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Area Schools and State Budget

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School districts could benefit if proposed state budget is approved

By Ted Pennekamp

 

Area school districts as well as districts throughout the state could benefit if Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed $76.1 billion two-year state budget is passed. 

The proposed budget calls for $649 million in new K-12 per-pupil funding, including $30.3 million contingent upon insurance savings, if district employees pay at least 12 percent of their health insurance premium. The proposed budget would also increase K-12 equalization aid by $72.8 million while leaving revenue limits flat, which would drive down property taxes.

“We only have seen the general overview of the budget that Gov. Walker submitted to the legislature,” said Prairie du Chien District Administrator Drew Johnson. “However, it does seem as he has included per-pupil categorical aid increases of $200 for 2017-2018 school year and $204 for the 2018-2019 school year. Our enrollment for aid purposes is about 1,121 so, if the governor’s plan passes, the $200 increase will mean an increase of approximately $224,200.”

District employees would be required to pay at least 12 percent of their health insurance premiums, or the district wouldn’t be eligible for its share of the new funding.

“School employees now pay 7.13 percent of the cost of health insurance plans,” said Johnson. “The district has four options for school employees who qualify for insurance; $2,000 deductible single, $3,000 deductible single, $4,000 deductible family, and $6,000 deductible family. The district also contributes to a significant HRA (health reimbursement arrangement) for covered staff to use on health care costs.”

“Regarding the health insurance issue, all employees at our school already pay at least 12 percent of their health insurance premium, so that will not be an issue for us,” said Seneca District Administrator David Boland. “Regarding funding, We would see an increase in some of the categorical aids. There are questions as to how much the overall impact to our school will be, however, as we are hearing that some of the details in the budget are not as beneficial to public schools as what we had hoped. We will know more when the impact of all those details has been sifted through.”

The 12 percent insurance requirement would affect the Wauzeka-Steuben School District. 

“Currently our staff pays 9 percent, not 12 percent. It is an incentive our district uses to stay competitive with nearby districts to attract and retain staff,” said Wauzeka-Steuben District Administrator Robert Sailer. “One of the areas our board said it would reduce was the overall cost of health insurance by $200,000 for the 2017-2018 school year. Moving the employee percentage is an option. But many options exist to reduce that amount, not just employee share.”

Sailer said Walker’s proposed budget would increase Wauzeka-Steuben’s state aid.

“Gov. Walker’s initial proposal, if adopted as is, would provide an estimated $60,000 more in aid,” said Sailer. “During the 2016-2017 school year, insurance costs raised by $66,000. We are hopeful the governor’s proposal will be adopted. But as we have already seen, as expected, any proposed budget is met with controversy from both sides of the aisle. Wauzeka-Steuben will remain optimistic.”

River Ridge District Administrator Dr. Jeff Athey said that River Ridge District employees already pay 12 percent of their health insurance premiums.

“As for our share of the proposed increase, Gov. Walker proposed a $200 increase in per-pupil aid for 2017-18. The membership count number that this is calculated from for our 2016-17 revenue limit is 525. So, for 2017-18, we would be looking at a $105,000 increase based on the per-pupil aid proposed increase,” Athey said. “The proposal also includes a $204 per-pupil increase in 2018-19, which would be an estimated $107,100 additional increase at that time. Gov. Walker also proposed a rural school initiative ($30.6 million statewide) that would include increases to other areas of funding that are received by the River Ridge School District, including sparsity aid, pupil transportation aid, and high cost transportation aid. These increases would need to be run through the Department of Public Instruction’s formulas before we knew the true increase amounts.”

Other aspects of the governor’s budget regarding school districts includes:

•Eliminating teacher and administrator license renewal, except in disciplinary cases.

•$11 million sales tax holiday on certain school supplies, clothing and computer in August.

•$5.6 million for performance-based funding available to failing public, charter and private voucher schools in Milwaukee. Forty-two failing public schools, plus vouchers and charters could get a piece of that money if they show improvements.

•$2.9 million for high school students seeking college credit through a new Early College Credit program.

•Eliminate the exemption that school districts use to exceed revenue limits to pay for energy-efficiency projects. Increase Focus on Energy funding for school by $20 million.

The Walker Administration cut funding by approximately $900 million for school districts in the 2011-2013 budget, and numerous districts in the years since have had to cut programs and staff and/or hold referendums to increase their revenue limit. The total impact has been estimated as a $1.6 billion cut because the amount of funding that school districts were allowed to raise through property taxes was limited under the budget. 

Now, under the proposed 2017-2019 budget, there is the possibility that school districts will see increased funding.

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