School District Braces for Aid Decline (WI)

July 7, 2010

The Madison School District will receive 12 percent less in state aid next school year over 2009-10, according to new estimates by the state Department of Public Instruction. Ten other Dane County districts also are expected to face declines in funding under the state budget adopted last summer.

Madison school Superintendent Dan Nerad said the district expected a 15 percent cut and had budgeted accordingly. But he said the latest figures show the current school funding system needs an overhaul.

“This is a difficult time,” Nerad said. “What’s very much needed is a statewide discussion on school funding.”

State general school aids, at about $4.6 billion annually, are currently the largest source of money for K-12 public schools in Wisconsin. Most of the rest comes from local property taxes.

Overall, the state is spending about the same amount on schools next year as it did for the school year just ended, DPI spokesman John Johnson said. But variables in the funding formula — such as changes in enrollment or property wealth per student — mean more districts (249) will see a decrease in state funding than an increase (175), Johnson said.

In Madison’s case, the district will get $45.3 million, ab out $6.2 million less than it received in the 2009-10 school year, despite a slight increase in projected enrollment.

The district is one of five in Dane County to see its general state aids cut by 10 percent or more. The Middleton-Cross Plains School District is facing a more than 15 percent cut, or nearly $1.6 million less than it received in the last school year.

“We’re not surprised. We figured this was coming,” district spokeswoman Michelle Larson said. “We are confident we can come together as a district to get through these tough times.”

She said the district has already raised property taxes and cut positions and is considering its options for the upcoming year. It experienced a slight, 74-student drop in enrollment last year, but not enough to significantly reduce its operating costs.

Some area districts will see an increase in state aid. Sun Prairie should get an additional $3.5 million, or 12.3 percent, because it added a 4-year-old kindergarten program in the last school year and saw an increase in its enrollment of 100 to 200 students, said Phil Frei, deputy administrator for business. Both are factors that draw additional state aid. “It wasn’t just luck, it was definitely based on projections and good planning,” Frei said.

Madison’s projected cuts follow last year’s bad news that the district’s schools were losing some 15 percent in state aid, or $9.2 million, barely a week after the Legislature approved a budget that officials said would reduce state aid to the district by no more than 10 percent.

School districts can make up for cuts in aid by raising local property taxes, at least up to the limit set by state revenue caps.

Late last month, state Superintenden t of Public Instruction Tony Evers called for a dramatic overhaul of how schools are funded. The plan includes a minimum level of state aid for every student, using student poverty as a factor, and getting rid of $900 million in property tax credits for homeowners and giving the money directly to schools.

Evers said his proposal to eliminate the school levy tax credit was meant to begin a statewide discussion on revamping school funding before a final plan is submitted this fall in his budget proposal to the governor.