net cost way to make SPASD more competitive in hiring?  Of course, if we do that, someone needs to seriously start talking about establish a cap on pay.

Or we could give half to the taxpayers and use half to improve the starting pay for teachers.


Will Sun Prairie Employees Want More?
As word gets out that other districts shell out, on average, $6,00 per year ($500/mo), will SPASD employees feel like they've gotten the shaft?  That is indeed the question.  Stay tuned.

Unpretty

Seeing that the district is quietly working towards presenting a plan to build yet another elementary school (to the tune of $18-22M), we felt it was long overdue to take a look at our debt picture.  That is what people do before planning  big purchase, right????

Pick up any newspaper or magazine and it won't be long before you see what folks all over the country are doing during this 3 year (and counting) downturn in the economy.  They're paying down their debt and not creating new debt.   Sounds like a solid plan...right?  Nope, at least not in Sun Prairie.  The FTT Committee will be reviewing APL population estimates this coming Monday, and that will be the first shot fired in a battle to build an 8th elementary school.  APL estimates are ALWAYS a prelude to "time to build".

Suppose we could get
an elementary school cheap from China?

In all those many pages of the school district's Annual Meeting booklet, what you probably did not see (and neither Jim McCourt nor Phil Frei pointed out in any of their slides) was any reference to the total outstanding (and not in a good way) debt.  Sure...we have a (gulp) nice Taj Mah High School to go with two palatial elementary schools.

But way back on page 39 of the Annual Meeting booklet is the sum total of our debt: $171,349,618 as of  October 2011.  Unfortunately, DPI data only show the debt picture as of June 30, 2010, at which time the debt was $175,456,911. How appropriate that the figure ends in "911", because we think that this much debt constitutes an emergency.

When you look at DPI debt data for all 424 districts, Sun Prairie ranks #2 in total debt (only Milwaukee has more!!!), #8 in total allowable debt%, and #6 in debt-to-value percent.  Those aren't exactly the areas in which we wish to be leaders, folks.  Sure, these schools look McDreamy, but we're mortgaging the futures of our residents for bricks and mortar.  Last time we checked, the bricks aren't the ones teaching our kids.  We also recently heard that the wonderful geothermal system we put in the first of the new schools (Horizon 5-6 years back) is aging.  The system depends on a large number of pumps and these have started to fail.  Have we budgeted (or even talked about budgeting) how much that replacement cost will be?

By State Statute, the Sun Prairie Area School District is able to borrow up to 10% of its equalized

Debt payments due over the next 17 years
(from the 2011-12 SPASD Annual Meeting Book)

value. The 2010 equalized value was $3,858,367,621; therefore, the district could borrow an
additional $214,487,144 ($385,836,762 - $171,349,618).

Do the math folks, as the graphic from the 2011-12 Annual Meeting Book shows, for each of the next 17 years we will be paying at least $10.2M and as much as $16.1M in taxes just to pay down this debt.  Add it all up and we'll be paying a little over $225 MEELYUN DOLLARS for a debt which currently stands at $171.5M.  That means we'll be paying INTEREST of almost $54 MILLION DOLLARS during that time.  We may have gotten great bond rates, but any way you slice it, it's costing us 31.5% of the principal.

Maybe...just maybe... we need to be a tad more creative before we jump to spending another $18-22M on a third palatial elementary school.

So damn unpretty
I'll make you feel unpretty too
--TLC "Unpretty"

Keepin' up With The Jones #1 - Look What Middleton Did!

Raises approved for all Middleton-Cross Plains school employees 
 Posted: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 [Madison.com]

Middleton-Cross Plains School District employees are getting an early holiday present after the School Board voted unanimously Monday night to give them all raises.The raises and bonuses, which will add 1.5 percent to the average teacher's pay, will cost the district $643,000. Both union and nonunion employees will receive them.

Teachers will get about $405,000 of the $643,000 in new pay, according to district figures. The rest of the school district's employees will get a 1 percent salary increase, along with bonuses ranging from $300 to $500, though administrators will not receive bonuses. The average total pay increase ranges from 1 percent for administrators to 2.93 percent for food service employees.

Yup...this is exactly where you mutter half out loud, "WTF!"

Gee....where was THIS little gem nestled within the confines of the budget and tax levy documents?
Or did Middleton mysteriously FIND the money after Nov. 1st??  We know how that goes!

In the Sun Prairie school district, every additional $375,000 to the tax levy would translate to an additional $0.10 on the mill rate.  So...this lovely raise package would have raised our mill rate another $0.17 (from $12.56), or added an additional $35 in taxes for an average home valued at $200,000.  What say, people?  Is it worth 3 large pizzas to give all employees a raise between 1 and 2.93%?  What was it we read about state employees?  Oh yeah....no raises for the next 2 years.

The next logical question we can expect from the SPASD employees would seem to be "where's ours"?

Final 2011-12 Tax Levies & Mill Rates

Wow....talk about standing out in a crowd!
The SPASD Administration wants SPASD to stand out, and it sure does now.
We're the leaders!  Well...in millrate anyway.

If we look at SPASD vs. the 20 similar sized school districts (10 larger and 10 smaller in enrollments), Sun Prairie is head and shoulders above the rest in mill rate ($12.62) and has the 4th highest tax levy!

While our rival, Middleton-Cross Plains bests out slightly in terms of tax levy, we cream them in mill rate.
A $200,000 home in Sun Prairie will pay $482 MORE in taxes this year than a similar value home in MCPSD.

Statewide, the average mill rate is $9.84 per $1000---SPASD's mill rate is 28.3% higher.
We rank in the top 15% of all districts in terms of tax levy increase over last year.  In fact, the statewide average was a 1.45% DROP in mill rate.  How "wonderful" does Sun Prairie's 3.5% INCREASE look now?
269 (out of 424) school districts set a tax levy either the same or lower than last year.  211 districts have a mill rate the same or lower than last year, while Sun Prairies mill rate is rising 4.1%.

Oh...and while we're at it....lest anyone overlook it, our tax levy ($10.9M) SOLELY for referendum-related debt is now second only to Kenosha.  Yikes!

We'll be here all week....enjoy your tax bills!  Be sure to tip your waitresses and thank the school board members who approved all this.

This School Board Member Is Engaged...NOT!

School Board Member hard at work...sawing logs.
Shimek Elected Chairman of the Bored.
Is that a bee we hear...of wait...never mind...it's Terry Shimek snoring...again.
We could do this all day, folks.

School board member Terry Shimek...who is up for re-election this spring... has been caught dozing pretty frequently.  If you watch closely, on lengthy discussions, his eyelids start drooping, and then he eventually nods off.  Lately it's been worse.  He's had to be nearly nudged awake.  At last week's board work session, he actually just started snoring.  Some board members leave water rings at the board table from their bottles of water (Koolaid?).  With Mr. Shimek, we're starting to fear that he might be leaving sleep drool rings.  Word for the day, folks, there's actually a term for it: sialorrhea.

Either Mr. Shimek's heart is no longer in the game, or he has some health issues that need to be addressed.  Regardless, this is not the level of board member that the taxpayers deserve.
Either stay awake for the meetings, or step down.
Wake up and smell the coffee, Terry!  Better yet...wake up and DRINK some coffee.

Seriously, Mr. Shimek...perhaps you should file that notice of non-candidacy.  Something's not right.
Either that or maybe you should start downing some Venom energy drink before meetings.

Who is "Karin, School Board Member" in the pro-Walker Ads>

Karin was a whole lot easier to find than Kristi.
But then, we had more info from "her" ad.  She started out by saying that her school district has 25 schools.
Ok, then, if Sun Prairie has 11, then we were looking for a far bigger school district.
Hmmm...which one comes quickly comes to mind?  How about the axis of all things Walker: Waukesha?
Bingo...got it in one.   If you scroll down the school board member page on the Waukesha website, there she be... Karin Rajnicek ("Rhine-a-check")

"We were worried when the state budget was going to mean less money for our school district.  And we have 25 schools..." 

---Karin Sue Rajnicek, [Waukesha] School Board Member

There are some concerns about whether "Karin" should be speaking in terms of "we" when she does not represent the entire school board.