The disagreement raises questions about how communities, in times of tight budgets, find the dollars to provide recreation and enrichment programs for their residents.
School Board President Keith Heun said he expects the ad hoc committee to make some headway on a new agreement before the School Board’s next meeting July 9. Members have not yet been chosen, but likely will include representatives from the School Board and Common Council.
The board also voted this week to rework its classification of school facility users. Since 1968, the city’s Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department has been classified as a group two user along with other non-profit civil and service organizations that don’t have to pay rental fees, Heun said.
Locally, spending growth in the Madison School District’s Fund 80 (property taxes outside the state’s school revenue growth limits, or “caps”) has been controversial.