School Information System

Taxpayer Information I'd like to see from the Madison School District

Given this and the probability of three spending referendums this spring, I would like to see the Madison School District's finance folks publish the following information (in html, on their web site):

The District's sources and uses of funds over the past 10 years, including:

• total spending (education, special ed, services, staff/admin, other)
  
  
• Employment numbers (teachers, staff, part time, mscr)
  
  
• revenues (by source: grants, local taxes, state & federal funds), fees
  
  
• Student counts, including low income changes, special ed and population changes across the district (from school to school)
  
  
• Supporting numbers, notes and comments to the data.

This type of detailed, background information would be rather useful to all Madison citizens as we contemplate further increases in education spending. There's been some discussion of eliminating the deduction for state & local taxes for federal tax purposes. IF that happens, there will be quite a blowback from places like Wisconsin that have relatively high taxes.

Wisconsin Property Taxes

Several recent articles highlight the ongoing problem of state & local taxes growing faster than Wisconsin personal income:

• Wisconsin Taxpayer's Alliance released a study that forecasts 2005 property taxes will go up more than 6 percent. They also forecast that the local school portion of property taxes will go up 7.3%. They also found that property taxes will account for 4.1% of Wisconsin taxpayer's personal income. (via JR Ross)
  
  
• Unsurprisingly, The Taxpayer Bill of Rights continues to be discussed in Madison. This will continue to be a hot button issue as long as state and local spending continues to rise faster than personal incomes (there will be a reckoning unless the economy grows faster...., here's an example: Judy Wagner, 65, a Milwaukee substitute teacher, said her property taxes were forcing her to postpone her retirement. Her property tax bill had risen from about $3,000 in 2000 to just under $4,700 now, she said.

  "My options are to work until I'm 75 or 80 or sell my home and move south like three of my friends have," she said.) Via Patrick Marley & Steven Walters.
  
  

• This will help, to some degree, though we must create a more robust environment for tax paying entrepreneurs. True statewide, 2 way broadband (not the current slow DSL and cable modem services) and a much simplified tax/paperwork process would be a great start.