Boosters & The Madison School District Budget
In the last five years, the La Follette High School Booster Club has paid for everything from bats to books.
They’ve raised more than $260,000 to pick up the tab for balls and jerseys, renovations of weight rooms and training rooms and even taxi fare for students who needed transportation to get eyeglasses, said Deb Slotten, president of the La Follette club.
But Slotten draws the line at paying overtime for a custodian to be at the high school so teams can practice on five days the Madison School District is closed for Thanksgiving and winter break.
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And then there are costs the boosters simply don’t want to pay, such as the custodians who, administrators say, are required to be at the schools for practices during holiday breaks for contractual and safety reasons. The district’s contract with AFSCME Local 60 requires custodians – who are paid $16.54 to $25.81 an hour – to be paid double-time in addition to their holiday pay if they have to work on a district holiday, said Human Resources Director Bob Nadler.District spending goes up annually, while enrollment has remained flat over the years. The debate is largely where the money goes. A great deal of information can be found via these links:
- Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance School Facts 2005 Data
- Sarah Kidd
- Fund 80 (District expenditures outside the state revenue caps)
- The Madison School District Profile
- Budget / Financing posts on this site
- Barb Schrank notes changes in local enrollment data and the cost to the Madison School District of losing these students
- District health care costs have also been frequently discussed. However, Ruth Robarts notes that the current Board of Education is not in any rush to explore health care cost savings