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.

Who IS "Kristi, High School Teacher" in those Walker Ads?

 Unless you've been in a coma for the past week or so, you MUST have seen those pro-Walker ads.  They only air them like every 15 minutes...wonder what THAT is costing!
Many of us share the same instant questions:  Is she really a teacher?  Which district does she work for?  Is she really "just" a teacher?  What's her story?

A little detective work was in order, starting with the DPI's list of all Wisconsin teaching staff.  There were a ton of "Kristi"s.  So then we narrowed it down to those that only taught high school.  Finally, we figured she's early to mid 30's but to be safe, pared it down to those high school teachers named Kristi between ages 30 and 50.  That whittled the list down to 18.  Finally, we started focusing on those who teach in the Milwaukee area.

From there, we focused on a couple of individuals and then did a little 'net sleuthing to find a picture and documentation that matched up with our quarry.  Think about it....if she's a teacher, surely the people she teaches with know who she is.  Once one knows, many know.  What we found interesting is most news sites seemed to be as clueless to her identity as the rest of us.

After narrowing it down, all signs point to our "Kristi" as one Kristi Lacroix, a teacher in the Kenosha Unified school district, specifically at the "Lakeview Technology Academy", a specialty high school preparing students to enter the field of engineering or higher level technology.  This public high school has 375 students in grades 9-12.   DPI salary data for 2010-11 indicate that she is 37, with 34.9 years of teaching experience.  Huh???  Something's not right there.  Other sites we find indicate she has 13.5 years experience.  That seems about right.   Her salary is $60,377.00 with fringe benefits totaling $32,840.00. Not bad for 13.5 years experience!!!

Kristi has been very busy of late...

Files amicus curiae (more Latin, Jimbo---for "friend of the court")brief to disenjoin from the state unions' lawsuit against Gov. Walker et al

National Institute for Labor Relations Research, July 2011

In which Kristi firmly announces her stand with the Gov.

• • Kristi posted a link to Walker Backers Watching Walker Stalkers's Wall.

  • Kristi posted a link to Conservative Wisconsin's Wall.

  • Kristi posted a link to We Support Scott Walker in Making Wisconsin Great Again's Wall.

• RECENT ACTIVITY

  • Kristi answered How do you feel about drug testing for welfare recipients?with For It.

     
• RECENT ACTIVITY

  • Kristi answered I am cleaning up my Facebook friends... let me know if u would like to stay...· with Yes.

     · Follow · Ask Friends

  • Kristi answered The second endorsement of the 2012 Presidential cycle: Chris Christie endorses Mitt Romney for Presi... with No.

     · Follow · Ask Friends

So there it is, people.  For those that were curious, "Kristi" is indeed a high school teacher, perhaps one of a very small number that support the Governor and his initiatives.  It seems only fair that people have all the facts, regarding the barrage of advertisements we are seeing now and will for the next 6 months.  In this case, based on our fact-checking, we believe "Kristi" is Kristi Lacroix, a teacher in the KUSD.  While we believe that we should have all the facts, we also believe that her privacy and the right to her opinions should be respected.

The Little District That Could? Or Not?

We've all heard how school districts across the state are reeling from Gov. Scott Walker's idea of a budget.  We all heard an 8.4% cut to state aid.  Yet the average turned out to be -9.1%, or 8.3% higher than projected.  Worse still, the median (a more accurate figure given the size and spread of the dataset) slashing was 10.13%, a 20% greater reduction than projected.

Then there was Kaukauna, the little school district that could.  On June 30th (actually from a late April presentation), the district released a budget projection that declared to the entire state that Walker's budget was so awesome that they actually would have a surplus!  They vowed to REDUCE class sizes, and hire new teachers.  Wow!  Plan Walker Works!  Right????

It's All-Star time in the world of Major League Baseball...what a fitting time to look at Gov, Walker's batting average.  If one were to count Kaukauna as the singular success among 424 school districts, that would translate into a batting average of 0.002.  Or a solitary base hit in a season's worth of at-bats (424).  That's not even Pee Wee League, folks.

"In the Kaukauna schools, the world is not only not falling apart -- it's getting better."--Byron York, The Examiner's chief political correspondent

And then, on Friday July 1, the DPI general aid estimates were released, and Kaukuna's delusions of grandeur appear to have been squashed like the other 423 school districts.

• $1,905,609 is the projected loss in the state revenue limit formula
funding from the proposed state budget ($527 per pupil decrease)  

---Kaukauna budget presentation 

Suddenly 2,757,698 is the ACTUAL estimated reduction in general aid based on DPI's July 1st data

Which means an additional $852,089 reduction.
Ruh, Roh, Shaggy!
Maybe the cheap tinting has started to flake off of those rose-colored glasses of yours.
It would seem that the boasted $1.5M in surplus was quickly reduced to $650K.

One also has to consider how Kaukauna arrived at it's wonderful position.  After all, they were using the identical set of tools that Walker so graciously provided to all the other school districts.  What did they do OTHER than require employees to pay 5.8% of their retirement and 12.8% of health insurance premiums?   Well...if you look at their budget document, they did a number of things that are responsible for $1.5M in savings.  Hmmm....that's exactly what they said they had as a surplus!

• Buildings and Grounds Cost savings – $275,445 (reduce maintenance budget 50%, reduce overtime 60%, eliminate Custodial Supervisor position, eliminate summer maintenance workers)
• Information Technology Cost Savings –  $248,064 (45% budget cut, reduce staff)
• Other District Operations Cost Savings –  $127,500 (payroll processing changes, reduce contracted services, cut $100K post-retirement benefit payment)
• Co-curricular Activities Cost Savings – $43,529 (eliminate some clubs, reduce budgets, reduce travel)
• Student Transportation Cost Savings –  $180,000 (change to 2-mile limit for busing)
• Administrative Assistants Cost Savings – $95,121  cut one FTE, reduced hours for others)
• Modified 4K Program Cost Savings –  $306,889 (All day, every other day, every other Friday program for 2011-12)  4 year olds ALL DAY?  Right!  That'll work!
• Close 1 Elementary School Cost Savings –  $253,066

They've cut and slashed where other have not ventured...NOW where are they going to come up with the unanticipated $850K hit?

All that and a tax increase too!
The best part about Kaukauna's "success" is that they are planning on a tax INCREASE!
That's right...a $400K increase to the tax levy which translates to a 22% increase in the mill rate ($0.20, or $40 on a $200K home...but all that is based on a 0% growth in equalized value)

Something to write home about?  We don't think so.  A victory?  Not a chance.
_____________________________________
Read more :

http://appletonhub.postcrescent.com/article/20110629/APC0101/110629072/Kaukauna-Area-School-District-projects-1-5-million-surplus-after-contract-changes-health-care-retirement-savings

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/union-curbs-rescue-wisconsin-school-district

State Aid Cuts Out; Deeper than Expected

Yesterday the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released its estimate of general aids to school districts.  Of course, the disclaimer on this has to be that these estimates are based on information available as of July 1, 2011, and are subject to change.

   DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

11-12 JULY 1 ESTIMATE VS. 10-11 OCT 15 AID CALCULATION

                                                TOTAL GENERAL AID ESTIMATE
                                                                                       
                                                13    DISTRICTS THAT INCREASE             1,073,642
                                               410    DISTRICTS THAT DECREASE          -399,800,040
                                                 1    DISTRICTS WITH NO CHANGE                    0
                                                                                  =================
                                                                                                                    -398,726,39
Read them and weep.

Recall that Gov. Walker's budget called for an 8.4% decrease to school funding.
These data reflect an average decrease of 9.1%.
For a dataset this large, and with this variability, the median is a better value to focus on than the mean (average).  For the 424 school districts, the median decrease in state aid is 10.13%.  In fact 230 out of the 424 districts received a cut of exactly 10.13%.

73% of districts had their state aid slashed by MORE than the average.

Is Walker's plan really working??

Detail from the Budget in Brief(s)

To create sustainable financial support for public education, the Governor proposes the following: 


 Reduce general equalization aid by $749.4 million over the biennium to help address the state budget deficit.  Annually, the decreases compared to base will be $390.5 million (8.4 percent) in fiscal year 2011-12 and $358.9 million in fiscal year 2012-13 (7.7 percent).  To prevent major aid reductions to individual school districts, the special adjustment aid hold harmless provision is increased to guarantee school districts 90 percent of their prior year general aid amounts for fiscal year 2011-12.
Current law guarantees 85 percent.

 Eliminate the following GPR-funded categorical aid programs, totaling $29.9 million annually:
advanced placement; alternative education; alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and intervention; children-at-risk; English for Southeast Asian children; improving pupil academic achievement; nursing services; preschool to grade 5 programs; science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs; and supplemental aid.  With the exception of the grants for improving academic achievement program, which provides aid to the Milwaukee Public Schools district, the remaining programs were all recommended for repeal and repurposing by the Department of Public Instruction in its budget request.  The department recognized that these programs are either too small to provide meaningful resources to school districts or have unproven results.  While the department proposes to reallocate these funds to create a new competitive grant program to reduce dropouts and improve graduation rates, the goal is not backed up with a proven plan to achieve it.  The Governor proposes, instead, to use a portion of the savings to create new initiatives to improve student reading levels and create a state-of-the-art student information system, and the remainder to help address the state budget deficit.



To protect property taxpayers from significant levy increases, the Governor recommends: 
 Reducing school district revenue limits per pupil in fiscal years 2011-12 and 2012-13 by 5.5 percent below the amounts authorized in fiscal year 2010-11.  While revenue limits will decrease, school boards will have more tools to manage these decreases through increasing school district employees' share of fringe benefit costs and the repeal of some state mandates.

 Repealing state mandates that prevent school districts from:

• scheduling fewer than 180 school days annually even though they meet current hours of instruction requirements; 
• providing reading instruction without employing reading specialists; 
• employing school nurses who are licensed, but may not have a bachelor's degree; 
• addressing indoor environmental quality without adopting a plan approved by the Department of Public Instruction; 
• providing staff training on administering prescription and nonprescription drugs to students only if the training is approved by the Department of Public Instruction; and 
• exceeding 200 teaching service days for Milwaukee Public Schools. 

 Repealing revenue limit exemptions for school nurses, pupil transportation costs, school safety equipment and security officers.  These revenue limit exemptions were signed into law as part of the 2009-11 biennial budget, but were not scheduled to go into effect until fiscal year 2011-12.  Repealing these exemptions will protect property taxpayers in future years without impacting current school district spending for these activities.

http://www.doa.state.wi.us/debf/pdf_files/bib1113.pdf

Budget to Clobber Sun Prairie for $1M More than Projected?

We  received this this afternoon from a Sun Prairie reader...

State Superintendent Tony Evers commented today on the Feb. 25 working paper from Dr. Andrew Reschovsky, a professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Reschovsky’s study, “An Analysis of the Proposal to Reduce Revenue Limits for Wisconsin School Districts,” is based on widely reported reductions in school aid of more than $900 million and a new revenue limit that mandates a $500 per-pupil reduction in property tax authority.

 

Additional information is available on the Department of Public Instruction newsroom website http://dpi.wi.gov/eis/pdf/dpinr2011_22.pdf. A printout of the impact of reported per-pupil revenue limit reductions for the state’s 424 school districts is available at http://dpi.wi.gov/eis/pdf/dpinr2011_22_districtprojections.pdf.

 

 

SP could face 4.6 MILLION less based on the link at http://dpi.wi.gov/eis/pdf/dpinr2011_22_districtprojections.pdf

............................

Note:  Walker's Budget Bill calls for a slightly smaller ($834M) reduction in state aid, but further reduces the revenue limit (ability of a district to collect revenues) by another $50 per student, for a total reduction of $550/student.

More Signage

Damn!  'Sconnies sure are a creative bunch!