For the first time I will cast a vote against a referendum for Madison Public Schools. I do not make this decision lightly, or with any happiness. As a staunch supporter of better schools, qualified teachers at good pay, and a curriculum that meets the needs of the 21st century, I want my local schools to be the best. However, over the years I have not been able to say my past votes for school referendums have allowed for my education desires for Madison schools to be met. In addition, I have not witnessed enough fiscal restraint from Madison Schools, which I expect to take place before asking the taxpayers for more funds.
Let me say first and foremost that I have no problem paying more in property taxes for better schools. I think that this is my duty as a citizen of Madison. I have advocated young people take full advantage of educational opportunities, and chastised those who foolishly threw way such opportunities. But being an advocate for education should not blind us to the obvious problems that need fixing in our public schools. What I do not want to do is to leave unaddressed long time issues with how our schools function by just giving more money in the latest referendum.
The latest referendum that is on the November ballot is a most remarkable bill for local taxpayers. It is designed to allow for an ongoing series of property tax increases that will within three years add $92.00 per year to the average $250,000 home in Madison. Prior to that time there will be smaller property tax increases. The referendum is recurring, so the increase is ours to keep.
Local and state economies are being socked by the national recession. It is almost impossible for new homebuyers to get needed loans, and far too many existing homeowners are finding it hard to make their payments. Elderly citizens are trying to just make ends meet, and at times have to decide whether to heat the house adequately, or pay for needed medicine. This is a very rough period for many in Madison. So I think it vital that the school district first ask if every cost saving measure has been taken prior to asking the taxpayers for more money.
I feel that schools should be places of great creativity and learning. I truly think that learning is fun, and children should be taught to understand that fact. But I will be honest, over the years I have not been pleased with some of the results I am seeing from the tax dollars that have been invested in the schools. The basics of education are not being met, though we find enough money in the school budgets for top-heavy administration, and far too many coaches for sport teams.
In fact, the budget for sports at Madison Schools is nothing short of obscene. Taxpayers are trying to make ends meet, and yet are expected to send students around the region to play football, or to pay for rental time for ice hockey players. It is not hard to understand why I feel the school district has its priorities out of order, or why I think the taxpayers are being asked for too much.
There needs to be true fiscal restraint on the areas of the school budget that cost a great deal, but are not the basics of education. I am not pretending that cutting these programs, or eliminating some heavy administrative weight, would address the budget shortfalls. I understand the systemic problem with how we currently fund our educational system in Wisconsin. It is rotten, broken, and out-of-date. But until it changes we must deal with what we have. Yet I do not feel the school district has a right to ask for more money from anyone until all the areas that can be cut without impacting classroom size, quality books, and excellent teachers are dealt with. I find it unacceptable that when crunch time starts with the school budget the first items on the cutting block are the ones that seem to impact actual learning. That ploy by the school district is old!
The way we are headed now is only one where budget shortfalls are a yearly event, and the quality of education seems not to improve. I am not alone in wanting the system to be fixed. But I have concluded that only voting for these endless referendums is not the way to affect change.
I just desire what every other citizen of our city wants from the education process we pay for. I want a good return on my investment, as it matters to us all that we have good schools and well-educated graduates. But until I start to see some movement away from the old method of how we deal with budget items at the Madison schools I will need to vote NO.
Technorati Tags: Madison, Wisconsin, Schools, Education, Sports
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
A a native born Madisonian who has benefited from the education that the schools provide, including two degrees from the UW, I am afraid I must agree with you.
The school district has come back to the district repeatedly asking for more money. They have acknowledged their the problems with the way the compile their budget and promised to fix those problems, but need the money first.
They have never followed through on those promises.
The only way to get the school district to actually seriously review and revise their entire budget is to deny them any increase in taxes until it is done. It’s called the power of the purse!
I completely agree with you. Hamilton Middle School, for example, is only cleaned once a month (as told to a parent I work with when he went to a parents night). A reasonable argument can probably be made that schools being clean (and I don’t mean scrubbed down with bleach every day, but cleaned at least once a week) is better for the student population’s health than the sporty extracurriculars of some segment of the school’s population.
As a former student at Hamilton Middle School and a current student as West High who faces the realities of our districts’ financial challenges every day, I feel compelled to respond to your claim that the district is mismanaging revenue.
The reality is that for the last fifteen years, Madison school administrators have been asked to do the impossible — provide students with an exceptional education, while being forced to make over $60 million in cuts due to a state law passed in 1993 limiting state revenue. If you haven’t been “pleased with some of the results you’re seeing from tax dollars that have been invested in the schools,” it isn’t because school officials have been mismanaging funds. It’s because our state legislature prioritizes low property taxes over quality public education. The fact that “budget shortfalls are a yearly event” has nothing to do with school officials mismanaging the budget, and everything to do with irresponsible state legislators.
Your claim that “the basics of education are not being met” is also inacurrate — Madison schools continue to serve as models for schools across the state. But budget cuts have increasingly compromised educational resources over the last several years, affecting every student in the district.
I see the effects of budget cuts every day. Classes at West and other schools across the city are packed to the gills. Extracurricular opportunities are increasingly limited. Support staff, like counselors and social workers, are incredibly overworked. Many textbooks are outdated and inacurrate, like my government textbook, which claimed global warming is nonexistant. Some history classrooms’ maps still include the Soviet Union. Few rooms in our un-airconditioned school have working fans, making warmer months insufferable. Bathroom stalls are grafitti-covered and don’t lock. Get the picture?
Your claim that district resources are being wasted on things like hockey is untrue — parents foot the bill for high school sports like golf, gymnastics, and hockey, often paying the district hundreds of dollars each season for their child to play.
I’m disturbed that you don’t seem to understand that by opposing the referendum, you and other voters will only make it harder for Madison schools to succeed. If the referendum fails, some $16 million in cuts will be inevitable — and the district will face one of the biggest blows yet.
Before going to the polls, I hope you’ll take some time to learn about the real challenges facing the district, like unfunded federal mandates and the needs of the thousands of low-income and special-needs children the schools educate, as well as the strategic and responsible plans set forth by Superintendent Nerad and other school leaders.
Ultimately, I hope you’ll realize that students like me need your support. No matter what administrators are doing, budget cuts are real to students across Madison, whose future depends on a strong education. Voting no on the referendum is a slap in the face to over 20,000 Madison kids.
David Blaska agree with you on this issue. I hope you don’t start agreeing with Mr. Blaska on presidential candidates.
I know why Blaska doesn’t support the school referendum, but why not you? I’m guessing you saw Obama’s answer concerning education in the third debate. Education is important. The state funding formula is terrible. That’s not the MMSD’s fault.
And when you talk about the economy, how is Madison going to be able to compete in a global economy if we neglect education?
I agree with you on this. Change and improvements to schools should not come from increased property taxes, but better budgeting, non profit donations, etc… The government spends way too many dollars on total BS and ignores the things that really do need money. Schools implement fundraisers all the time- why not fundraisers for new textbooks instead of expensive school trips? I am new to Wisconsin so I am not familiar with this situation exactly, but over and over I am seeing the same pattern. When a friend of mine enrolled her child in public school, she was given a million forms to fill out, essentially asking the same questions. Each piece of paper represents money in some shape or form. What if these forms could be consolidated? There are all sorts of conferences and seminars for teachers… who actually attends these? Are they beneficial? Is this an issue of, we spend too much money talking about the problem and not enough money trying to fix it? Some questions to ask yourselves.
It is always easy to agree and say to streamline spending. That idea can be applied to everything from our environmentally wasteful special trips to the corner store to our schools, to our leaving a light on in a room we aren’t using.
I lived in Madison when my daughter began school. This article/forum is bittersweet to me. I think it is always important to consider spending before asking for more money. However, we also need to look at more than that.
I now live in a public school district in IL that well…stinks. I pay around $200 (out of pocket for books and fees) as a parent for my two children to attend. The PTO here raises funds for one hour per quarter of art to be taught in the school. There are no extra-curricular activities until high school. Even at the high school level, those extras are only possible because the majority of funding is from booster clubs. The curriculum the teachers teach from is outdated compared to Madison.
It has been a heartache and headache watching my son begin school in this district. The first day of school, the district (who owns the bus company) failed not only to bring my son home, but to call me. The bus was over an hour late to start with. No one answered phones at the school or the bus office. When the bus finally arrived, my son’s entire school had been forgotten by the bus. When I arrived at his school an hour and a half later, all the kindergarteners were lined up and sitting along the walls in the hall. NO ONE CALLED ME! Why? “We just figured out they [the buses] weren’t picking up the kids. We don’t have the time, staff or money to call all the parents.” And that was just the first day of school…..
For Madison, please be glad to have so many involved parents and excellent, caring teachers. Yes, cut the fat but be VERY careful!
I was very disappointed to read this article. When I moved here, I heard that Madison had great schools. Then my daughter started kindergarten in a mixed grade class of 25, in a building where they have to put buckets in the hall when in rains to catch the leaks. This year she is in a mixed grade class of 27. A student/ teacher ratio of 27:1 is just not acceptable. Not having enough teachers to have separate classes for kindergartners and first graders is terrible. You talk about cutting the fat. That might have happened in the few years after 1993. Now we are cutting to the bone.
Having donations pay for school extracurriculars is a great idea… if only those donations were actually made they would be a big help. We have donated school supplies and gift cards to teachers at our school, but that is even less than a drop in the bucket. What bake sale is going to pay to fix the leaky roof?
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