School Information System

Video: Madison School Board Discusses the Proposed $367,806,712 2008/2009 Budget

Watch the 56 minute video. Budget links and notes.

$60,000,000 to Raise US Education Awareness, 1 Year Later

Creative to run google ads..... not.

To this point, it has certainly not raised education issues effectively in the Presidential campaign. (Romer launched this initiative in April, 2007).

Former Colorado Governor and LA Superintendent Roy Romer has pulled together some heavy foundation funds. Much more on Roy Romer here.

Trapped in the Middle - Income Stagnates

Justin Lahart & Kelley Evans:

Are you better off than you were eight years ago? For a growing number of middle-class Americans, the answer is "No."

Here and elsewhere, middle-class earnings aren't keeping up with the cost of living. Rising gasoline and food prices, health bills, child-care and education costs are leaving less to set aside for retirement. With the housing market in turmoil, even the asset many had come to count on -- the value of their homes -- is threatened.It isn't just a reflection of the current economic slowdown and rise in commodity prices: Middle-class incomes have been stagnant for several years. The well-heeled keep doing better, with the wealthiest 1% of U.S. families garnering the largest share of income since 1929.

"This is a squeezing-down cycle, and people are trying to hang on," says Randy Riggs, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in this city in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. "Five years ago, I had these visions of what the church could do and hoped to raise funds to do so. I can't be a dreamer at the moment." Mr. Riggs says he recently tabled a project to renovate the church's chapel because he sensed he couldn't raise enough money.

More food for thought with respect to taxes and school spending.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: A Chat with Melania Alvarez

While working on another project, I came across the transcript of an interview I did with Melania Alvarez in early 2004. Melania was an MMSD parent and an assessment analyst at the UW-Madison prior to leaving the area shortly after the election (Melania lost to Johnny Winston, Jr in April, 2004 - Winston's transcript).

I found the transcript interesting. The topics discussed in 2004 certainly apply today, from curriculum to school discipline/violence and the budget.

Madison School Board Says No to City Infrastructure Costs for a Potential New East Side School Development

There was an interesting discussion that unfortunately received no publicity during the March 24, 2008 school board meeting regarding proposed Sprecher Road [map] seven figure infrastructure costs (this spending would, perhaps have begun the process of constructing a new east side school). The Board voted 3-3 (Yes: Carstensen, Moss and Silveira; No: Cole, Kobza and Mathiak with Winston absent), which resulted in a no on these costs. Watch the video here. It would seem ill advised to begin borrowing money for a new school given the ongoing budget challenges. Last spring's downtown school closing unpleasantness is another factor to consider with respect to potential new edge schools.

Elmbrook passes state's largest school referendum

Andy Szal:

The largest school district referendum on the ballot was approved but most other large school spending measures failed when submitted to voters in the spring election.

A total of 30 referendums totaling more than $165 million were approved Tuesday. Thirty-one failed, representing nearly $285 million.

The Elmbrook school district gained $62.2 million to renovate and expand Brookfield Central and East high schools. A referendum last year for $108.8 million failed in the suburban Milwaukee district.

Of the 12 districts with referendums exceeding $10 million, only measures in Racine and La Crosse passed. Racine passed a $16.5 million referendum, while La Crosse passed a $20.9 million referendum. Voters in La Crosse also rejected a second referendum for $35 million to construct a new elementary school.

Wisconsin DPI Referenda site. More from George Hesselberg.

Wisconsin Heights Plots Cost Cutting Strategy After Failed Referendum

Channel3000:

t said that he believes Tuesday's school referendum failed because it had "no light at the end of the tunnel".

Terry Zander was one of three school board members opposed to holding the referendum and said that he voted against it. He doesn't, however, rule out the possibility of another referendum being held later, perhaps next spring, WISC-TV reported.

District voters saw their total property tax bills rise 16 percent last year when adding together school and all other property taxes. They narrowly defeated Tuesday's plan, which sought to exceed state revenue caps and increase spending by a total $800,000 to cover budget deficits during the next two years.

The measure was defeated by a mere 53 votes, but Zander said that the "people have spoken" and the amount of votes shouldn't matter.

He said that he doesn't believe people change a budget deficit situation overnight. He said that past cuts are still being implemented and that voters want the board to work together to find a long-term solution to the situation. When that is done, Zander said that if a deficit remains, he could see holding another referendum.

This is the second referendum in two years that has failed to get approved, WISC-TV reported.

Uncontested election gives new board members opportunities

Susan Troller:

Without opponents in their races for Madison School Board seats, candidates Ed Hughes and Marjorie Passman have spent more time identifying issues that unite rather than divide them.

Although both candidates said they were concerned by the lack of interest in this spring's school board race, they admitted that it had offered some unique opportunities.

"In a contested election, there's a tendency to pigeonhole the candidates," Hughes, a Madison attorney who is running for his first elected office, said in a recent interview.

Hughes said that in a more normal election, Passman's extensive classroom experience and passionate enthusiasm for teaching and teachers would have labeled her as the teachers' union candidate.

"She would have been pushed towards MTI. It's likely I would have been pushed in the other direction. It's far more subtle than that and it's not fair to either one of us," he observed.

School Board? Who.... me?

Erin Richards:

According to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, candidates for local office should have these qualifications:

1. A belief that all kids are entitled to a good education
2. An open mind
3. A willingness to attend seminars to help them make intelligent decisions about school affairs
4. An ability to work with other school board members
5. Time

There are a few others, but you get the idea; it's not like you need a graduate degree in economics for this gig. So why, according to a recent Journal Sentinel analysis, are almost 70% of local school board races in the five-county metro area going uncontested?

Seems like with all the concern over achievement rates, No Child Left Behind testing and cuts to school programs that more people, rather than fewer, would be interested in having a vote on what happens to their local district. One person has told us that part of it may be because so many schools have cut civics courses that illuminate how local government works.

John Matthews has run Madison's teachers union for 40 years. Is it time for a change?

Jason Shephard:

But while Matthews laments the failures of government to improve teaching and learning, he glosses over his own pivotal role in local educational leadership. That role includes standing in the way of programs like 4-year-old kindergarten that could help the district meet its educational objectives.

Beginning in the next few weeks, a school board made up mostly of rookies will begin to address the challenges ahead. A new superintendent starting July 1 — Daniel Nerad, formerly top dog in Green Bay — inspires hope of new solutions to nagging problems. But the third pillar of power is John Matthews. He's been around the longest and arguably knows the most.

Already, Matthews has cemented his legacy from building a strong, tough union. But now, some are wondering if Matthews will also leave behind a legacy of obstructing key educational change.

Clusty Search: John Matthews.

Coverage of the Madison School Board Elections: 2008

Marc Eisen @ Isthmus:

Just because they’re uncontested, you shouldn’t overlook the two races for the Madison school board on the April 1 ballot.

There isn’t a tougher job or a more important one in local politics than maintaining the high quality of the Madison schools and dealing with the serious problems that confront them.

Over the past five weeks, we’ve queried retired teacher Marj Passman, the lone candidate for Seat 6, and attorney Ed Hughes, the lone candidate for Seat 7, on the important issues.

Here’s the week-by-week breakdown of our questions:

For Marj Passman & Ed Hughes: Madison School Board Candidates

Capital Times Editorial:

For the first time in years, Madison has no contested School Board races this year.

On April 1, voters will elect two new members of the board. Traditionally, open seat contests have been intense, highlighting ideological, practical, geographic and stylistic divides not just between the candidates but within the community.

This year, there is no such competition.

Retired teacher Marj Passman is running without opposition for Seat 6.

Attorney and veteran community leader Ed Hughes is the sole contender for Seat 7.

They will be elected Tuesday and quickly join a board that faces serious budgeting, curriculum and structural challenges at a time when funding has been squeezed and the district superintendent, Art Rainwater, is retiring.

That does not mean that voters should take a pass on these races, however.

The Changing of the Madison School Board

Jason Shephard:

A lawyer and former teacher will replace a lawyer and former teacher in the uncontested Madison school board elections on April 1. The result will be the most inexperienced board in years at a particularly important time for the city's public schools.

The school board is perhaps the hardest-working body of local elected officials and, judging by the throngs that flock to public meetings on issues big and small, also the most democratic. While the board's past effectiveness has been marred by infighting and grandstanding, the last two years have been much more congenial, under the presidencies of Johnny Winston Jr. and Arlene Silveira.

After the elections, the seven-member board will lose the inquisitive eye of Lawrie Kobza and the institutional memory of Carol Carstensen. Replacing them are Ed Hughes, a reserved but intriguing lawyer, and Marj Passman, a provocative and passionate retired teacher.

They will join rookies Beth Moss and Maya Cole, who are still struggling to master the issues. Silveira is likely to remain president, and Winston will be the most senior member. Rounding out the board is Lucy Mathiak, whose temper, colleagues say, has muted her effectiveness.

Madison school board candidates Hughes and Passman discuss the achievement gap

Marc Eisen @ Isthmus:

In one key way, the Madison school district is no different than any other urban school system in the country -- poor kids and kids of color just aren’t learning as much as other students.

We asked the two Madison school board candidates on the April 1 ballot -- Marj Passman is the lone candidate for Seat 6, while Ed Hughes is running unopposed for Seat 7 -- how they would address the achievement gap.

Interestingly, both see early education as part of the solution, but both also stopped short of endorsing the introduction of 4-year-old kindergarten in Madison.

We ended our five-week series of questions for the candidates with an open-ended query on what they felt were an overlooked issue in the schools.

Both gave thoughtful responses.

Passman suggested the schools needed to do more about the pervasiveness of substance abuse among teenagers, while Hughes said the district needs to pay more attention to why parents pull their children out of the Madison schools.

Madison School Board Candidate Take Home test: Taxes & Military Recruitment

Marc Eisen @ Isthmus:

The Madison Metropolitan School District’s policy on military recruitment in schools, along with advertisements for the armed forces, is one issue that has generated significant comment to the school board recently.

Marj Passman and Ed Hughes, who are running unopposed for Seats 6 and 7 on the board, respectively, differ on this policy. Both also discuss the perennially contentious topic of school financing.

Here’s what we asked the two candidates this week.

Madison school board candidates discus the Anthony Hirsch case and school boundaries

Marc Eisen @ Isthmus:

Hmm. This is interesting. To varying degrees, both Madison school board candidates express unease with the school district's failure to report a suspected sex offender to state authorities.

Ed Hughes, who is running unopposed for Seat 7, raises the most questions, but Marj Passman, the lone candidate for Seat 6, also is critical.

On the other hand, both support the Madison school board's recent decision on school boundaries, and both Passman and Hughes praise a committee's recent report on school names.

Here's what we asked the two candidates this week.

HE DAILY PAGE: DO YOU AGREE WITH HOW THE MADISON SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION AND THE TEACHERS UNION HANDLED THE ANTHONY HIRSCH CASE?

HIRSH RESIGNED AS A SPECIAL EDUCATION AIDE AT LA FOLLETTE HIGH SCHOOL IN 2006 (HE WAS HIRED IN 1998) AFTER A FEMALE STUDENT COMPLAINED THAT HE TOUCHED HER LEG IN A SEXUALLY SUGGESTIVE WAY. HIRSCH DENIED IT HAPPENED.

THE SEPARATION AGREEMENT SIGNED BY THE DISTRICT AND THE UNION SAID THAT IN RETURN FOR HIRSCH RESIGNING THE DISTRICT WOULD OFFER A "NEUTRAL REFERENCE" TO POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS, AND THAT THE DISTRICT WOULD NOT NOTIFY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF INSTRUCTION THAT IT SUSPECTED HIRSCH HAD ENGAGED IN IMMORAL CONDUCT.

HIRSCH WAS SUBSEQUENTLY HIRED BY THE WAUNAKEE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND IS NOW FACING FELONY CHARGES OF POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND OF HAVING A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A 14-YEAR-OLD LA FOLLETTE STUDENT. HE HAS YET TO ENTER A PLEA.

MUAE "Conversation With the Candidates"

Madison United for Academic Excellence (MUAE) will be hosting a "Conversation With the Madison School Board Candidates" on Tuesday, March 11, at 7:00 p.m. in the Wright Middle School LMC, 1313 Fish Hatchery Road. Marjorie Passman and Ed Hughes are running for Seats 6 and 7, respectively. Both are running unopposed. Please join us for a relaxed and productive dialogue, sans political sparring. Bring your questions, comments, concerns and ideas. The candidates are as eager to listen as they are to speak.

As an introduction to the candidates --

Isthmus Take-Home Test, Week One: http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=21758

Isthmus Take-Home Test, Week Two: http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=21825

Marjorie Passman's website: http://marjpassmanforschoolboard.com/

Ed Hughes's website: http://www.edhughesforschoolboard.com/

All are welcome!

Take Home Test: Madison school board (unopposed) candidates take on charter schools

Marc Eisen @ Isthmus:

More and more Wisconsin school districts are experimenting with charter schools. Some 231 are in operation. Most have a specialty focus and are exempted from certain state regulations to facilitate new approaches to learning.

Appleton, for example, has 14 charter schools for its 15,000 students. These schools focus on Montessori learning, environmentalism, gifted education, the construction industry, arts immersion and alternative programs, among others.

Madison with its almost 25,000 students has held back, authorizing just two charters, the bilingual Nuestro Mundo on the east side, and the south side’s Wright Middle School, which despite its charter designation offers a program similar to Madison's other middle schools.

The two Madison school board candidates -- Marj Passman is the lone candidate for Seat 6, while Ed Hughes is running unopposed for Seat 7 -- were relatively vague when we asked them about charter schools this week. Perhaps an inquiring voter will pin them down at an upcoming forum.

Madison School Board Candidate Marj Passman's Q & A Responses

Marj Passman has posted her Q & A responses from:

• Madison Teachers, Inc.
• League of Women Voters
• Northside News
• Progressive Dane

Marj, like Ed Hughes is running unopposed.

Obama cracks a ruler, and the crowd goes wild

Mark Barabak:

They came to cheer. They got a lecture. The crowd went wild.

During a Barack Obama town-hall meeting on the economy, the topic turned to education, which, the Illinois senator said, could not be remedied by spending alone. "It doesn't matter how much money we put in if parents don't parent," he scolded.

The line is one the Democrat delivers often, but on Thursday in Beaumont, Texas, he struck a remarkable chord with his mostly African American audience.

"It's not good enough for you to say to your child, 'Do good in school,' and then when that child comes home, you've got the TV set on," Obama lectured. "You've got the radio on. You don't check their homework. There's not a book in the house. You've got the video game playing."

Each line was punctuated by a roar, and Obama began to shout, falling into a preacher's rhythm. "Am I right?"

"So turn off the TV set. Put the video game away. Buy a little desk. Or put that child at the kitchen table. Watch them do their homework. If they don't know how to do it, give 'em help. If you don't know how to do it, call the teacher."

By now, the crowd of nearly 2,000 was lifted from the red velveteen seats of the Julie Rogers Theatre, hands raised to the gilded ceiling. "Make 'em go to bed at a reasonable time! Keep 'em off the streets! Give 'em some breakfast! Come on! Can I get an amen here?"

Madison School Board Candidates Discuss Why They Are Running

Take Home Test, Week 1 by Marc Eisen:

Why is The Daily Page wasting precious pixels by questioning two Madison school board candidates who are running unopposed on the April 1 ballot?

Because the success of the public schools is absolutely essential to Madison’s future. And by questioning Marjorie Passman, the lone candidate for Seat 6, and Ed Hughes, the lone candidate for Seat 7, we hope to further the discussion of education in Madison.

So for the next five weeks we will revive Take Home Test, asking the candidates large and small questions each week. Their responses to our questions follow.

THE DAILY PAGE: WHAT IN YOUR BACKGROUND PREPARES YOU TO SET POLICY FOR A SCHOOL DISTRICT OF ALMOST 25,000 STUDENTS WITH A $340 MILLION BUDGET AND 3,700 EMPLOYEES? PLEASE DISCUSS YOUR PERTINENT TRAITS AND EXPERIENCES.

Via a couple of emails, including Ed Hughes, who urges us to look forward!

Ed's website includes an interesting set of Questions and Answers, including those from Madison Teachers, Inc..

I'd welcome a Bloomy run centered on education

Rev. Al Sharpton:

There was a time when Presidents and presidential candidates took bold and principled steps on critical issues of the day. Candidate John Kennedy helped free the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from jail on a ludicrous charge during the 1960 campaign. President Dwight Eisenhower used federal troops to protect the right of the Little Rock Nine to attend an integrated school. Some wonder if we may ever see such leadership again, particularly on issues we care about.

Next week, Mayor Bloomberg is attending a bipartisan meeting in Oklahoma hosted by former Sen. David Boren that is intended, as Boren puts it, to be "shock therapy" for all presidential candidates to grapple with the issues rather than each other, and, if they don't, perhaps Bloomberg will run.

As one who has employed shock therapy on occasion to get the system to work, I support such a meeting - and am keenly interested in what a Bloomberg candidacy would mean for America. If I were his adviser (which I am not), I would urge him to base the core of his domestic platform on the notion that education is the civil rights issue for the 21st century, because without it, one cannot pursue the American Dream.

This focus on education would not be new to the mayor. He demanded - and received - control of the city's unwieldy education system so that one person could be held accountable. He has challenged all of us, including me, to reevaluate our notions of what constitutes a sound and basic education, and he has made progress, however imperfect. Innovative programs like new small schools have improved graduation rates, while the achievement gap between white students and students of color has narrowed. And now city public schools receive report cards as well as their students.

More Leaders Need Apply

Wisconsin State Journal Editorial:

If there 's one institution in Madison that needs strong leaders to tackle huge challenges, it 's the city 's school district.

Unfortunately, only two people are seeking two open School Board seats in the coming spring election. The deadline for declaring a candidacy was Wednesday.

That means voters won 't have any choice in who will serve, barring any late write-in campaigns.

That 's a shame -- one that Madison can 't afford to repeat.

he rigors of a campaign test potential board members and help the community choose which direction to take the district.

Competitive School Board campaigns also draw considerable and much-needed attention to huge local issues, such as the increasing number of children who show up for kindergarten unprepared, rising health insurance costs for school employees, shifting demographics, school security and tight limits on spending.

Madison School Board Candidates are "Shoo-ins"

Susan Troller:

Ed Hughes, a Madison attorney, and Marj Passman, a retired local teacher, will fill two Madison School Board seats in the spring election on April 1. They are running unopposed for seats now held by Lawrie Kobza, a single-term board member, and Carol Carstensen, who has served since 1990 and is by far the most senior member of the board.

In fact, when Hughes and Passman join the board, only Johnny Winston Jr. will have served more than one three-year term.

James Ely, an East High School custodian who had filed papers Dec. 27 with the City Clerk's Office to register as a candidate for Carstensen's Seat 7, decided to withdraw from the race because he was unable to complete the necessary filing information to change his candidacy to a run for Kobza's Seat 6.

Hughes is running for Seat 7, and Passman is the candidate for Seat 6. Neither Hughes nor Passman has previously served on the board, although Passman lost a race last year against Maya Cole.

Candidate Enters Race for Madison School Board

Susan Troller:

James Ely of Madison has made a late December entrance to the 2008 Madison School Board race.

On Friday, an official in the City Clerk's Office said Ely is a registered candidate for Seat 7, which will be open next spring when veteran School Board member Carol Carstensen retires from the board.

Ely has until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 2, to turn in his nomination papers, which had not been filed as of Friday.

Ely will take on Ed Hughes, a Madison attorney whose children have attended east side schools and who declared his candidacy for the Carstensen seat over six months ago.

"Wisconsin Way" Meeting Notes

The "Wisconsin Way" recently held a forum in Waukesha. The local Taxpayer's League posted some notes [website].

A schedule of forums appears on their website (Madison is 12/6/2007). More:

Welcome to the Wisconsin Way! You’ve made the first step to helping lower Wisconsin’s property taxes, while protecting our services and maintaining Wisconsin’s quality of life.

A groundswell of public concern about the affordability of property taxes on the one hand and the need to maintain Wisconsin’s critical infrastructure on the other has prompted several statewide leadership groups to join forces in a historic search for solutions called The Wisconsin Way.

In the coming months, the original conveners of the Wisconsin Way—the Wisconsin Counties Association, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, Wisconsin Realtors Association, Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association and Wood Communications Group—will host a series of public gatherings around the state in an effort to engage Wisconsin citizens in a constructive, solution-oriented conversation about what we can do to make Wisconsin taxes fairer and reduce the property tax burden without sacrificing the quality of public services that have made Wisconsin a special place to live and work.

"Reprehensible - Rejection of school-board candidate is a shameful moment for Democrats, union"

Columbus Dispatch:

tephanie Groce was not the loser on Tuesday when the Franklin County Democratic Party kowtowed to the local teachers union and withdrew its endorsement of her for the Columbus Board of Education.
The biggest loser was the county party and its top officeholders, who had a chance to demonstrate leadership by standing on principle for an independent-minded and highly qualified candidate. Instead those leaders caved cravenly.

The other loser was the Columbus Education Association, which nakedly illustrated that the union's top priority is not the welfare of students but the protection of its members against any demand for accountability and fiscal responsibility within the Columbus City Schools.

As the district contemplates asking voters next year to approve an operating levy and, possibly, a bond issue for building new schools, this is a terrible message for teachers to send to taxpayers.

Union Orders, on Ohio Charter Schools

The Wall Street Journal:

The concept of charter schools is popular enough that even most liberals won't attack them openly. Yet the national political assault continues behind-the-scenes, most recently in Ohio, where unions have now been caught giving orders to Attorney General Marc Dann, who has duly saluted.

Last week the Columbus Dispatch published emails showing that Mr. Dann and the Ohio Education Association are in cahoots to close down certain charter schools in the state. Mr. Dann was elected last November in a Democratic sweep that included Governor Ted Strickland and was helped by Big Labor. As a token of his appreciation, Mr. Strickland earlier this year proposed placing a moratorium on new charter schools and restrictions on private-school vouchers, only to be rebuffed by the Legislature. Now it's Mr. Dann's turn to send a thank-you.

In March, the teachers union sued the state, alleging that low-performing charters should be closed because officials had failed to monitor them properly. The Ohio Supreme Court had ruled against the union in a similar case last year. Yet Mr. Dann offered to settle the case, and the union dropped the suit after the AG's office agreed to go after charter schools on its own.

The union even advised a legal strategy for Mr. Dann, which was to use the charitable trust status of the schools to argue that they were failing in their mission to educate kids. "I know this is a long shot, but by any chance, are community schools registered as charitable trusts?" said a union lawyer in an email to the AG's office. "If not, are they exempt from registration by regulation?"

Madison Mayor's Perspective on the Schools

Mary Yeater Rathbun:

Bill Clingan will become part of a bridge between the mayor's office and the Madison School District if the City Council confirms Clingan's appointment as the director of its new Economic and Community Development Department.

As Mayor Dave Cieslewicz told the Capital Times editorial Board this week, the city has no real authority over the schools but they are crucial to the city's success in fighting crime and in promoting economic development.

"We need to find the right way to engage with the schools," he said. "Bill Clingan is part of the answer."

Clingan, 53, was a Metropolitan Madison School District board member from 2003 through 2005.

Business relocation decision are based in large part on access to a skilled work force and quality of life issues, Cieslewicz said. Both are related to good schools, he added.
"We shouldn't miss the opportunity presented by a new school district superintendent," Cieslewicz said.

He added he had already met with the consultants who are helping the school district pick a new district superintendent to replace Art Rainwater, who is retiring at the end of this school year. Rainwater has been at the head of Madison's schools since February 1999.

Outgoing School Board member Lawrie Kobza defeated incumbent Bill Clingan in April, 2005 [site history at archive.org].

Former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin has more.

Donor Of New Atlases Says Schools Shrugged Them Off

Susan Troller:

Don Becker finds it odd and annoying that in a time of dwindling resources and a beleaguered budget he's had trouble giving money to Madison's public schools.

It's not that he hasn't tried, and hasn't been successful in the past, at providing help to a number of schools on items ranging from books to bus rides to practice shirts for girls' athletic teams.

But when it came to signing a check for $2,500 last year to buy updated atlases for classrooms at Muir Elementary School, Becker's money disappeared into a bureaucratic hole at the Doyle Administration Building for months on end. When he tried to follow up on what happened to his donation, he said he was given several different explanations for the delay in purchasing the books.

The bottom line was that when his wife went back this fall to volunteer in her favorite classroom, there was still no sign of the atlases.

Last week, in frustration, Becker called Rand-McNally, the publisher, and bought the atlases himself at what he says is a better price than the district had negotiated. Then he asked for his money back.

According to Becker, he was initially told by Steve Hartley, the district's chief of staff, that although he would get his donation returned, the district would not provide its sales tax certificate number to Rand-McNally so that the $127 tax charged to Becker for the purchase of the atlases could be reimbursed.

Kobza decides to not run for school board next year

Andy Hall:

Madison School Board Vice President Lawrie Kobza announced Monday that she won't seek re-election, and retired teacher Marj Passman immediately jumped into the race to succeed her.

Kobza's move guarantees that the board will gain two new members in the April 1 election.

"I've very much appreciated the opportunity to serve on the School Board, but I have a number of other personal and professional interests which I would like to explore and I just need more time in the week to do so," Kobza wrote in an e-mail to Board President Arlene Silveira, schools Superintendent Art Rainwater and reporters.

Kobza, a lawyer, will leave the board after serving a single three-year term.

Susan Troller:

Madison School Board Vice President Lawrie Kobza announced this morning that she will not seek re-election in next spring's School Board race.

Elected to her first term on the board in 2005, Kobza joins longtime board member Carol Carstensen in announcing that she will not run again.

In an e-mail this morning, Kobza said she has a number of personal and professional interests that she hopes to explore and needs the time to do so.

Two candidates, Marj Passman and Ed Hughes, have announced that they will seek slots on the seven-member School Board.

K-12 Spending More Reliant on Federal Government Since No Child Left Behind Act

Gerald Prante:

New data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that the federal government has been commandeering a continually larger role in K-12 education in recent years, especially since 1999 and the January 2002 passage of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The new statistics include detailed financial data about school districts across the nation for the 2004-05 school year. Five years earlier, during the 1999-2000 school year, public school districts received an average of $578 per pupil from the federal government. By 2004-05, that number had risen to $919. That's a 60-percent increase, and even after adjusting for inflation, it's a 39 percent boost in federal aid. In this study we rank the states on how much more reliant they have become on Uncle Sam for this traditionally local government function.

There are several ways to quantify this increasing reliance on the federal government. The two we present in Table 1 are the absolute dollar amounts per pupil that the federal government sent to each state's school system, and the percentage of each state's education spending that comes from the federal government. The rightmost column shows how every state's share of revenue from the federal government has changed since 1999-00.

Related: K-12 Spending Climate.

More on MATC - Milwaukee Property Tax Blowback

Mike Nichols:

The folks running Milwaukee Area Technical College want your money, deserve your money, have a right to your money, and it matters not a bit what they do with it.

In fact, the technical college district doesn't just want your money for technical education. It deserves your money because, I guess, that's just the way things are around here - so quit whining.

Quit being, as one Milwaukee state representative put it recently, I noted in my blog, so "political."

Or, better yet, consider - seriously - quitting MATC itself.

"Value Added Assessment" Madison School Board's Performance & Achievement Committee Looks at "A Model to Measure Student Performance"

Video / 20MB Mp3 Audio

Superintendent Art Rainwater gave a presentation on "Value Added Assessment" to the Madison School Board's Performance & Achievement committee Monday evening. Art described VAA "as a method to track student growth longitudinally over time and to utilize that data to look at how successful we are at all levels of our organization". MMSD CIO Kurt Kiefer, Ernie Morgan, Mike Christian and Rob Meyer, a senior scientist at WCER presented this information to the committee (there were two others whose names I could not decipher from the audio).

Related Links:

• Value-Added Research Center at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research - School of Education.
• Wisconsin DPI: Wisconsin's Longitudinal Data Systems (PPT)
• DPI Data Portal
• More on How States (WI is #1) Inflate Their Progress Under No Child Left Behind"
• 2006 MMSD WKCE Scores: A Closer Look
• More on WKCE Scores - Missing Students
• Madison & Wisconsin Math Data, 8th Grade
• On Wisconsin's Learning Gap
• Fordham Foundation: Wisconsin DPI Academic Standards = D-
• Wisconsin Math, reading proficiency are much higher on state exams than on federal.
• Bill Herman: Are MMSD Programs Effective? Who Knows:

  "That is, there is no way of knowing whether previous WKCE tests were easier or harder than today's, and also, DPI has changed the curve. For both reasons, we can't use WKCE to gauge student progress (or lack of it) over time.

  Pause and think about this. DPI says WKCE cannot tell us whether the academic skills of Wisconsin students are improving, staying the same, or getting worse over time."

The fact that the School Board is actually discussing this topic is a positive change from the recent past. One paradox of this initiative is that while the MMSD is apparently collecting more student performance data, some parents (there are some teachers who provide full report cards) are actually receiving less via the report card reduction activities (more here and here). Perhaps the school district's new parent portal will provide more up to date student data.

A few interesting quotes from the discussion:

45 minutes: Kurt has built a very rich student database over the years (goes back to 1990).

46 Superintendent Art Rainwater: We used to always have the opinion here that if we didn't invent it, it couldn't possibly be any good because we're so smart that we've have thought of it before anybody else if it was any good. Hopefully, we've begun to understand that there are 15,000 school districts in America and that all of them are doing some things that we can learn from.

47 Art, continued: It's a shame Ruth (Robarts) isn't sitting here because a lot of things that Ruth used to ask us to do that we said we just don't have the tools to do that with I think, over time, this will give us the tools that we need. More from Ruth here and here.
55 Arlene Silveira asked about staff reaction in Milwaukee and Chicago to this type of analysis.

69 Maya asked about how the School Board will use this to determine if this program or that program is working. Maya also asked earlier about the data source for this analysis, whether it is WKCE or NAEP. Kurt responded that they would use WKCE (which, unfortunately seems to change every few years).

71 Lawrie Kobza: This has been one of the most interesting discussions I've been at since I've been on the school board.

Lawrie, Arlene and Maya look like they will be rather active over the next 8 months.

Governance Changes in the Milwaukee Public Schools

Alan Borsuk:

A surge of action and proposed action, a president who wants his hands on a lot of things and bad blood between board members - the heat is growing at Milwaukee School Board meetings, and it is creating an environment in which Superintendent William Andrekopoulos is facing the stiffest political challenges of his five years in office.

The election in April of Michael Bonds to replace Ken Johnson on the board, followed by the election of Peter Blewett as the board's president, have put into power two people with strong feelings about doing things differently from the way Andrekopoulos wants.

And they are acting on those feelings.

A central role for the board president is to name members of the committees that do most of the board's work. The president usually gives his allies the dominant positions but doesn't put himself in many roles.

Blewett has done much more than that - he named himself chairman of two committees, one that handles the budget and strategic direction of Milwaukee Public Schools and one that handles questions of policy and rules, and he named himself as a member of two other major committees, handling finance and safety. He also named Bonds to head the Finance Committee, an unusual step, given that Bonds was brand new.

Blewett and Bonds, who have formed a generally close relationship, have also been submitting a relative flood of proposals for the board to take up. Since May 1, the two have submitted 34 resolutions between them, with nine others coming from the other seven members of the board.

Some seek major changes in MPS practices or to reopen issues previously decided by the board. Included would be reopening Juneau High School, reuniting Washington High School into one operation (it has been broken into three), restoring ninth-grade athletics and building up arts programs in schools.

The total of 43 resolutions is more than board members submitted in the entire year in six of the eight previous years. Seventeen resolutions were introduced at a board meeting last week, 14 of them written or co-written by Blewett or Bonds.

Although this might seem like a bureaucratic matter, it is a key element of efforts by Blewett and Bonds to shake up the central administration of MPS. They are challenging Andrekopoulos openly in ways not seen in prior years, when a firm majority of board members supported Andrekopoulos.

He and Bonds have been critical of Andrekopoulos and the previous board for not doing enough to listen to people in the city as a whole and for not providing enough information to the board.

Blewett said his main agenda item as president is "to engage the community." Just holding public hearings or meetings around the community is not enough, he said, referring to a round of community meetings last fall on a new strategic plan for MPS as "spectacular wastes of time and money." He said people who work in schools, parents and the community in general need meaningful involvement.

"I really want to make sure that we're investigating every opportunity to engage the public and provide our students with quality learning experiences that get beyond reading and math," he said.

Bonds said, "I have a very aggressive agenda to change the direction of the School District."

He was strongly critical of policies such as the redesigning of high schools led by Andrekopoulos in recent years, including the creation of numerous small high schools.

"Given the resources we (MPS) have, we should be providing a better product," he said. "I feel the administration has led us down a failed path."

There are similar issues at play in Madison. The local school board's composition has significantly changed over the past few years - much for the better. Time will tell, whether that governance change translates into a necessary new direction for our $339M+, 24, 342 student Madison School District. Alan Borsuk is a Madison West High Grad.

"A primer on "Madison Math" - when is a 'cut' really a cut?"

Rep. Karl Van Roy:

Calling an increase in spending or funding a 'cut,' just because it isn't as much as someone proposed, is a textbook example of "Madison Math." In the coming weeks, you'll be hearing a lot about the Assembly version of the budget and a good portion of the criticism will be false claims that our version cuts our most important programs. For example, you'll hear that the Assembly budget cuts funding for the UW system and K-12 education. Both of these claims are patently false. In fact, the Assembly version of the budget increases spending on K-12 education by $464,404,400 ($16 million more than Governor Doyle proposed). And the UW system receives a $62.3 million increase above their funding level in the last budget, but yet you will hear cries of 'cuts' to the UW system simply because they were offered more in the Governor's and Senate's versions of the budget.

K-12 spending increases annually. The debate is always over the amount (and sometimes the source such as the redistribution of income, sales or property taxes) of the increase. The current state of Wisconsin Budget is $54,268,817,100. Senate Democrats proposed a new budget of $66,106,668,800 while Assembly Republicans proposed spending $56,336,765,800 in the next budget cycle. TJ Mertz has more on the proposed state budget here and here.

Insurance coverage teachers' top priority

John Matthews:

The union is obligated to represent its members interests. The union surveyed its members prior to entering bargaining and the members spoke loudly and clearly: Retain our health insurance options.

MTI members value Wisconsin Physicians Service because it enables freedom of choice in medical providers. And MTI members value the services of Group Health Cooperative. However, both GHC and WPS coverage would be in jeopardy under the district's proposal.

GHC has the option of increasing its premium by 2 percent for each additional HMO offered by the district. Adding other HMOs would undercut the financial base of employees necessary to maintain the foundation of the WPS option.

Insurance is supposed to assure economic stability. Revenue controls undercut this basic principal of employment benefits, as it causes even the best intentioned individuals to think about reducing the quality of insurance to provide wages. MTI members have not been willing to take that risk.

Lawrie Kobza's statement. Madison School Board discussion & vote on the recent MTI Teacher contract. Matthews is Executive Director of Madison Teachers, Inc. and sits on the Board of Wisconsin Physicians Service.

Audio / Video: Madison School Board Vote on the MTI 2007 - 2009 Agreement

The Madison School Board voted 4-3 (for: Carstensen, Moss, Silveira and Winston; no: Cole, Kobza and Mathiak) Monday evening to approve the proposed MMSD / MTI 2007 - 2009 agreement. The new arrangement, which does not include substantial health care changes, was set in motion by the "Voluntary Impasse Resolution Document" - also approved by a 4-3 vote (Carol Carstensen's alt view). This document, approved before negotiations began, took health care changes off the table if the discussions resulted in arbitration.

• 30 Minute Video Clip
• 34MB MP3 audio recording of the entire board meeting (MTI Agreement vote discussion begins at about 6 minutes
• MTI's useful synopsis of the Agreement: 150K PDF, including the extension of the TERP (Teacher Retirement Extension Program) through 2011
• Going to the Mat for WPS by Jason Shephard
• Lawrie Kobza notes that changes in health care would have increased salaries by 2.8%, rather than the current 1%.
• KJ Jakobson's health care cost/benefit analysis
• A teacher noted the recent MTI vote.
• Susan Troller: Board approves teachers contract deal on 4-3 vote.
• TJ Mertz:

  Three Board of Education members voted against the MTI contract on Monday, June 18, 2007. My initial reaction was that it was a ‘free” vote, a vote without consequences. When elected officials know that there are sufficient votes to pass or defeat a measure they can use their votes to make a statement without taking responsibility for what would happen were they to prevail. This is what happened on Monday, those who voted against the contract knew that it would pass and that they would not be held responsible for the serious consequences that would ensue had they been in the majority. Upon reflection, I realized that in fact the vote has the consequences of exacerbating divisions among our teachers that are hard to justify based on their stated rationales for opposing the contract.

Statement on MMSD/MTI Tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement Vote

After much consideration, I have decided to vote against the tentative agreement negotiated by the District and the MTI teachers union. I will do so because the agreement fails to include significant health insurance changes, and as a result, unreasonably depresses the salary increases that can be provided to our teachers.

While the total salary and benefit increase to our teachers under the proposed agreement is 4.02%, our teachers will only receive a 1% increase in their salaries in each of the next two years. This is so even though we ask our teachers to do more and more each year given budget cuts and changes in our student demographics. The rest of the increase is eaten up by benefits, the vast majority of which is for health insurance.

I would like to see our teachers’ salaries increase by more than 1% per year. I believe a greater increase is well-deserved, and is needed to continue to keep and retain excellent teachers. I also believe a greater increase is needed so that the District’s starting salary for new teachers is competitive.

While money is obviously very tight, we could provide teachers with higher salaries if the District and the MTI teachers union - working together - would negotiate health insurance changes. The District’s initial proposal regarding health care insurance was to offer teachers the choice of three different HMO options or WPS. If a teacher chose one of the HMO options - Group Health Cooperative, Physicians Plus, or Dean Care- the District would pay the full cost of that HMO. If however a teacher chose coverage under WPS, which would still be available, the District would only pay the cost of the most expensive HMO, and the teacher would pay the rest of the cost of WPS. This proposal would have provided for a 2.81% salary increase for teachers for 2007-2008 - as opposed to a 1% increase.

The District and other employees groups have successfully worked together to revise health insurance coverages during this past year with the result that more money was available for employee wages to these groups. I was hopeful that similar results could be achieved for our teachers.

When I have raised this concern about how teacher salaries have been unreasonably depressed by the increasing cost of WPS, I have been told by some that it is none of the District’s business how MTI decides to split the negotiated salary and benefit package. I just cannot agree with this view.

While it is true that the total dollar impact to the District is the same regardless of how MTI splits the money between salary and benefits, I believe it is very important to the District how the money is spent. It is essential to the District that we have good, competitive teacher salaries and that our health insurance costs not drain money away from those salaries. It is essential that our teachers are paid fairly and equitably. It is not fair that a teacher who takes WPS insurance should receive $7,500 more in salary and benefits than a teacher who takes Group Health Cooperative. It is not fair that a majority of our teachers take Group Health Cooperative, yet they continue to have their compensation reduced to fund the benefits of others.

I am extremely disappointed that the District and MTI, working together, could not reach an agreement that puts more money into teachers salaries and less into health insurance costs. I truly believe that if the interests of the whole had been put first, this could have been done. Because we failed to take advantage of this opportunity, I feel I have no choice but to vote against the tentative agreement.

Madison Superintendent Art Rainwater's Presentation on the Proposed High School Redesign and Small Learning Community Grant

June 11, 2007 35 Minute Video | MP3 Audio Background Links: High School Redesign SIS Search [rss] Learning from Milwaukee, MPS leads the way on Innovation MMSD High School Redesign Committee Selected High School Redesign Notes Public comments and links. Important new information about credit for non-mmsd courses West HS English 9 and 10: Show us the data Evaluation of the SLC project at West High School (the author of this study, Bruce King, is a member of the current High School Redesign committee.

A few general questions about this initiative:

1. Does it make sense to spend any time on this now, given that the MMSD will have a new Superintendent in 2008?
2. If the problem is preparation, then should the focus not be on elementary and middle schools?
3. The committee's composition (this link includes quite a bit of discussion) does not inspire much confidence with respect to community, teacher and student involvement.

Two page MMSD "feedback worksheet" 259K PDF.

Madison Schools MTI Teacher Contract Roundup

Conversation regarding the recent MMSD / MTI collective bargaining agreement continues:

• Andy Hall wrote a useful summary, along with some budget numbers (this agreementi s56% of the MMSD's $339.6M budget):

  District negotiators headed by Superintendent Art Rainwater had sought to free up money for starting teachers' salaries by persuading the union to drop Wisconsin Physicians Service, a health-care provider that offers open access to medical treatment with no need for referrals.

  The district wanted MTI members to choose from among three health-maintenance organizations that limit coverage to specific providers in return for lower costs.

  But the union kept the current mix -- WPS plus one HMO, Group Health Cooperative -- after members in a survey indicated support for maintaining those options.

  Matthews is a paid member of the Wisconsin Physicians Service board of directors -- an arrangement he defends as a means of advocating for members and the district. Critics contend it represents a conflict of interest.

  "Our plan is cheaper than almost any in town," said Matthews, referring to a union comparison of Wisconsin Physicians Service coverage, used by half of the members, to coverage offered to employees of state and local governments.

  "The teachers were willing to pay more, they were willing to move money from wages to health insurance, in order to preserve those kinds of rights."

  Among the new costs facing teachers: A $75 co-pay for emergency room visits and a $10 co-pay for office visits.

  Premiums for WPS, which is favored by many members with a serious illness in the family, will cost 10.4 percent more beginning July 1. But the premiums will decrease slightly beginning Jan. 1 as the co-pays take effect. For example, the WPS family premium will cost the district $1,711 per month while the employee's share will be $190, falling to $187 on Jan. 1.

  The GHC premium will increase by 5.7 percent -- to $974 monthly for family coverage, paid entirely by the district -- beginning July 1. That amount will decrease to $955 on Jan. 1.

• Don Severson & Brian Schimming discuss the agreement and the school board: 5MB mp3 audio file.
• 2005 / 2007 Agreement 528K PDF.
• The Madison School Board will vote on the Agreement Monday evening, June 18, 2007.
• Additional links and notes.
• Don Severson: 3 Simple Things.
• MMSD / MTI contract negotations beginCarol Carstensen: An alt view on Concessions Before Negotiations.
• Going to the Mat for WPS
• What's the MTI Political Endorsement About?
• Some MMSD unions have addressed health care costs.

Ed Hughes to run for Madison school board

Marc Eisen:

The next Madison School Board election is ten long months away, but the first candidate to replace retiring board member Carol Carstensen has already emerged.

Attorney Ed Hughes, 54, an east-side parent activist, says he will seek Carstensen's seat in the spring 2008 election.

"My interest in the school board started with my frustration over its budgeting process," he says. "Several years ago, I remember attending a strings concert and wondering why cutting strings kept coming up year after year as a budget option."

Hughes shares the common perception that the Madison schools are hurt by the state’s current formula for funding education. But be also thinks the school board undercuts public understanding of the district's plight by not being fully transparent in its budget-making. Hughes feels the board can do a better job of explaining its spending decisions to the public.

"The budgetary issues are paramount," he says. "The quality of the schools won't be maintained if we have to cut from $5-to$7 million dollars every year. We'll have to go referendum, but referendums aren't easy to pass."

Ed Blume was correct when he said that "it's never too early to run for the school board".

3 Simple Things: Conduct Board Business Differently

1. Good Health Care at an Affordable Price: Reduce Costs by $12 Million
2. Put a Lid on the Cookie Jar: Cut Taxes Over $9 Million
3. Eliminate Chaos: Board Decisions; Priceless: Improve Student Achievement.

MADISON MARKET COMPARITIVE HEALTH CARE COSTS

The bargained contract between the Madison Metropolitan School District and Madison Teachers, Inc. (representing teachers) stipulates health coverage from a ‘preferred provider’ (WPS) and a ‘health maintenance organization’ (GHC).

Bids have not been solicited from health care providers in many years. Comparative monthly premium costs for the employer and the employee in the Madison market:

Plan	Single Coverage		Family Coverage
	Employer	Employee	Employer	Employee
MMSD (WPS)	$673.00	$75.00	$1,765.00	$196.00
MMSD (GHC)	$365.00	$00.00	$974.00	$00.00
City (Dean)	$406.00	$13.09	$1,010.00	$33.00
County (Phys Plus)	$385.00	$00.00	$905.00	$33.00
State (Dean)	$438.00	$22.00	$1.091.00	$55.00

VIDEO: watch the press conference here. Download the 823K PDF presentation materials.

SCHOOL BOARD WATCHDOG GROUP TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE TUESDAY at 12:15 pm

In reference to current talk about a referenda proposal by the Madison Metropolitan School Board (MMSD), Active Citizens for Education (ACE) will hold a news conference this coming Tuesday, June 5th at 12:15 p.m. at The Coliseum Bar, 232 East Olin Ave, Madison [map].

The group will advance three proposals that the School Board should adopt and initiate in the process of deciding whether or not to place any additional requests before the voters for taxpayer funds or exemptions from the state-imposed revenue caps. The proposal topics are:

• GOOD HEALTH CARE AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE
• PUT THE LID ON THE COOKIE JAR
• ELIMINATE THE CHAOS OF BOARD DECISIONS

Speakers will include Don Severson, president of ACE, and former Madison Alder Dorothy Borchardt, an activist in school and community issues.

In addition to comments by Severson and Borchardt, there will be five display boards briefly outlining the proposals as well as duplicated handouts. The presentation part of the news conference will last 15 minutes, followed by questions.

Milwaukee Schools finding way around budget cap

Alan Borsuk:

A path for getting around a state-imposed cap on how much a school district can spend is allowing Milwaukee Public Schools to add driver's education programs, fund more arts programs, maintain after-school centers that are losing federal aid and even add a position to the staff of the School Board.

The path means there will be fewer invasive plant species to be seen at two nature preserves owned by MPS.

But it also means property taxes will be going up more than they otherwise would.

In two years, the School Board has raised the amount being collected through what is called its extension fund by almost 60%, which comes to an increase of about $8 for each resident of the city.

The growing interest in using the extension fund to support initiatives in MPS was evident Thursday night and Friday morning as the board approved amendments to the proposed budget for 2007-'08 that added more than $500,000 in spending to the fund.

The Madison School District's growing use of Fund 80 (expenditures outside the state revenue caps) has been the subject of some controversy.

Columbus referendums...one for Pre-K, and the other for maintenance and operations.

Paul Scharf:

The Columbus School Board held its only meeting for the month of May at the Elba Town Hall. It was held on Monday night with a special referendum election forum. The board is gearing up for June 12, when voters will go to the polls to decide on three questions.

The board will be asking voters to give their approval to the following:
n Borrowing $700,000 for maintenance needs - including $421,000 for roofs at the middle and high schools and $100,000 for safety and security. Other uses for the funds would include replacing windows and carpet and fixing up bathrooms. The money would be repaid over 10 years.

n Collecting an extra $200,000 per year for each of three years for the start-up of four-year-old kindergarten.

n Collecting an extra $300,000 per year for each of five years for technology - including equipment used by both students and staff, as well as the hiring of additional staff members.

Columbus has brought the referendums forward in a short period of time, and their district seems to have been successful in securing Pre-K support from area pre-school providers.

An open letter to the School Board of Madison Metropolitan Schools

It's about time that this community approached the budget process with the honesty and integrity that we homeowners are required to do. For the past several years, the Superintendent and his associates have made a projected budget by increasing all categories of the budget by a certain percentage (about 5%) whether costs in that area are going up or not. (This is a "cost-plus" approach for those econ majors among you.) Each year, the projected budget comes up short of what is available and the games begin. Cuts are made to beloved programs or high profile student services; the community is upset and the board calls for a referendum or reform of the state funding scheme.

How about budgeting the way I have to? My house, my car, my medical costs and my insurance eat up the majority of the household income. So it is with the district. Teacher's salaries and benefits use up 85% of the budget and go up 4.7% each year. This is essentially a fixed cost that isn?t going to change much. We can complain about rising medical insurance costs or cut a few teachers from beloved "extras" like Strings, but those actions simply raise the ire of the community. I don?'t like that car costs jump up significantly over the several years that pass between purchases. My partner can complain about the mortgage, but we're not moving out of the house.

The reality is that the remaining 15% of the budget IS where the cuts need to be made. When the pocket money in our household drops down during lean times, the morning latte and pastry are replaced by home-perked coffee and a 30-cent bagel. When the muffler blew at the same time as the back tire, we replaced them both and began setting aside money for a new car. How can it be that during the "lean years" of state-imposed constraints, we have had a computer program for budgeting written by consultants who over-ran their budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars? How did the Doyle building get re-furbished from floor tile to light fixture with nary a cough at the timing of it? Where did the money come from to install a district-wide phone system that will likely be outpaced by cellular technology within two or three years? How do we manage to come up with the funds to pay non-union electricians for work when our own full-time employees sit idle (and therefore on target for the chopping block)?

How is it that our district has a 20% "better" child to administrator ratio, (195 children/administrator in Madison vs. 242 children/administrator statewide) and yet we've only let a handful of positions go unfilled? How did Roger Price manage to OVERSPEND his consultant budget by a million dollars, but in his next breath recommend cutting $300,000 for Strings for little kids?

These kinds of budgetary abuses continue despite their being easily defined differences between "student contact" budgetary items (teachers, books, Strings, etc.) and non-student contact items (computer consultants, budgeting programs, etc.). In those years when things like building maintenance costs didn't go up, or the need for consultants is not proven, why can't those non-student contact items be subjected to a freeze?. As a board, I'm sure that your task of managing the "little things" is as difficult for you as it is for me to convince my partner of the virtues of DVD rentals over a night out on the town. But, when the pocket money for the week is frozen at $20, and the credit card is hidden, home-popped corn smells extra good. Perhaps it is time that you send the current budget recommendations back to Mr. Rainwater and Mr. Price with notification that all non-student contact budgetary items will be frozen for the coming year. I'm sure they can work out the details from there.

Thanks for supporting our children first.

MMSD / MTI Contract Negotiations Begin: Health Care Changes Proposed

Susan Troller:

The district and Madison Teachers Inc. exchanged initial proposals Wednesday to begin negotiations on a new two-year contract that will run through June 30, 2009. The current one expires June 30.

"Frankly, I was shocked and appalled by the school district's initial proposal because it was replete with take-backs in teachers' rights as well as the economic offer," John Matthews, executive director of MTI, said in an interview Thursday.

But Bob Butler, a staff attorney with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards who is part of the district's bargaining team, said he believed the district's proposal was fair and flexible.

He said the administration's proposal on health care provides two new HMO plans that could bring savings to the district and new options to employees, while still providing an option for the more expensive Wisconsin Physicians Service plan for employees who want it.

The district is proposing that teachers accept language that would allow two new HMO insurance plans, provided by Dean Care and Physicians Plus, to be added to the two plans currently offered.

Slightly more than 53 percent of the employees represented by the teachers' bargaining unit use the less expensive Group Health Cooperative plan, which is a health maintenance organization, or HMO. The district's costs for the GHC plan for next year are $364.82 per month for singles and $974.08 for families. Employees who opt for the GHC do not pay a percentage of the premium themselves but are responsible for co-pays for drugs that range from $6 to $30.

If about the same number of district employees -- 1,224 -- use the GHC plan next year, it would cost the district about $11.6 million.

The other option currently available to teachers is provided by Wisconsin Physicians Service. A preferred provider organization plan, it provides health insurance to just under 47 percent of the district's teacher unit.

A more flexible plan that allows participants to go to different doctors for different medical specialties, the WPS plan next year will cost the district $747.78 per month for singles and $1,961.13 for families. Under the current contract, employees pay 10 percent of the cost of the WPS plan, which this year is $65.65 per month for singles, and $172.18 per month for families.

The cost estimate for the school district's share of the WPS plan under the current contract would be about $19 million. Employees, who pick up 10 percent of the cost as their share of the premium, would pay another $2 million under the current structure.

It's important to remember that a majority of the Madison School Board voted several months ago to not arbitrate with MTI over health care costs. Andy Hall has more:

But with the Madison School Board facing a $10.5 million budget shortfall, is the board giving away too much with its promises to retain teachers' increasingly pricey health insurance and to discard its legal mechanism for limiting teachers' total compensation increase to 3.8 percent?

Yes, School Board Vice President Lawrie Kobza said Saturday, "I feel very strongly that this was a mistake," said Kobza, who acknowledged that most board members endorse the agreement with Madison Teachers Inc., the teachers union.

State law allows districts to avoid arbitration by making a so-called qualified economic offer, or QEO, by boosting salaries and benefits a combined 3.8 percenter a year.

"To agree before a negotiation starts that we're not going to impose the QEO and negotiate health care weakens the district's position," Kobza said. She contended the district's rising health-care costs are harming its ability to raise starting teachers' salaries enough to remain competitive.

The "voluntary impasse resolution" agreements, which are public records, are used in only a handful of Wisconsin's 425 school districts, according to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.

Carol Carstensen posted an alt view on Concessions before negotiations. Related: What a sham(e), Sun Prairie Cuts Health Care Costs & Raises Teacher Salaries - using the same Dean Healthcare Plan and "Going to the Mat for WPS". TJ Mertz says Susan neglected to mention the QEO (note that the a majority of the MMSD school board agreed not to arbitrate over the QEO or health care casts in "Concessions before negotiations".

Deficit Spending: Declining Madison School District Equity Fund Balance

Fund Balance as Percent of General Fund Expenditures FY 2000 Thru FY 2006 Source: Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
	FY 00	FY 01	FY 02	FY 03*	FY 04	FY 05	FY 06*
K-8 AVERAGE	22.4%	15.7%	20.3%	18.0%	20.2%	20.0%	18.6%
UHS AVERAGE	24.1%	22.3%	23.6%	21.2%	25.8%	25.4%	22.6%
K-12 AVERAGE	15.2%	23.9%	15.1%	13.8%	14.5%	14.7%	13.4%
MMSD ACTUAL	18.9%	16.4%	12.1%	12.2%	7.7%	7.1%	7.1%
MMSD Budget	$252M						$333M
Equity Fund (M)	$48M						$24M

Related:

• Lawrie Kobza publicly discussed the MMSD's $6M Structural Deficit with Superintendent Rainwater during a November, 2006 board meeting:

  "Why did our equity go down this past year since we, the board, passed a balanced budget in 2005/2006? Why did it go down by $2.8M (about a 1% variance in last year's $319M+ budget)?
  
  Answer: "Negative expenditure of $6M in salaries (tuition income was down, special ed high incidence aid was down) $5.9M "structural deficit in place"."

• Structural Deficit will increase MMSD revenue shortfall.
• 2007 / 2008 MMSD Budget Outlook: Half Empty or Half Full?
• 2007 / 2008 Budget Discussions Begin
• Property Tax Levies in Wisconsin #1 As a % of Home Values

The Administration used a "salary savings" account to "balance" the budget. When such savings did not materialize, the MMSD's equity (the difference between an organization's assets and liabilities) declined.

Interestingly, Madison School Board members Beth Moss, Carol Carstensen and Maya Cole have advocated the continued reduction in the District's equity as a means to help balance the 2007 / 2008 $339M+ budget. Beth proposed budgeting an additional $2.133M in "salary savings" above the planned $1M while Carol sought $2M and Maya asked for an additional $500K. [Board member proposed 2007/2008 budget amendments 540K PDF]

Finally, several years ago, I received an email from a person very concerned about the "dramatic" decline in the MMSD's "reserves", which according to this person were, at one time over $50M. I asked for additional data on this matter, but never heard from that person again.

The equity fund's decline gives the MMSD less wiggle room over time, and means that we, as a community face decisions related to facilities, staffing and services. Hopefully, the MMSD board and administration can start to consider and implement new approaches, including virtual learning tools and expanded collaboration with community assets like the UW, MATC and others. I hope that we can move beyond the annual "same service approach" and begin to think differently. Peter Gascoyne's 5 year approach to budgeting is a good place to start

"[Ask] what is the best quality of education that can be purchased for our district for $280 million a year. Start with a completely clean slate. Identify your primary goals and values and priorities. Determine how best to achieve those goals to the highest possible level, given a budget that happens to be $40 million smaller than today’s. Consider everything – school-based budgeting, class sizes, after-school sports, everything."

A definition of "equity". 2007 / 2008 $339M+ MMSD Citizen's Budget

Ed in 08

Billionares to start $60M Education Issue Presidential Campaign PR Effort.

David Herszenhorn:

Eli Broad and Bill Gates, two of the most important philanthropists in American public education, have pumped more than $2 billion into improving schools. But now, dissatisfied with the pace of change, they are joining forces for a $60 million foray into politics in an effort to vault education high onto the agenda of the 2008 presidential race.

Experts on campaign spending said the project would rank as one of the most expensive single-issue initiatives ever in a presidential race, dwarfing, for example, the $22.4 million that the Swift Vets and P.O.W.s for Truth group spent against Senator John Kerry in 2004, and the $7.8 million spent on advocacy that year by AARP, the lobby for older Americans.

Under the slogan “Ed in ’08,” the project, called Strong American Schools, will include television and radio advertising in battleground states, an Internet-driven appeal for volunteers and a national network of operatives in both parties.

“I have reached the conclusion as has the Gates foundation, which has done good things also, that all we’re doing is incremental,” said Mr. Broad, the billionaire who founded SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home and who has long been a prodigious donor to Democrats. “If we really want to get the job done, we have got to wake up the American people that we have got a real problem and we need real reform.”

I'm glad they are doing this. However, top down rarely works, particularly with an issue this broad.

www.edin08.com. Former LA Superintendent and Colorado Governor Roy Romer is Chair. [118K PDF]

Ed Policy 08 is a "A non-partisan blog focused on Educational Policy in the 2008 election for President of the United States." The site is written anonymously by a classroom teacher.