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Budget Alert– $150 Per Pupil Cut
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 13, 2015
As you know, Governor Walker formally introduced his 2015-17 State Budget proposal and it is clear that the all-out attack on public education continues in Wisconsin. And, the lion’s share of the attack can be categorized in three general areas: 1) the proposed $150 per pupil categorical aid cut in the first year of the biennium, 2) dramatic expansion proposals for private school vouchers and privately-run charter schools, and 3) damaging education policy prescriptions on Common Core, school accountability, assessments, and teacher preparation and licensure; as well as the elimination of the Local Government Property Insurance Fund.
There is a lot of detail in this budget which impacts public education. It will likely take the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) until the end of February or more to complete their analysis of this budget. DPI may have something late next week. We will pick up the fight against voucher and charter school expansion, and policy in the budget next week. For now, SAA members need to focus on the impact of the proposed $150 per pupil aid cut in the first year of the biennium. Consider the following:
- Anything less than an inflationary increase in per pupil revenues will require reductions in educational opportunities for public school children.
- Governor Walker’s budget plan includes no revenue limit per pupil increase in either year of the biennium.
- Although the Governor indicated in his budget address on February 3rd that school revenues remained essentially flat, his budget plan actually imposes a $150 ($127 million statewide) cut in the per pupil categorical aid in the first year of the biennium. This $150 per-pupil categorical aid was in the 2014-15 state budget base and expected in each year of the 2015-17 biennium.
- Therefore, even though the Governor proposes to add about $142 million (about $165 per pupil) to the per pupil categorical in the second year of the biennium, the net result is a cut of approximately $135 per pupil ($112 million) over the biennium. But, the biggest issue is the impact of that first year cut on your budget and your ability to provide high-quality educational opportunities for the children you serve.
- In addition to the $142 million in the per pupil categorical in the second year of the budget, the governor also proposes spending $211.2 million in increased school levy credits ($105.6 million in each year) and $108 million in increased general aid with no corresponding revenue limit increase. Therefore, this $319 million is “school funding in name only.” It simply flows to taxpayers as property tax relief and schools cannot spend one dime of it on the educational needs of their students.
The battle lines have been clearly drawn and there is no denying that the threat to public education is very real in this budget process. I call on each district administrator to assemble your leadership team, collaborate on your district message and craft your plan for influencing your parents, your staff, your community, your media and your lawmakers — and then coordinate the delivery of that message. This budget will harm your school district and the children you serve. Never has it been more important for you to reach out to your legislators and your community. In your communication, please cover the following:
- Invite your legislators to your school(s). Use the opportunity to show them some of the great educational opportunities that kids in your district are afforded. Show them what learning looks like today in your schools.
- Highlight the budgetary and human impact that the Governor’s proposed $150 per pupil aid cut in the first year of the budget will have on your school district. Emphasize the lost educational opportunities for your students.
- Encourage your legislators to support putting the $211 million in school levy credits and the $108 million in increased general aid (with no revenue limit increase) into a form that you can spend on the needs of the children you serve. Many legislators have already said that they support putting more money into schools if May revenue estimates show more revenue is available. I say, “Pay the Kids First!” I believe our civic-minded Wisconsin citizens will say keep my $5 or $10 in projected property tax relief from this “school funding” and use it for the children.
- Tell your district’s story. They need to hear it.
- Encourage your legislators to stand up for Wisconsin school children.
- Thank them for listening and for working for the citizens of Wisconsin.
Please send a letter (phone calls work too) using the information discussed above to the members of the Joint Finance Committee and your legislators as soon as possible. I know many of you have already contacted your legislators, and I thank you. I also ask that you contact them again. For your convenience, I have provided links to the Senate Directory, the Assembly Directory and Who Are My Legislators. Please copy your letter to the SAA.
In my 13 years of representing the SAA, I may have been in a few fights that, upon reflection, maybe I should not have been in. This isn’t one of those. So let’s fight. Let’s fight for everything that is good in public education. Let’s fight for all the reasons we made education our life’s work. But, most importantly, let’s fight for the children we serve today . . . and for those we will serve tomorrow.
Thanks for listening, and thanks for all your efforts on behalf of Wisconsin school children.
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