West Attendance Area Task Force Discussion at a PTO Meeting

Summary of a West Attendance Area Task Force Discussion at the Thoreau PTO:

MMSD Chief of Staff Mary Gulbrandsen participated in a well attended Thoreau PTO meeting recently to discuss the options that the West Attendance Area Task force is currently evaluating. I thought the conversation was quite interesting and have summarized several of the points discussed below:

• The May, 2005 referenda failed due to poor communication. What will the District due to improve that? There was some additional discussion on this topic regarding whether a referendum could pass.
• Why don't the developers (and therefore the homeowners in these new subdivisions) pay for the costs of a new school? Discussion followed that included much larger building permit fees, a referenda question that asked whether the homeowners in these emerging subdivisions should pay for a facility and changes in the way that we fund public education. Some also suggested that people purchased homes in these areas knowing that there was not a school nearby and therefore should not be surprised that a bus ride is required. Mary mentioned her experiences growing up an a farm where a 45 minute bus ride was no big deal. Obviously, there are different perspectives on this - I rode the bus daily for several years.
• Can't the District sell some of their buildings (excess schools, Hoyt, Doyle - next to the Kohl Center) to pay for this? That would be a strong statement that might support the passage of a referendum.

• The District could borrow construction funds from the State (up to $10M) without a referendum. Mary mentioned that this type of borrowing typically has a shorter term than the referendum numbers and must be paid for out of operating funds - rather than a property tax increase.
• Mary mentioned that most homeowners in the MMSD should have seen relatively flat property taxes the past few years. State aid increases have helped to keep them relatively flat while overall district spending grows annually. The District's per student spending is also significantly above the state average. Madison does suffer from "negative aid" (negative aid means that for every new dollar of property tax revenue, the Madison School District has to actually raise taxes by $1.70 [ballpark - I don't have the exact number handy] because of the reduction of state aids) due to its high property tax base. In other words, the more the MMSD spends above the revenue caps, the more state aid we forfeit and the more our property taxes go up. Say that again - quickly :)
• Some discussed the need to efficiently use the facilities that the district has, including Midvale/Lincoln, Hoyt and some of the east side schools.
• Reduce the options presented to the board to just two:
  1. No Referenda: move children around to re-balance individual school population
  2. Referenda passes for new construction

Mary seemingly has been on the go for months. She along with all of the task force members have spent quite a bit of time on these issues. They deserve our thanks. Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 11, 2006 7:31 AM
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