Community Votes to Maintain Busing Distances

In a close 85-79 vote last night, community members voted to maintain the 2.0 mile limit for busing middle school students, instead of reducing the limit to 1.5 miles, saving taxpayers $90K.

Even at a drastically reduced cost of $89,650, perhaps community members were reacting to displeasure with the school board's proposed 7.8% tax levy increase. The Special Electors meeting immediately followed the district's third (and final???) public hearing on its budget. The tone of comments indicated that the community feels that the district simply isn't in touch with the realities of cut wages or lost jobs that the district taxpayers continue to face.

We wonder if the move to reduce the busing distance was doomed to failure by virtue of being a spending headliner act forced to take the stage after the district inflamed taxpayers at the budget hearing.

Get off your bassboat and VOTE!

If you do ONE thing this summer that could be filed under boring, tedious, or mundane, then come out to the Public Hearing on the School District budget this Wednesday and stay for the Special Electors Meeting at 7:30 PM.

Whether you agree or disagree about whether the school district should spend $89,000 (increasing annually) to cut the distance that middle schoolers have to walk from 2 miles to 1.5 miles....cast your vote.

The school board and district administration think (or hope) that you're either asleep at the wheel, absolutely thrilled with another 8% property tax increase, or that you simply don't care enough to do something about it.

Prove them wrong.

It's easy...just grab a neighbor and bring them out to the Public Hearing on the Budget followed by the Special Elector's Meeting. The Brewers play in the afternoon that day, and NFL training camps are just beginning to open. The TV has nothing but low quality reruns, so come on down!

This Wednesday July 28, 2010

Performing Arts Center at the new Sun Prairie High School

888 Grove Street

6:30 pm: Public Hearing on the School District Budget

7:30 pm: Special Electors Meeting to decide the busing issue

Don't know what to say? Here are some ideas

• Do you think school district employees (particularly $100K/yr administrators) deserve fat raises? Get up to the microphone and tell them.
• Do you think the Local 60 support staff should continue to get the short end of the stick? Or should all employees be treated equally? Tell them what you think.
• Health insurance premiums cost $1,200 per month for a family. Some staff are paying as less than $17.00 per month. TELL the board what percentage of premium costs you think they should be having employees pay.
• Dental insurance premiums cost about $500 per month for a family. Some staff don't pay a dime!. TELL the board what percentage of premium costs you think they should be having employees pay.
• Other than turning the thermostats up and down 2 degrees, the district has only incorporated about $15,000 of permanent reductions into their $72M 2010-11 budget. Think that's good enough?
• The school district portion of the mill rate will be at least $12.12 this year. That's 7.8% higher than last year's $11.24. That additional $0.88 means an additional $176 property tax on a $200,000 home. How do you like them apples?

Remember....if you stay silent and do not show up, the school board interprets that as tacit approval to march on with their budget. Remind them NOW that they need to sharpen their pencils, because you will be back in force for the October 11, Annual Elector's meeting.

Tell the board that if they don't change the levy now, they run the risk of YOU changing it for them in October.

Of course...if you got a great raise at your job this year, you think the economy has turned around, that teachers and administrators are underpaid and you think we should continue to blindly throw money at the school district in the name of education even if we don't score that well on state tests and don't have state or national merit scholars....

then you can tell them that too.

Read the STAR article

If We Wait Long Enough, Will It Be Free?

Make up your minds, will ya!

Residents of Wyndham Hills--and the public--were initially told that if they went ahead with a plan to demand that a Special Electors Meeting be held to reduce the required distance for busing from 2.0 to 1.5 miles would cost district residents at least $292,000.

Given the economy, that pronouncement seemed to loom as a potentially painful poke in the eye with a very sharp stick to residents struggling to make ends meet and already worried about rising property taxes.

Was it Fear Factor Sun Prairie?

Was that initial cost projection a tad elevated to suck the wind out of the public's lungs and perhaps deter the Wyndham Hill community from pursuing their quest?

As usual with this school district, we can only guess and infer because full disclosure is simply not going to happen unless a major overhaul of the school board is enacted.

Busing Costs Become A Moving Target

In the span of just 35 days, we have seen the estimates of the cost of providing busing to middle schoolers that live more than 1.5 miles (instead of 2) drop from $292,000, to $146000, and now to $89,000.

June 17, the STAR

...If the walking distances for middle school aged children are decreased, it will affect the entire school district. SPASD business services and Kobussen Bus Company project that if the distance was decreased from two miles to one and a half miles, the transportation costs would be $292,000. Costs would continue to increase by 3 percent for the next five years.

--the STAR June 17

July 14, the STAR

...A decrease in the middle school busing distance would increase the district’s busing costs. For example, reducing the distance to one and a half (1.5) miles would increase busing costs by an estimated $146,000. All residents living in the school district may attend and vote at this meeting.

-- the STAR July 14

$146,000 was also the figure cited on a special postcard mailer received in all homes this week.

July 22, School District Administration E-Mail

From: Phil Frei pfrei@spasd.k12.wi.us>
Sent: Thu Jul 22 08:55:39 2010
Subject: News on reducing the MS milage to 1.5 miles

Kobussen ran the proposed routes for 1.5 miles. It wont take as many new routes as originally planned, the estimated cost is now $89,650. This is about 2 1/2 cents on the mill rate or $4.50 tax increase on a $200,000 home.

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

Ya know...it would seem that for what we pay our administrators, one would think that we could get better accuracy on the numbers coming out of the district. It just seems that with every issue, the cost is a moving target.

Will You Vote On July 28th?

*** Special Electors Meeting on July 28, 2010 ***

The Sun Prairie Area School District will hold a Special Electors Meeting on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, at 7:30 pm in the Performing Arts Center of the new Sun Prairie High School, 888 Grove Street. A petition to decrease middle school busing distances from the current 2.0 miles has been submitted to the school district. The Special Electors Meeting is a result of this petition. At this meeting, electors in attendance could vote to change this distance. 6:30 pm: Public Hearing on the 2010-2011 School District Budget 7:30 pm: Special Electors Meeting A decrease in the middle school busing distance would increase the district’s busing costs. For example, reducing the distance to 1.5 miles would increase busing costs by an estimated $146,000. All residents living in the school district may attend and vote at this meeting. Prior to the Special Electors Meeting, there will be a Public Hearing on the Proposed 2010-2011 School District Budget at 6:30 pm. This is the third public hearing on the proposed budget. Community members are encouraged to attend both meetings to learn more about the budget process and to give input on the topic of middle school busing distances. Click here for more information on the proposed budget. If you have additional questions, please contact Deputy District Administrator Phil Frei at 834-6510. ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... What's an "Electors" Meeting? An Elector's Meeting is an official meeting of school district residents to discuss and vote on any number of orders of business that fall within the scope of "Powers" of the Electors. State law requires that each year (in October in Sun Prairie) a meeting of the Electors be held to vote on the amount of the school district tax levy. Astute observers will recall that at last year's Annual Electors Meeting, residents voted to reduce the levy requested by the district by $2M. What's a Special Electors Meeting? A "Special" Electors Meeting may be called in addition to the Annual Electors Meeting when district residents wish to effect a change with respect to one of the "powers" of the electors. How Often Do Special Elector's Meetings occur? Pretty rarely, actually. The last one in Sun Prairie was about 4 1/2 years ago when a ridiculously expense lease proposal was being pursued to use the new "Y" swimming pool. Of course, you now know that was voted down by about 120 or so residents at the Special Elector's meeting. State statutes allow up to two additional "Special" Elector's Meetings (in addition to the "Annual" Electors Meeting) each year. All that is required is a petition with 100 district resident signatures. The petition must clearly state the nature of business for the meeting, and it must fall with the scope of the "Powers of Electors". Who is an "Elector" (Who can vote)? Anyone that is 18 or older and has lived in the school district for the past 10 days. It's that simple. If you live within the Sun Prairie Area school district boundaries (and have for at least 10 days) and are at least 18, you may vote. What is the Issue being voted on at the July 28, 2010 Meeting? A request is being made to direct the district to change the minimum distance for bus service of middle school kids from 2.0 miles to 1.5 miles. This request comes from residents of Wyndham Hills, whose children were eligible for bus service up until this fall? Why The Change? The City recently installed a bike path the extends from the Wyndham Hills development to Prairie View Middle School. Prior to the availability of the bike path, the school kids' walking/bike route was declared "Unusually Hazardous (there are statutes to define that...of course). That allowed the district to provide busing and receive state aid to defray the cost. Now that the area is no longer officially deemed hazardous, the kids must walk the route. How Much Will It Cost? The current projection is about $146,000 for 2010-11; obviously transportation costs increase every year. With the current budget numbers, this looks to add about 4 cents ($0.04) to the mill rate, bringing it to about $12.16 for the school district portion for 2010-11. 4 cents amounts to about $8.00 annually for a $200,000 home. What are these "Powers" That We Have at Electors Meetings? (1) CHAIRPERSON AND CLERK. Elect a chairperson to run the meeting (2) ADJOURNMENT. Adjourn from time to time. (3) SALARIES OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. Vote annual salaries for school board members or an amount for each school board meeting the member actually attends. (4) REIMBURSEMENT OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. for expenses incurred (5) BUILDING SITES. Designate sites for school district buildings (5m) REAL ESTATE. Authorize the school board to acquire, by purchase or condemnation, real estate and structures and facilities (6) TAX FOR SITES, BUILDINGS AND MAINTENANCE. Vote a tax to purchase or lease suitable sites for school buildings, to build, rent,lease or purchase and furnish, equip and maintain school district buildings. (7) TAX FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES. Vote a tax to purchase, operate and maintain transportation vehicles and to purchase liability insurance for such vehicles, and to finance contracts for the use and services of such vehicles. (8) TAX FOR OPERATION. Vote a tax for the operation of the schools of the school district. (9) TAX FOR DEBTS. Vote a tax necessary to discharge any debts or liabilities of the school district. (10) SCHOOL DEBT SERVICE FUND. Vote a tax to create a fund for the purpose of paying all current bonded indebtedness for capital expenditures. (10m) SCHOOL CAPITAL EXPANSION FUND. Vote a tax to create a fund for the purpose of financing all current and future capital expenditures related to buildings and sites. (11) TAX FOR RECREATION AUTHORITY. Vote a tax for the purposes specified in s. 66.0123. (12) SALE OF PROPERTY. Authorize the sale of any property belonging to and not needed by the school district. (14) LEGAL PROCEEDINGS. Direct and provide for the prosecution or defense of any action or proceedings in which the school district is interested. (15) TEXTBOOKS. Authorize the school board to furnish textbooks under conditions prescribed by the annual meeting or by the school board. The authorization shall continue in effect until revoked by a subsequent annual meeting. (16) SCHOOL LUNCHES. Direct the school board to furnish school lunches to the pupils of the school district and appropriate funds for that purpose.

Will you come out on July 28 and vote to speak YOUR position on the issue?

SP-EYE: We applaud the residents of Wyndham Hills for (A) becoming engaged in the school district process, and (B) for doing their homework and exercising their rights to demand a Special Elector's Meeting. Elector's Meetings DO offer some district residents some pretty awesome powers.

We hope they'll stay engaged for the budget hearing and, more importantly, for the Annual Electors Meeting scheduled for October 11th.

Rollercoaster Budget Ride

The July 1st Finance Committee and School Board meetings offered a rollercoaster ride of good news and not-so-good news on the budget front.

Good News: July 1 Initial State Aid Estimate UP

Phil Frei reported that the district had budgeted on receiving approximately an 11% increase in state aid (the increase related to the 4K program). The July 1st estimate from DPI indicates an increase of approximately 12.5% is expected.

That means about $300,000 MORE in state aid, and thus $300K LESS for the tax levy

Not So Good News: Special Elector's Meeting could increase Busing Costs

At the full meeting of the school board, a special elector's meeting was scheduled for July 28, in response to a petition (as per state statutes) containing at least 100 citizen signatures calling for a special meeting of the district electors (anyone of voting age that has lived in the district at least 10 days). The item up for vote is to change the maximum distance that middle school students must walk before district bus transportation is provided from 2.0 miles to 1.5 miles.

If a majority of electors who come out for the July 28 meeting vote in favor of the change, the net effect will be to increase district busing costs by about $292,000 for 2010-11, which will increase in future years.

If the busing change is approved...and that certainly looks to be the outcome, then the effect of the increased aid is effectively negated.

Not So Good News: Equalized Value Projection LOWERED

Following discussions with the city, Phil Frei recommended that the projection for property values district-wide (the "Equalized Value") be lowered from an initial estimate of 1% growth to 0% growth.

This means that because the Equalized Value is decreased by 1%, then the Mill Rate increases by 1%. A projected $12.00 per $1,000 of assessed value mill rate now projects out at $12.12 ($30 additional property tax on a $250K home).

SP-EYE - Hmmm....play back those Finance Committee DVDs. We think you'll find that citizen representative on the Finance Committee Rick Mealy pressed the committee back in the spring to use a 0% growth estimate. Of course the committee disagreed and voted to use the 1% growth estimate. What a difference 6 weeks makes. eh? Mealy's rationale was that all indicators at that time pointed to a net 0% increased in property values; in fact the City of Sun Prairie was basing ITS budget on 0% growth. In addition, it is far better to initiate budget discussions with a worst case scenario and then as projections become more solid, a brighter picture for the mill rate might emerge. It's better to go into the Annual Elector's Meeting with better news...right? Now we've told the community to expect a mill rate of $12.00 and in one fell swoop, it increases to $12.12.

The net effect of these three changes (since the increase in state aid and the increased busing costs are basically a wash) is to increase the projected mill rate to $12.12.

Factoid of the Week: (based on current budget parameters) Every $1M change in the tax levy changes the mill rate about about $0.25.

So...either cutting or increasing the tax levy by each $1M changes the mill rate by 25 cents.