As the Madison School district plans for more budget cuts, Evers hopeful no budget repair bill necessary

Briana Reilly:

While MMSD is heavily reliant on property taxes instead of state aid compared to other districts, a decrease to the revenue authority or other measures that would lower the levy limit would serve as a funding cut. The district already cut $8 million from the 2019-20 budget in the preliminary 2020-21 budget.

Contingencies could include cutting as many as 92 full-time staff positions or undoing much of the planned wage increases for staff, based on a survey the district sent to staff last week.

Ruppel wrote that the district will move forward with its “core values at the forefront” as it considers the 2020-21 budget.

“We aim with all of our decisions to put students at the center,” she wrote. “Through our standard budget feedback process, we’ve spoken to parents, community leaders, principals and staff about the uncertainty ahead of us. All feedback at the highest levels have been consistent: protect student programming, student mental health and social emotional supports first, as they are needed now and in the fall more than ever.”

Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.

My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results

“An emphasis on adult employment”

Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]

Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration

“The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”.