Monday, August 13, 2012

Wisconsin's "Fairly Normal" School District & the Walker Budget



Alan J. Borsuk On Education:  Average school district will face rocky road.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/11/2012)

2011-12 school year.   General assessment:  "OK".  A drop in per student spending is pretty much recovered through reduced spending on employee benefits -- "more or less a balanced deal from the standpoint of most school districts", as Borsuk describes it.

2012-13 school year.  General assessment:  "Not so good".  School districts need to dip into their fund balances, or what is often referred to as a rainy-day fund.

2013-14 school year.  General assessment.   Things get worse, even with younger teachers getting paid less than the retiring teachers they replace, a scenario that is already "happening in general".

2014-15 school year.  General assessment.  See previous school year.

2015-16 school year.  Cue the Dragnet theme music.    Excerpt:   Fairly Normal is running a big deficit, has used up all its savings and can't pay all its bills. I'm not exactly sure what we would call that when it happens to a unit of government in Wisconsin, but in other circumstances, I believe it's called bankruptcy.

The best way -- a.k.a  the one big "unless" -- in avoiding this timeline?   .....the Legislature puts more money in the school aid pot and allows districts to spend more per student when it creates the state budget for 2013-'15.

Pardon my cynicism.

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