Q: What is “Fund 80”?
A: A property tax that school districts may levy for “community programs and services.” Unlike property tax levies for school operations, Fund 80 property taxes are subject to less restrictive revenue limits.
Beginning in 1993, Wisconsin law has imposed limits on the increases in residential property taxes that school districts may levy to pay for the operations of the k-12 educational program. Unless a referendum passes, the districts may increase taxes only up to a limit determined by a legal formula.
Since 2000-2001 the legislature has allowed districts to levy property taxes outside of the “revenue limits” for certain “community programs and services”. Funds raised in this way are known as “Community Service” funds or “Fund 80”. The dollars collected are residential property tax dollars. In other words, local taxpayers contribute property taxes to the schools in two ways—through taxes for operation of the schools that are limited and through taxes for community services and programs that are not limited.
Q: Are there limits on how districts spend “community service” funds?
A: Yes. Following state law, the Department of Public Instruction identifies the activities that can and cannot be funded by “community service” taxes.
Districts may adopt a separate tax levy to pay for community services such as adult education, community recreation programs, evening swimming pool operation and sports leagues, elderly food service programs, non-special education preschool, day care services, and other programs which are not elementary and secondary educational programs but have the primary function of serving the community. Access to “community service” activities may not be limited to pupils enrolled in the district's formal K-12 educational programs.
Q: What are the characteristics of a “community service” activity?
A: The Department of Public Instruction lists the following features as characteristics of a “community service” activity.·
The activity takes place outside of the usual K-12 instructional and extracurricular time periods.
· The activity is open to everyone (age appropriate) in the community.
· Additional direct cost is incurred in operating the program.
· The cost of the activity is recovered through user fees unless the school board makes a policy decision that program operations should be subsidized by a separate community service tax levy.
Q: What kinds of activities do not qualify for “community service” tax support?
A: According to the Department of Public Instruction, the following activities do not qualify for community service tax support:·
Activities which limit access to only pupils enrolled in the school district, such as inter-scholastic athletics and other extra-curricular activities, pupil clubs, dances, field trips, student seminars and symposiums.
· Costs for district-wide instructional program administration and support services.
· Expenditures for the welfare of and safety of pupils and staff involved with K-12 instructional programs.
· Facilities, sites and improvements unless specifically for community service activities. Any facilities funded with general obligation debt, including state trust fund loans, will require a debt service tax levy accounted for in the district's Debt Service Fund. Any such debt service levy is subject to revenue limitations if the related debt was not approved by referendum.
· Custodian, building and site maintenance, security services and utility costs may not be covered by “community service” funds unless an additional cost can be directly associated with a specifically provided community service activity.
This explanation is based on information provided by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction at http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dfm/sfms/ltrjun7_02.html.
On June 7, teachers, students, parents, and community representatives took the Madison Board of Education to task for its recent decision to eliminate the full-time district-level position of Fine Arts Coordinator. The same night, parents of children attending YMCA and After School, Inc. after-school programs at Midvale-Lincoln and Allis schools questioned the district’s unilateral imposition of a plan to replace those programs next year with “Safe Haven”, a program operated by the district’s Madison School-Community Recreation department (MSCR). Later in the evening the Board voted 5-2 to spend more than $173,000 on a computerized time clock system for MSCR staff (YES: Carol Carstensen, Bill Clingan, Bill Keys, Juan Lopez, Shwaw Vang; NO: Johnny Winston Jr. and I).
On the surface the parent, staff, and community criticisms appear to have little relation to the decision to computerize time clocks for community program staff. But there is a common thread in terms of the district’s budget—something called “Community Service” funds, or, “Fund 80.”
When the majority of the Board voted to cut the Fine Arts Coordinator, they ended the district’s long-standing commitment to have a qualified expert on staff to coordinate fine arts teaching across the district and to integrate district education with community arts programs. Instead, board members agreed to the superintendent’s suggestion to replace the former full-time coordinator position with a half-time “development” staff person. The new half-time position will be funded by “Community Service” dollars rather than the operating budget.
Safe Haven, the MSCR after-school program that will replace the YMCA and After School, Inc. programs, will receive a substantial percentage of its funding from the “Community Service” funds and from the operating budget.
Finally, the $173,209 to expand the Kronos, Inc. Timekeeping system to MSCR hourly employees, as well as an additional $74,817 to upgrade a computerized system for reserving classrooms, will also be financed by “Community Service” funds.
In a time of deep cuts to school programs and school staff, creating a new community development job, expanding after-school programs at schools already served by private programs, and spending a quarter of a million dollars on software for non-school purposes seem hard to explain.
What is the magic of “Community Service” dollars? They are residential property tax dollars that are not subject to the much discussed “revenue limits”. They are taxes that the Board can increase without a spending cap and without having to obtain public consent through a referendum. When the Board shifts a cost from the operating budget to “Community Service” funds, the action frees up dollars in the operating budget for other uses. However, spending “Community Service” dollars also increases the pressure on taxpayers.
In my view, spending of “Community Service” funds should be carefully prioritized. When the Board cuts a position that directly serves children in the schools, such as the Fine Arts Coordinator, should it add back a position that only serves the broader community? Should the Board displace after-school programs that families value with district programs that require substantial tax support? Do we need computerized time clocks for MSCR staff? Each of these decisions increases local property taxes and likely makes a future referendum harder to sell to voters.
What’s your advice? Contact me at robarts@execpc.co, or all Madison Board members at comments@madison.k12.wi.us.
Jay Matthews writes that Mathcounts lets smart middle schoolers compete to solve complex math problems.