Marisue Horton notes that Madison, Oregon and Fitchburg have different property tax mill rates. The mill rate applied to a property’s assessed value determines the amount of tax due. Mill rates are one element to the story. However and unfortunately, these comparisons are difficult because each community reassesses property on a different timeframe. Madison reassesses … Continue reading Local Property Tax Comparisons: the Swan Creek Discussion →
Kurt Gutknecht: Frustrated by continued uncertainty over where their children will attend school, residents of Swan Creek are asking to be transferred to the Oregon School District. The decision would reverse a 2003 decision that transferred Swan Creek to the Madison Metropolitan School District. Residents obtained signatures from 188 households on a petition asking the … Continue reading Gutknecht on “Swan Creek residents ask to join Oregon schools” →
Sandy Cullen: The Madison School Board and the Oregon School Board both are scheduled to address the petition at their Feb. 27 meetings. The land on which the subdivision is located was previously part of the Oregon School District. It was transferred effective July 1, 2003, to the Madison district in exchange for commercial property, … Continue reading More on the Swan Creek Petition to Leave the Madison School District →
Fitchburg’s Swan Creek subdivision petitioned recently to leave the Madison School District. [Map] A reader emails that Swan Creek currently has 21 students in the MMSD. Links: Where have all the Children Gone? East / West Attendance Area Task Force Discussions 5 pages from the petition [1.1mb pdf] Wisconsin Statutes: [106K PDF] UPDATE: A reader … Continue reading Swan Creek Petitions to Leave the MMSD →
Kurt Gutknecht: The plan advanced by Jerry Eykholt, a member of the task force studying ways to deal with overcrowding at schools on in west side of the Madison school district, would move students to Lincoln Elementary School. Eykholt drafted the proposal in response to a letter signed by 185 households in Swan Creek who … Continue reading Proposal Would Send All Swan Creek Students to Lincoln →
Kurt Gutknecht, writing in the Fitchburg Star: Residents of Swan Creek have launched a spirited campaign against plans to bus students from the area to Midvale/Lincoln elementary schools. A few days after Christmas, 185 households signed a letter [500K PDF] opposing the plan, which a task force had proposed to address overcrowding at several schools … Continue reading Swan Creek Residents Organize to Stay at Leopold →
Amber Walker:: In 1982, the city of Madison annexed the land where The Crossings now sits from the town of Middleton. That same year, Wisconsin passed a law that no longer required school district boundaries to follow municipal boundaries. While the land was in Madison, it was still a part of the Middleton-Cross Plains Area … Continue reading The long ride: A zoning decision sends kids in a west side condo complex to Cross Plains for school →
Susan Troller: The parents at Midvale Elementary School have heard it all: It’s a school no ambitious parent wants. The bus rides are long and unpleasant as children are sent far from their homes along the hazardous Beltline. After more than 20 years, the pairing of Midvale and Lincoln elementary schools, developed as part of … Continue reading A Look at the Midvale / Lincoln Elementary Pair →
Carol Carstensen: Parent Group Presidents: BUDGET FACTOID: The Community Service Fund (known for its state accounting code, Fund 80) is not under the revenue cap; these services are funded by a combination of fees and a separate portion of the tax levy. Madison School Community Recreation (MSCR) represents more than 80% of these expenditures. Some … Continue reading Carol Carstensen’s Weekly Update →
Carol Carstensen: Parent Group Presidents: BUDGET FACTOID: MTI has just informed the district that it will not agree to reopen negotiations to consider changes to health insurance. If the union had agreed to reopen negotiations on this point, the agreement was that any savings that resulted from a change in health insurance options would be … Continue reading Carol Carstensen’s Weekly Message →
Kurt Gutknecht, writing in the Fitchburg Star about the recent Board and public discussion of the East / West Task Forces: There was a sense of déjà vu when the Madison Metropolitan School Board met Jan. 30 when the schism that fractured it last year – and which appeared to be a key factor in … Continue reading School board divided again over plans to reduce overcrowding →
Video | MP3 Audio Monday evening’s Board meeting presented a rather animated clash of wills between, it appears, those (A majority of the Board, based on the meeting discussions) who support Fitchburg’s Swan Creek residents and their desire to remain at a larger Leopold School vs. those who favor using existing District schools that have … Continue reading East / West Task Force Report: Board Discussion and Public Comments →
Dear Board, While serving as a member on the Long Range Planning Committee for the West/Memorial Task Force I came to a few insights I would like to share. Our charge was to seek solutions for the over-crowded schools in Memorial and Leopold attendance area as well as address the low income disparity throughout the … Continue reading Task Force Insight →
Kurt Gutknect writing in the Fitchburg Star: Satellite View of Fitchurg | Madison School District Map | Oregon School District Map | Verona School District Map You don’t have to travel very far to hear snide remarks about Fitchburg. It’s a sprawling suburb. Unchecked growth. An enclave for white folks and their McMansions. Of course, … Continue reading Time for Our Own District (Fitchburg) →
Kurt Kiefer via email: I’m writing in response to your questions from last week re: boundary change options. Tim Potter, research analyst on my staff who is handling all of the GIS work on the project, provided the details. a) Leopold at 1040 students. I seem to recall the original plan was 800? (it’s now … Continue reading MMSD’s Kurt Keifer on the Administration’s Boundary Plans →
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