Purposefully Opaque?

Sun Prairie STAR Editor Chris Mertes appears to have his undies in a bunch about what he perceives as a lack of transparency in the development of options for dealing with pending elementary space needs (Read: Elementary Task Force).

Perhaps Mr. Mertes needs to remove his head from his assertions and consider the real lack of transparency:  the 2012-13 budget.  

The district already moved the budget process way back.  Normally we see a draft of the budget, or at the bare minimum some assumptions at the first Finance Committee meeting in January.  Here we are halfway through February and not a peep.  In fact, the first glimpse of the General Fund budget is not projected to be revealed until March.

Mr. Mertes, who seems so concerned about spending, might also consider that the district has already deviated from the budget calendar it presented on December 19th, 2011.  According to that calendar, the FTT Committee, which meets monthly, was supposed to review the Transportation Budget in January.

Didn't happen.  In fact, tomorrow (2/13/12) is the February meeting of the FTT Committee, and there is no mention of the Transportation Budget on the agenda.  So the earliest we'll see that is...March.

The 2012-13 school year has already been discussed as being a very difficult budget.  Without batting an eye, we need to absorb more than $1 MILLION that was covered by the dried up Ed. Jobs Act Funding in this year's budget.  And that's just the beginning of the not-so-good news.  The district would appear to be pinning their hopes on the additional Equalized Value stemming from the new Woodman's and other construction.  Is that really enough to cover the school district's structural deficit?  Instead of chasing ghosts, we suggest that Mertes focus on real issues.

2012-13 BUDGET PLANNING CALENDAR

January
 Facilities, Technology & Transportation reviews transportation budget.