Since I posted a comparison of revenue for RUSD and KUSD, today I thought it would be beneficial to post a comparison of where that revenue is spent.
Again, these numbers are taken directly from the Schools Performance Report (SPR) that is available on the Wisconsin Department of Instruction website. And as before, 2003-2004 is the most current information available. It is broken down to expenditure per student, since I think smaller numbers may be easier to comprehend.
As you can see, busing costs are killing this district. Kenosha spent $5,480,768 on busing, whereas RUSD spent $9,175,517 .This may be due to the fact we have not effectively bid out the contract with Durham (our transportation vendor) in 10 years.
The Independent Commission 's current benchmarking results "indicate that RUSD is spending twice what Kenosha is spending to transport less than twice as many students." I have included links for the full report from the Independent Commission.
Racine
Instruction $6,101
Support 914
Busing 433
Admin. 2,052
Facilities 297
Total Ed. Cost 9,796
RUSD Total District Cost $10,039
Kenosha
Instruction $5,932
Support 1,052
Busing 256
Admin. 1,830
Facilities 297
Total Ed. Cost 9,796
KUSD Total District Cost $ 9,889
Vote NO until we can get some of these expenditures in line with other school districts!!!
2 comments:
The numbers you've got and the statement that busing costs are killing RUSD doesn't fully reflect the picture.
RUSD receives $6,744,963 in integration transfer aid and $309,552 in general transportation aid — monies that come directly to the district to pay for transportation expenses. Integration aid comes from the feds to support desegregation efforts, paying for students moved between census tracts.
That leaves $2.1 million in general fund busing expenses that need to be covered by the general fund or special education fund. Not necessarily an unreasonable amount in district of this size. And don't forget that Racine Unified has a much more complicated deseg arrangement than Kenosha Unified -- and that sets up more busing.
That said, it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea for Unified to rebid the busing contract to make sure Durham is giving a good deal! There seems to be an awfully cozy relationship between the district and Durham -- I'm not implying anything improper, but when groups work so closely for so long the level of scrutiny can decrease. (Kinda of like when you've had the same car insurance salesperson for years.)
BTW - Keep up the blog work! I've enjoyed reading another voice on Racine education.
Integration aid is not simply used for busing, and I am certainly not advocating losing busing. We need to bus at the middle and high school level because of the geographical locations of these schools.
Integration aid is available for any student who crosses census tracts to go the school. RUSD receives aid if a student who lives 2 blocks away and walks to school if that school is in a different census tract.
Integration aid is given to RUSD for the students who opt of their neighborhood schools and attend one elsewhere in the district, even if that student is not eligible for busing (school choice and boundary exemptions).
Integration aid does help with bussing costs, but we could (in theory) still receive the millions and reduce busing if we provided great schools for parents to choose from instead of just settling for the school 'down the street'.
Finally, thank you for taking the time to post. I appreciate any positive dialogue in the community.We need to fix RUSD; our children and future generations deserve better.
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