School Funding Commission to Hold Hearing February 2nd
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | January 23, 2018
The Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding will hold a public hearing at 10:30am on Friday, February 2nd at the James Madison Academic Campus, 8135 W. Florist Avenue, Milwaukee.
The Commission will hear testimony from invited speakers including representatives from Milwaukee Public Schools, Southeast Wisconsin Schools Alliance and School Choice Wisconsin. Following the invited speakers, members of the public will be able to share their thoughts with the Commission. This public testimony will be limited to 5 minutes for each speaker. The hearing will conclude at 4:00pm.
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Priority Legislative Alert – Sparsity Aid/Low Revenue Ceiling
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | January 23, 2018
The SAA is issuing a Priority Legislative Alert on Assembly Bill 835, relating to sparsity aid and the low revenue ceiling for school districts.
Assembly Bill 835 has been scheduled for public hearing before the Assembly Committee on Education this Thursday, January 25th at 10:00 am in Room 417 North, State Capitol. The SAA supports the bill. However, we do have concerns about the provision of the bill that prevents a school district from utilizing the low revenue adjustment if, during the three prior school years, an operating referendum failed in the district.
See Public Hearing Notice here.
We urge SAA members to take action now! Please contact your legislators and ask them to support AB 835. The SAA will also advocate for removing the “failed referendum” provision. At the very least we believe the effective date of the provision should be modified to focus on future operating referenda.
AB 835 does the following:
- Beginning in 2018-19, school districts that qualify for sparsity aid would receive $400 per pupil, an increase of $100 per pupil. The bill would provide additional sparsity aid funding of $6,454,600 in 2018-19.
- The low revenue ceiling would increase from the current $9,100 to $9,400 per pupil in 2018-19 and increase an additional $100 per pupil in each successive year until it reached $9,800 per pupil in 2022-23 and each year thereafter.
- Provides that a school district may not utilize the low revenue adjustment if, during the three prior school years, an operating referendum failed in the school district. After three years have passed, the district could then utilize the applicable low revenue ceiling amount for that year, if eligible.
In your communication please consider using the talking points listed below as well as any of your own thoughts about the bill based on your experiences and expertise. Make sure you share with your legislators what the additional sparsity aid and /or revenue cap authority under the bill would mean for your district and especially for the students you serve.
Sparsity Aid Talking Points:
- In 2017-18, 144 districts qualified for sparsity aid, with aid prorated at 98.8% (about $297) of the $300 per pupil appropriated under current law.
- The sparsity aid program was designed to address the significant operational challenges faced by small, rural districts in Wisconsin. These challenges include relatively large geographic size and distance from neighboring schools, the impact of declining enrollment and the resulting larger per pupil costs to maintain operations.
- Data also suggests that districts with the lowest student population density are among the districts with the lowest average income
- These districts also tend to have high poverty rates and high pupil transportation costs.
Low Revenue Adjustment Talking Points:
- School revenue limits were imposed by the state in 1993-94 and have been in place for 25 years.
- Frugal, low-spending districts were “locked in” to low per pupil revenue limits at their inception.
- Some districts have passed referenda to increase their revenue limit authority, but many others have found it difficult to do so, resulting in a widening revenue limit gap among districts throughout the state.
- Use of the low revenue ceiling is not required; it is an option for districts to utilize.
- The low revenue ceiling is the mechanism for low spending districts to narrow the disparity with the highest spending districts in Wisconsin.
- No school districts are eligible for the low revenue adjustment in the current school year.
- The educational opportunities afforded to every child in Wisconsin should not be determined by their zip code. An improved low revenue ceiling policy in Wisconsin is an important part of ensuring equitable resources for all children no matter where they live.
- The current low revenue ceiling of $9,100 per pupil has now fallen to 86.2% of the statewide average revenue limit per pupil. Quite frankly, that is too low for a state that considers its school funding system equitable for all children.
“Failed Referendum” Talking Points:
- The “retroactive” portion of this provision is estimated to affect the following nine districts in 2018-19: Bonduel, Cameron, Chilton, Darlington Community, Freedom, Gillett, Howard-Suamico, Osceola, and Southern Door County.
- There are nine additional school districts with referenda that are slated for this spring (2018).
- The low revenue ceiling was designed, at least in part, to provide a state-determined level of per pupil resources for those districts that have found it difficult to pass operating referenda.
- Once again, the educational opportunities afforded to every child in Wisconsin should not be determined by their zip code.
- One could argue that the voters in these districts did not have all the information about the high-stakes nature of their operating referendum.
- At the very least, the effective date of this provision should be modified to remove the retroactivity and to accommodate referenda that are already in the pipeline for this spring.
For your convenience in contacting your legislators, we have provided links to the Assembly Directory, the Senate Directory and Who Are My Legislators.
If you should have any questions please email me. Thanks for listening and, as always, thank you for everything you do on behalf of Wisconsin school children.
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LFB Memo on Low Revenue Ceiling/Sparsity Bills
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | January 19, 2018
In response to numerous inquiries, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau has released this memo providing information on the estimated effect of AB 835/SB690 on school districts. Check it out here.
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Fiscal Bureau Projects $385 Million Surplus at End of 2017-19 Biennium
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | January 19, 2018
From WisPolitics.com …
JFC Co-chair Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, hailed the new revenue numbers released Wednesday, but isn’t committing just yet to a bill that would boost state aid to rural school districts.
“I think we have to look at all of our priorities,” she told WisPolitics.com. “There are a lot of bills on the table that a lot of people consider really important.”
Fellow JFC Co-chair John Nygren last week unveiled a plan that would pump an additional $6.4 million into the state’s sparsity aid program. The bill also includes a plan that would allow low-spending school districts to pull in more revenue from taxpayers. Darling said last week she wanted to see new revenue projections before commiting to the plan.
Darling said today she still wants to discuss the proposal with the Senate GOP caucus and there are a number of other priorities pending before the Legislature that would spend more money. That includes a proposed $6.8 million campaign to attract workers to Wisconsin, she said.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau today upped its projected ending balance for the 2017-19 budget by $137.5 million with revenue projections for the two-year period improving slightly.
That takes the total projected surplus to $385.2 million.
Along with the increase of $76.3 million in tax collections and another $1.7 million more in departmental revenues, the nonpartisan LFB is projecting a $97.7 million drop in appropriations.
The majority of the spending decrease, the agency said, is due to re-estimates on the necessary amount to fund general fund debt service.
Of the projected increase in tax collections, $38.2 million would be transferred to the budget stabilization fund, if the expectations hold.
Gov. Scott Walker touted the numbers as “further proof that we are achieving positive results for Wisconsin families.”
“Today’s report shows our economy is strong, and it shows our expenses are down because we are committed to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” he said. “We are working and winning for Wisconsin.”
Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, meanwhile, knocked the guv’s past budget decisions and wrote off the surplus as a “minor” increase largely due to one-time savings from the debt refinancing.
“With increased spending commitments for cash payments to FoxConn and the continued refusal to expand Medicaid, Republicans have left the state fiscally unprepared for slower economic times,” he said.
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SAA Supports AB 805 — Concurrent Enrollment Fix
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | January 19, 2018
The SAA registered its support for Assembly Bill 805, the Concurrent Enrollment “Fix”, at a public hearing held yesterday before the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities. Tim Schell, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Waunakee Community Schools, and Mike Sereno, Director of Secondary Teaching and Learning for the Elmbrook School District, did a fabulous job testifying in support of the bill. The bill had no opposition at the committee hearing.
As you know, the Early College Credit Program (ECCP) adopted in the 2017-19 State Budget significantly altered the funding model for concurrent enrollment programs at UW System campuses. The old system was a shared funding model with K12 school districts absorbing the staffing costs and the UW institutions providing the accreditation and accountability. Parents then received access to college credits at reduced cost.
However, the new ECCP program requires school districts to pick up 75% of the costs, with the state picking up 25%. The new funding burden for school districts will likely end this effective program.
AB 805 would exempt concurrent enrollment programs at UW System schools from the new ECCP requirements. The SAA is supporting this legislation, as is the Southeastern Wisconsin Schools Alliance (SWSA), the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance (WiRSA) and the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB). The bill has bipartisan support in the legislature.
SAA members are encouraged to contact their legislators as soon as possible and ask them to support this important legislation.
The SAA will keep you informed of this important effort.
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