McCallum's Budget Proposal Puts Great Schools at Risk
Now
that Governor Scott McCallum has proposed his 2001-2003 state budget,
we know for sure how much is at risk for children and educators in public
schools. So just what is at risk? Nothing less than the core elements
of WEAC's Great Schools campaign: quality, involvement, and support
of Wisconsin's public schools.
Governor McCallum's budget does little to place students
in classrooms that work, shows no commitment to develop quality staff
through collectively bargained approaches and promotes educational schemes
that will not benefit everyone. Governor McCallum's budget contains
little relief from revenue caps, makes dramatic cuts in the SAGE K-3
class size reduction program, attempts to grab authority away from the
DPI, expands the scope of the voucher and charter school laws and includes
several direct assaults on the bargaining rights of education employees.
The summary below analyzes the governor's budget as
it relates to the three core messages under the theme "Every kid
deserves a Great School":
| Great Schools Place
Students in Classrooms That Work Governor McCallum's budget puts great schools
at risk by:?
- Dramatically reducing the SAGE K-3 class
size reduction program
- Ratcheting down even harder on revenue caps
- Expanding the voucher program in Milwaukee
- Limiting funds to special education
through "census-based" funding
- Freezing aid to the WTCS and diminishing
the authority of local boards
- Misusing federal E-rate funds in the TEACH
program and charging schools a fee for BadgerLink access
- Folding the Education Communications Board
into a nonprofit corporation
|
SAGE Class Size Reduction
Program:
There is no better example of a program that makes
classrooms work than the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education
(SAGE) program, which reduces class sizes in early grades in low-income
schools and requires districts to create and implement plans for improving
student performance.
Governor's Budget: Dramatically Scales Back the
SAGE Program
- Cut funding to at least 370 schools in the SAGE program with less
than 50% poverty rates by restricting the program only to kindergarten
and first grade in those schools.
- Provide full K-3 SAGE funding only to schools with a 50% or greater
poverty rate. It is estimated that somewhere between 115 and 130 schools
remain at this level, a majority of which are in the City of Milwaukee.
- Strip the annual evaluation responsibility away from the UW-Milwaukee
and give it to a newly created Board on Education Evaluation and Accountability.
Background: This represents a "gut shot" to
the SAGE program. This highly successful program is due to expand based
on commitments made by the Legislature. School districts across the
state have spent time and effort preparing for the continuation of their
programs. WEAC supports making SAGE permanent through the third grade
(Go to the OnWEAC
Resource page on class size and the SAGE program for additional
information).
Relief from Revenue Caps:
The state-imposed revenue caps, which limit the amount
of money school districts are entitled to receive in state aids and
property taxes, are keeping many school districts from providing classrooms
that work. Districts are being forced to delay spending on necessities
such as building maintenance and the purchase of computers and other
technology. They have also cut or eliminated important programs and
services for children.
Governor's Budget: No Relief Under Revenue Caps
- Freeze per-pupil spending cap at $220.29, eliminating the inflationary
adjustment provided in previous years.
- Maintain the current 75% hold harmless declining enrollment relief,
but provide no additional relief to declining enrollment districts.
- Allow a modest increase for low-spending districts from $6,700 to
$6,900 in '03. This is a provision that applies to a limited number
of districts across the state.
- Significantly roll back summer school programs by including only
25% of summer school pupil enrollment when calculating revenue caps
by the 2003-04 school year. Current law allows for a 40% pupil count
allowance. Note: this reduction in summer school aid is done at
the same time the governor would allow Milwaukee charter schools to
receive summer school aid.
- Make other "technical changes" to revenue cap calculations.
- Limit the scheduling of school district referendums to spring and
general elections or a comparable date when no fall election is held.
Background: WEAC supports full repeal of the
revenue cap law. The budget ratchets down even harder on caps and provides
no additional relief for declining enrollment districts throughout Wisconsin
(For more information, to the OnWEAC
resource page on school district revenue controls.)
Vouchers for Private
Schools:
Working classrooms can only be created with adequate
resources. The problem with private school voucher programs is that
they shift scarce resources from public schools to private schools.
And unlike public schools, voucher schools have no accountability for
student achievement or use of taxpayer dollars.
Governor's Budget: Voucher Program Expansion, Other
Changes
- Expand income eligibility for families under the voucher program
from 175% of poverty to 185%. Once enrolled, allow pupils to remain
in the voucher program even if their family exceeds the income eligibility
threshold.
- Allow voucher schools to voluntarily administer state standardized
tests, but prohibit the DPI from releasing test results by school.
- Allow the new Board on Education and Accountability to conduct a
privately-funded long-term evaluation of the voucher program.
- Allow a school that is partially located in the City of Milwaukee
to participate in the program (Thomas More Catholic High School).
Background: Expanded eligibility was defeated
as part of the last state budget. It is also an insult to public schools
to expect that a voluntary testing of voucher schools will amount to
accountability in the voucher program (For more information, go to the
OnWEAC resource page
on private school vouchers.)
State's Share of School Revenues:
As noted above, working classrooms require adequate
resources. The state needs to live up to its commitment to fund two-thirds
of school revenues.
Governor's Budget: Fund State's Share of Schools
- Maintain 2/3 funding of revenues ($540 million)
- The bill sets the secondary cost ceiling per pupil at $6,900 in
the'01-02 school year and $7,000 in the '02-03 school year. Thereafter,
the secondary cost ceiling per pupil is the prior year's cost ceiling
adjusted for inflation.
Special Education:
The ability of Wisconsin schools to provide classrooms
that work is being seriously challenged because of the state's failure
to keep its commitment to fund special education. Schools are being
forced to choose between special education and regular education.
Governor's Budget: Limited Funds for Special Education
and Changes to IEPs
- Establish a "low incidence/high cost" funding for special education
programs.
- Provide $25M over two years to reimburse districts for 50 percent
of the cost of serving high cost special-needs students. High cost
is defined as $50,000 or more. Use a "census based" approach for distribution
of special education funds. Under the census-based formula, special
education aid will be distributed as a fixed rate per pupil payment
to each district based on a combination of the district's total and
low-income pupils.
- Provide no additional funds for special education categorical aids.
- Prohibit IEP teams from recommening placement of special education
children. Under the bill, the LEA is responsible for determining the
child's placement.
- Ensure that districts have the "maximum flexibility allowed under
federal law" to serve special-needs students.
Background: The DPI's initial budget request
asked for a 90 percent funding for low-incidence/high cost special-needs
pupils. It will take additional analysis, but the 50 percent offered
here is not likely to help many districts. No additional funding for
the special education categorical aid will condemn districts to approximately
a 31% level of reimbursement from the state for special education costs
(For more information, go to the OnWEAC
resource page on special education funding.)
Technical Colleges:
The classrooms of the Wisconsin Technical College
System (WTCS) are doing an excellent job of preparing people for the
new economy of the 21st Century. But WTCS needs new investment in order
to maintain its competitive advantage as one of the nation's best.
Governor's Budget: Little Support for the WI Technical
College System
- Deny the request from the WTCS for a $4.8M aid increase in '02
and a $9.9M aid increase in '03. This freezes the aid for WTCS at
the 2000-2001 base level. WTCS had requested that general aids be
increased by 4.1% annually.
- Reduce the Capacity Building Grant program level from $5.0 million
GPR in 2000-01 to $3.0 million GPR in 2001-02 and to $2.0 million
GPR in 2002-03.
- Provide no additional funding for the incentive grant program for
statewide marketing and promotion of the WTCS. In addition, require
that approval of incentive grant awards be contingent upon State WTCS
Board approval of the local district board's entire budget first.
Virtual Campus (E-Tech College) Initiative
- Add $1.0 million PR-S annually and 3.0 positions to the State WTCS
Board to improve access to technical college courses offered over
the Internet. The funds would come from the dissolution of the Wisconsin
Advanced Telecommunications Foundation's endowment fund.
- Require the State Board to promulgate rules allowing a student enrolled
in one district to take a course offered by another district over
the Internet without paying additional fees to the district board
offering the course.
- The funds provided by the State Board would be used to establish
an Internet site that provides information on all courses offered
over the Internet by all district boards and to assist district boards
in developing Internet courses.
- Offer $1,000,000 PR-S in 2001-02 be provided from the WATF endowment
fund to support the Wisconsin Advanced Distribution Learning Co-Laboratory,
which is a collaborative effort among the UW System, WTCS and Department
of Defense to standardize systems for delivering on-line instruction.
Various Other Changes to WTCS Board Powers and
Duties
- Give the state board authority to direct technical college districts
to adopt or eliminate programs of study. The governor proposes statutory
language that would require a WTCS district board to offer or eliminate
any program or course of study that the WTCS Board directs the district
to offer or eliminate. In addition, the budget bill repeals the current
law provision that prohibits the State Board from considering any
program or course of study for approval that has not been first approved
by the district board.
- Allow district boards the authority to employ an instructor who
is not certified by the WTCS board if the instructor holds a valid
industry certification.
- Allow WTCS district boards to employ an instructor who is not certified
by the WTCS Board if the instructor holds a "valid industry certification"
that is recognized by the WTCS board.
- Allow any WTCS district to operate charter schools directly or contract
for their operation.
Background: A virtual freeze in state aid for
the WTCS is unacceptable. The governor proposes no increase or a decrease
in funding for categorical aid programs currently administered by the
State Board. The freeze in general aid and lack of increase in categorical
aids for the WTCS is combined with the standard 5% reduction in the
WTCS Board's base budget for state operations, which amounts to a cut
of $172,800 annually. WEAC is part of the WTCS coalition that will fight
for fair treatment of our technical college system in this budget (For
more information, see the WEAC
policy paper on WTCS funding.)
TEACH Board, BadgerLink
and Educational Communications Board:
The state's Technology for Educational Achievement
(TEACH) initiative is designed to provide Wisconsin classrooms with
the technology they need to work in the 21st Century. TEACH provides
block grants, wiring loans, and technical training and assistance grants
to schools and other educational organizations.
Wisconsin has been a national leader in the development
of public broadcasting, which provides many educational benefits for
state.
Governor's Budget: Modifications to the TEACH Board
and Charge Schools for BadgerLink
- Use $1M in federal E-rate funds for a pilot program to train K-12
students as technology support staff for their schools.
- Clarify that Milwaukee charter schools and juvenile detention centers
have access to TEACH funding.
- Require school districts to report how they spend annual TEACH grants.
- Require the DPI to charge school districts a fee for use of BadgerLink,
which provides statewide access, through the Internet, to periodical
and reference information databases.
Governor's Budget: Elimination of the Educational
Communications Board
- Fold the ECB public broadcasting duties into a nonprofit corporation.
- Establish a 20-member transitional board to govern the transfer
of services from the ECB and the UW Extension to a nonprofit Educational
Broadcasting Corporation.
- If the FEC approves all transfers of licenses, the ECB and the UW-Extension
public broadcasting division would transfer to the board and the DOA.
- Existing staff could remain state employees or become employees
of the corporation.
Background: Both TEACH and ECB are supported
by WEAC. These proposals will need additional research to ascertain
the overall impact on the quality of educational telecommunications
and technology instruction in schools (For more information, see the
WEAC
policy paper on modern classrooms.)
| Great
Schools Depend on a Great Staff Governor McCallum's budget puts great schools
at risk by: |
"Alternative Certification"
of Teachers:
All teachers should receive the training they need
to prepare students for the 21st Century. "Alternative certification"
means that people who are not properly trained are allowed to teach.
Governor's Budget: Expand Alternative Certification
of Teachers
- Require DPI to issue licenses to (1) anyone either with a bachelor's
degree, five years work experience in the field to be taught or five
years service in the United States Armed Forces; and (2) anyone licensed
in another state that wants to teach in WI. In addition, allow the
State Superintendent to waive licensure requirements for an individual
who is requested to teach by a school board.
Background: The WEAC Legislative Agenda calls
for the repeal of the alternative licensure statute. This proposal is
a dramatic expansion of the law in the wrong direction (For more information
see the WEAC position
on alternative licensing.)
"Reforms" That Undermine
School Staff:
Allowing school boards to unilaterally make important
decisions undermines the quality of the school staff and is a way to
circumvent collective bargaining.
Governor's Budget: Give School Boards Power to
Close Schools, Reassign Staff Without Regard to Bargaining Rights and
Publish List of Low Performing Schools
- Allow school boards to unilaterally close schools they identify
as low-performing and reassign staff without regard to seniority.
- Require DPI to publish an annual list of low-performing schools.
Governor's Budget: Subcontracting of Educational Programs
- Authorize school boards to contract with private, nonprofit organizations
to offer educational programs to students in the district
Background: These provisions are commonly referred
to as the "Fuller reforms" from Milwaukee. It dates back to the 1995
budget when then-MPS superintendent Howard Fuller attempted to privatize
MPS operations. These initiatives are expressly anti-union (For more
information, see the WEAC
issue paper on subcontracting for K-12 services.)
"Pay-for-Performance" plans
based on student test scores:
As a result of collective bargaining, Wisconsin has
teachers who are among the best in the world. Our system of bargaining
should not be thrown out the window in favor of some risky scheme that
takes power away from the people who know most about education: teachers.
Governor's Budget: Create a Pay-for-Performance
Awards Program
- Establish an advisory council to establish criteria for distributing
a "school-based improvement awards program." Criteria for program
must include student performance on test scores and teacher's knowledge
and skills. Initial payments would not begin until 2004.
Background: This initiative is contrary to
everything that WEAC's bargaining goals stand for. Innovative programs
that enhance compensation must be based in sound collectively bargained
approaches that recognize knowledge and skills development (For more
information, read about the Manitowoc
contract that rewards professional development.)
Bargaining for Health Care
Provider and Changes to QEO:
The quality of a school staff is enhanced when the
staff is part of decision-making over things such as health care options.
And one reason Wisconsin has such high-quality school staff is the fact
that it has been involved, through collective bargaining, in decisions
over health care.
Governor's Budget: No longer
bargain choice of health care provider and change the definition of
a QEO regarding provision of health care benefits
- Eliminate bargaining over choice of health care providers by allowing
school districts to choose between providers that offer similar benefit
packages.
- Modify a QEO so that it only provides substantially similar health
care benefits, not all of the health care benefits.
Background: This initiative has also been introduced
in the past. It is also being fueled by a recent Wisconsin Policy Research
Institute study on the WEAIT. This right wing-think tank has regularly
distributed materials that attack the union (For more information, read
WEAC's explanation
of the important and beneficial role of the WEA Trust.)
Establishment of School
Calendar in Collective Bargaining:
Another example of collective bargaining leading to
high-quality staff is decision-making over school establishment of the
school calendar. Having staff involved in discussions relating to the
academic calendar has served our schools well.
Governor's Budget: School Start Date Law Changes
Including Establishing School Calendar as Prohibited Subject of Bargaining
- Prohibit schools from holding class on the Friday preceding Labor
Day.
- Maintain current opt out provision for start date, but allow school
boards to hold an opt out public hearing on or after May 1 rather
than July 1 to decide to commence the school term prior to September
1.
- Specify that a school board not be required to bargain over the
establishment of the school calendar by making it a prohibited subject
of bargaining.
- Create a nine-member governor-appointed committee to study start
date issues.
Background: WEAC has a firmly established position
in support of bargaining the establishment of the school calendar. Educators
are the practitioners in the schools and know best how to establish
the calendar. Governor McCallum has chosen to include not only changes
in the start date, but to also make the establishment of the entire
calendar a prohibited subject of bargaining. (For more information,
see the WEAC
position paper on collective bargaining rights related to school calendars.)
NBPTS Certification Incentive
Grant Program:
WEAC has been a leader in the effort to maintain high
standards among Wisconsin educators by encouraging them to achieve National
Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification.
Governor's Budget: Provide NBPTS Incentives, but
no additional funding
- Require DPI to grant a master level license to anyone who achieves
certification from NBPTS. Finally, allow non-resident teachers who
teach in Wisconsin and who are NBPTS certified to receive grants under
the NBPTS incentive program (For more information, see the OnWEAC
resource page on national board certification.)
Education Advocates at State Level:
In order to have high-quality staff in the schools,
you need people fighting for educators at the state level. And the officials
at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) serve as advocates for
education. Plus, many of the DPI employees are WEAC members.
Governor's Budget: Diminish
DPI's Ability to Distribute Federal Funds
- Require DPI to release the maximum amount of federal aid to school
districts, thereby reducing the ability of DPI to target the funding
where it is needed.
Background: Many staff positions inside the
DPI are partially funded through federal dollars to the extent allowed
by federal law. This provision could result in severe position cuts
in the department.
| Great Schools Benefit
Everyone Governor McCallum's budget puts great schools at risk by: |
Charter Schools:
In order for public schools to benefit everyone, they
need to be accountable to the voters through their elected representatives
on school boards. That is why WEAC feels so strongly that new charter
schools must be instrumentalities of the local school districts and
that employees of charter schools must be employees of the district
with full bargaining rights.
Governor's Budget: Dramatically Expand Charter
School Law
- Create a new "expanded flexibility status" for high-performing
schools (defined as performing above average on student performance
on test scores, attendance rates). Require these schools to implement
site-based management programs. Provide $1.5M under new program for
schools and nonprofit organizations to train administrators in decentralized
management strategies and provide another $600,000 for competitive
grants to schools for site- based planning. Finally, provide "regulatory
flexibility" to schools in program.
- Allow school boards that receive "extended flexibility status" to
reassign staff without regard to seniority or bargaining rights.
- Create a new Charter School Loan Fund -- $1M state dollars and $1M
federal dollars in '03 for developing charters by school boards.
- Expand chartering authority to UW campuses, technical colleges and
CESA's statewide.
- Require DPI to distribute the maximum amount of federal aids directly
to school districts.
Background: The expanded flexibility status
for schools is for "above average" performing schools. That, of course,
could mean several hundred schools across the state would be exempt
from massive rules and regulations including. WEAC supports a law that
keeps charter schools public and part of the school district. This holds
charters accountable to the students, parents and taxpayers in communities
who elect local boards to run the schools (For more information, read
WEAC's
testimony on charter schools.)
Constitutionally Elected
Superintendent to Administer Public Schools:
The power of the Department of Public Instruction
and its leader, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, are
rooted in the Wisconsin Constitution. And this system of running our
public schools has served all Wisconsinites well as we have top-quality
schools that produce a well-educated and well-trained populace.
Governor's Budget: Board of Education Evaluation
and Accountability
- Provide $11.8 Million and transfer15.6 positions out of the DPI
to a new governor's appointed board of Education Evaluation and Accountability.
The new board will be totally independent of the DPI housed in the
Department of Administration. It will administer the WI Student Assessment
System, the state's new high school graduation test, the SAGE evaluation
and it will conduct any other analyses of the performance of Wisconsin's
public schools.
Background: This represents the most serious
power grab from DPI since the proposed takeover of the agency in 1995
by Governor Thompson. The DPI immediately expressed legal concerns over
this move by McCallum. The 7-0 WI State Supreme Court decision in Craney
vs. Thompson clearly established DPI as a constitutionally established
agency with powers and duties to govern the public schools in Wisconsin.
Governor's Budget: Create a
New Rule Review Commission and a New Bureau of School Improvement
- Create a new 11-member commission to review all DPI rules and identify
those that are outmoded and impede innovation. The commission would
be made up entirely of governor appointees.
- Require the DPI to reallocate existing staff to create a new Bureau
of School Improvement which would include on-site assistance teams
of DPI staff and educators to provide assistance to low-performing
schools. $700,000 is provided for release time for educators in the
new program.
Background: This is another example of the
new governor's power grab. It is not clear under what authority an 11-member
board could review DPI rule making decisions.
Governor's Budget: Create
a new grant program to promote consolidation of school services and
districts:
- Provide $1 Million in '03 most of which goes to CESA's to consolidate
school administrative services. $50,000 is provided to study district
consolidations.
- Authorize the district administrator of a newly consolidated school
district, for 60 days after the effective date of the consolidation,
to lay off or reassign school district employees without regard to
seniority in service.
Additional Budget Analyses Will Follow: This memo is meant to be a first glance look at provisions
contained in the budget. Continue checking in with the OnWEAC Members
Only site for a more thorough analysis of the budget bill statutory
language. Please feel free to contact Bob Burke at burkeb@weac.org
or at 800-362-8034 ext. 254 for additional information on the 2001-2003
biennial state budget.
You also may want to look over these budget summaries:
The
Department of Public Instruction's summary of the governor's budget
plan
The
Legislative Fiscal Bureau's summary of the governor's budget plan
OnWEAC's
resource page on the 2001-2003 state budget
Posted March 22, 2001