School Information System

Madison School Board Considers An Operating Budget Referendum, to increase it's $340M Budget Authority

Channel3000.com:

The Madison Metropolitan School District's Board of Education began discussing the possibility of a referendum for the 2008-2009 school year on Monday night.

Although there was no final decision, the workshop means a referendum is officially on the table for discussion, WISC-TV reported.

During the meeting, a grim forecast of future budget deficits was released by the Superintendent Art Rainwater. He told board members to expect to face more than $4 million worth of cuts for the 2008-2009 operating budget.

Earlier this year, the board dealt with community uproar as it was forced to cut nearly $8 million from the budget, which included closing one elementary school.

Now, the board must decide whether to ask voters to fill that budget gap with a referendum.

School officials have blamed the state-mandated revenue caps as the reason many districts like Madison are facing tough decisions in recent years.

Brittany Schoepp:

A possible referendum to close a projected budget gap of more than $4 million for the 2008-09 school year was discussed by the Madison School Board for the first time Monday night.

School District Superintendent Art Rainwater said the budget gap between what will be needed to maintain existing services and what would be allowed under state revenue caps is based on projections -- not actual enrollments and staffing -- but is "in the general ballpark."

In addition to the gap in 2008-09, shortfalls for the following four school years are predicted to range between $5.6 million and $6.8 million, Rainwater said.

School Board President Arlene Silveira emphasized that the board hasn 't decided whether to submit a referendum to voters this spring.

A few factors that may be on voter's minds:

• Madison's traditional strong support of public education, particularly the local school district's per student spending (about $13,926 [2006/2007 Citizen's Budget, Fall 2006 Enrollment data), which is among the highest in the State of Wisconsin.
• MMSD staffing, budget and attendance history
• Discipline / School Violence issues, more here.
• Two recent MMSD referenda links [5/2005 | 11/2006]
• The School Board majority's concessions made in advance of the recent Madison Teacher's Inc. negotiations (taking a major bargaining chip off the table):

  Matthews said the district is trying to shift the current seniority system to one that relies on the judgment of principals and administrators about where and how teachers should be assigned, and positions allocated.

  "We've worked smoothly with the current system for years, and I simply don't understand why this kind of evil proposal is being brought forward," Matthews said. "It's just absurd."

• Spring, 2008 Madison School Board Elections: Seats currently held by Carol Carstensen and Lawrie Kobza are up for the April 2008 election.
• The controversial high school redesign initiative.
• The Superintendent search process - long time Madison Superintendent Art Rainwater has announced his intention to retire in 2008.
• Math

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 14, 2007 7:00 PM
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