Decepticons Targeting SPASD?

Those familiar with the Transformers movie series will know that the Decepticons are in forever in search of the AllSpark....the essence of life for Transformers.  Here in Sun Prairie we have the SPARClers, apparently led by Al Guyant, who shall be dubbed the AlSPARC.  Or...maybe, SPARC-Al?

At this past week's meetings of the full school board and the board's Finance Committee, Sun Prairie's liberal..errr...progressive..."SPARC" group (Sun Prairie Action Resource Coalition made its presence known.  Looks like the comments made previously by John Whalen have born fruit.  Someone has engaged SPARC in what appears to be an attempt to outmaneuver the school board regarding the budget.   This is exactly what we get for allowing Jim McCourt to do what he did autonomously at last year's annual meeting.

The SPARC-Al spoke in opposition to having a 2% levy DECREASE to the tax levy. [Wait...cutting property taxes is bad????]   He used some metaphor about the electrical industry and focused on what he called a 5% reduction.  "We wouldn't accept 95% in our electrical system, and we won't accept 95% for our kids", he said.

The problem we're having is that his speechifying is no less full of half-truths or outright embellishments than any other political candidate.  The proposed 2012-13 budget DOES NOT reduce our kids' education to 95% levels.  In fact, the only "cuts" made were to administrative departments (10%).  And even summed up, those "cuts" don't even reside in the same galaxy as even 1% of the overall $73.2M district budget.

But he kept tossing out that "We won't accept 95% for our kids", hoping to catch the ears of uninformed electorate.  Shame! Shame! Shame!

Don't fall for comments that the school board's proposed budget means only "95% for our kids".  There IS no 5% reduction to education.   There is only a 2% REDUCTION to property taxes.  School programs are fully (100%) funded.

Why can't these political groups speak the truth?  Why must they embark on some never-ending quest to distort information to serve their purposes.

Be prepared for the Annual Electors Meeting to be a SPARClefest.
It is clear, people, that the Annul Meeting has degraded into a war of who can bring the most people to force the school board (at least in their minds) to do their bidding.  We anticipate that SPARC will be rallying a large contingent with the express purpose of taking back the $2.4M in state aid which exceeds that necessary to operate and maintain schools.  Instead of a 2% reduction in the tax levy, they appear hell bent to push for a 2-3% tax levy increase.

Perhaps THAT is the 5% alluded to by SPARC-Al. Giving the $2.4M surplus back to the taxpayers (in the form a tax levy relief) amounts to roughly a 5% drop in the tax levy from what was initially proposed by district administration.

Some SAY that they want to put the $2.4M into fund balance..."for a rainy day".  Yeah ...right....like the district would ever keep it there.  This is the same district that used $600K of 2011-12" surplus (which COULD have been placed in fund balance) to purchases books for 2012-13.  We hear reports that some of these texts will not even be used.

Oh well...as Wayne Campbell would shout, "Game On!"