Voters yesterday in West Bend have resoundingly made their voices heard - the $119.3 school referendum was too much for the taxpayers to bear. Many other large referenda in other Wisconsin school districts have failed in recent years. In what has become a sometimes disturbing trend, the voting public has said learned, and learned well, to say NO each time an increase in spending is proposed, even if the proposed spending is for capital projects. What happened in West Bend was expected by many, but it does shine a light on the terrible way we fund schools.
Pitting property tax owners against schools is a bad idea. While I wholly support the "idea" of revenue caps and the like, it is apparent that after 15 years of the current school funding formula, it does not work for many of the districts in our state. Don't other states fund their schools without forcing Grandma from her home?
Why can't the legislature come up with a better way - a more equitable way of funding education?
How about eliminating the sales tax exemptions and using that money to fund the schools?
Business leaders across the state complain that there aren't enough skilled workers for their businesses. Guess what, we have institutions to take care of these kinds of problems - they're called schools!
We need to move away from the "factory school" mentality, and start making sure our children are ready for the real world. Tech academies in the high schools, technology in elementary schools...
But folks, this costs money, and asking already overburdened homeowners to pony up more cash isn't working anywhere. We need a different and better way of funding our schools - people should not be forced to choose between their homes and better schools for the children of their community.
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Did you know - - -By closing the sales tax exemptions, (pet grooming, athletic clubs, lawyers, accountants, for example) the state could recoup $3.2 billion dollars! That certainly would have taken care of the budget deficit. And most people already think that they are paying sales tax on all of their purchases/services. They would certainly be surprised to learn that certain businesses have the privilege of exemption.
However, the Republicans view this as an added tax. Instead of what it really is . . . a favor to a special interest who, in all likelihood, provides campaign dollars to keep them from collecting sales tax on their business.
The only things that should be exempted are food and medicine.
The formula for school aid needs to be radically altered to create fairness amongst all districts. But would you want to run for re-election and have it be known that you supported a change that actually reduced support to the school district(s) in your legislative district? I think not!
It was my understanding that the current administration was going to tackle school financing form when they were elected. There should be a plan in place, stating pros and cons, but I have not heard anything about this. They seem to busy working on other issues. This leads me to believe the status quo of taxing seniors out of their homes is not seen as much of a problem. It's sad.
CFW - Yes, I did know the value of all those exemptions! It's insane that these special interest groups get tax breaks! It may have made sense way back when the state had a large manufacturing base - but that is gone. Most of our economy is snow ervice-based.
I know its a little like robbing Peter to pay Paul, because these industries will just turn around and pass the additional tax on to the consumers, but I truly believe in the long run, the average Wisconsinite would pay less in taxes.
Check out this website:
www.fairtaxes.com
Fair Taxeswebsite
Anon -
Your're right. The legislature will be soon looking at replacing the current school funding notice. There will be a hearing on November 15th in Madison.
Senate Public Hearing Notice
(right-click on the link to open in a new tab/browser)
I'm sorry I mean current school funding FORMULA, not notice.
I get a bit ahead of myself sometimes. My brain works faster than I type.
Interesting that the proficiency scores on the WKCE place West Bend students above the State average. ACT scores are also above State average. $8,553 is spent per pupil, but 65% of their budget goes for instruction, 10% for administration, 9% student/staff support, and 16% other. They don't need a wonderful new building, they seem to be doing a good job. Why does RUSD spend so much more than 75% for instruction and administration. I think it is close to over 82% in Racine. I can't see our district asking for anything, or demanding more money, in light of this. Interesting.
We have the highest percentage of students in special ed (that's a whole other discussion for another time)
Special ed kids are not educated in a classroom with 25-40 kids but rather a classroom of 5-10.
We need more teachers, hence we have more teaching expenses.
Of course there are many other reasons why you cannot simply take the per pupil spending and compare it to other districts that do not have the same challenges!
As a matter of fact, your plea for "tech" high-schools IS a plea for "factory-schools."
But that's not the purpose of grade- and high-school education. The purpose at those levels is readin'writin'math (and a few other closely-related fundamentals).
Employers complain a lot--but what you don't recognize is that employers should TRAIN their employees.
It's really simple. First you find a bright bulb from the HS senior class; then you hire them; then you train them for YOUR job!
Of course, employers do not want to PAY for that. But who benefits from that training? the employer.
If you follow "employer" logic, then society owes them a fully-trained robot just for their own use.
Wrong.
Society owes employers kids who can read write and do sums (and a few other closely-related skills.)
You want a specialist for your business, Mr Employer? TRAIN them.
Point taken - maybe "factory-school" is not the best choice of words. I tried to instill that schools need to be different than the schools of the past.
The 3 R's are still what we need to be focusing on, but the rest of the world is leaving us behind in EVERY aspect.
Our children need to compete in a world-economy with 21st century skills. I'm all for SC Johnson continuing to juniors and seniors and providing them with additional training (beyond what they have learned in school)! But Racine needs more of this!
When I said it was going to cost money, I don't necessarily mean via property taxes. There are many different ways to fund school-to-work iniatives, but I still believe that smaller companies are going to need some kind of incentives to do so.
Again, my brain works faster than fingers...
I'm all for SC Johnson continuing to HIRE juniors and seniors...
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