 |
Effects of the Revenue Caps
|
The Current Study
As was done in previous years, superintendents in 1997 were given a list of cost-cutting actions and asked to indicate which ones had been implemented in their district during the past school year. Table 1 shows the number of cost-cutting actions taken by school districts for each of the last four school years. As these data are reviewed, keep in mind that the percent figures shown in this table treat each cost cutting action as being equivalent. In other words, there is no differentiation between a district which eliminates a few hundred dollars from a program and a district which eliminates the program entirely. Each cost cutting action is treated as being the same, even though the magnitude and impact in the two districts are unlikely to be the same.
| Table1
Percent of Districts Reporting Cost-Saving Measures, 1993-94 to 1996-97 |
|||||||
| 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | ||||
|
1.Delaying building maintenance or improvement projects |
n/a | 51.3 | 49.3 | 50.2 | |||
|
2.Spending less for maintenance of buildings and grounds |
44.3 | 44.0 | 41.2 | 52.4 | |||
|
3.Spending less for improvements of buildings and grounds |
44.2 | 50.0 | 47.2 | 53.4 | |||
|
4.Delaying/reducing purchase of textbooks, curricular materials |
30.6 | 25.3 | 30.0 | 32.9 | |||
|
5.Limiting purchase of consumable supplies, such as paper |
28.8 | 23.2 | 25.2 | 26.4 | |||
|
6.Delaying/reducing purchase of computers, other technology |
43.9 | 43.7 | 57.7 | 60.9 | |||
|
7.Offering fewer staff development opportunities for teachers |
30.9 | 22.9 | 22.5 | 27.7 | |||
|
8. Teacher layoffs |
22.8 | 9.1 | 8.9 | 9.4 | |||
|
9. Layoffs of teacher aides or other support staff |
24.6 | 10.7 | 12.1 | 12.7 | |||
|
10. Administrator/supervisor layoffs |
10.1 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 5.9 | |||
|
11. Reducing counseling or similar services |
5.0 | 3.4 | 6.0 | 6.2 | |||
|
12. Delaying/reducing hiring of new staff |
34.4 | 28.7 | 35.0 | 41.4 | |||
|
13. Reducing extracurricular programs |
9.2 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 8.5 | |||
|
14. Limiting programs for students who are at risk |
13.4 | 11.9 | 18.5 | 19.9 | |||
|
15. Limiting programs for gifted and talented students |
19.0 | 15.6 | 22.3 | 26.4 | |||
|
16. Offering fewer courses |
15.4 | 9.4 | 13.0 | 13.0 | |||
|
17. Reducing transportation services for students |
11.6 | 5.8 | 8.8 | 10.1 | |||
|
18. Limiting summer school programs |
21.7 | 15.9 | 20.2 | 25.1 | |||
|
19. Offering fewer field trips for students |
27.6 | 12.8 | 17.4 | 20.8 | |||
|
20. Increased class sizes |
32.0 | 26.6 | 29.8 | 27.4 | |||
|
21. Increased teacher workload |
21.7 | 18.3 | 23.1 | 26.7 | |||
|
22. Increased administrator workload |
n/a | 33.9 | 39.6 | 49.8 | |||
|
23. Increased student fees |
35.6 | 23.9 | 25.3 | 28.7 | |||
|
24. Using fund balance to support budget |
20.8 | 21.7 | 26.6 | 32.2 | |||
|
25. Other |
3.9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 4.6 | |||
In addition, it is important to recognize that the cost-cutting actions reported in Table 1 are occurring during a period in which the population of students in Wisconsin’s public schools as a whole continues to grow. Based on data reported by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, student enrollment during the period from 1993-94 to 1995-96 increased 4.5% (from 811,042 to 847,495). Districts participating in this study report a 4.6% enrollment increase from 1993-94 (618,966) to 1995-96 (647,335). (8)
As will be shown, this statewide trend of increasing student enrollment in the public schools is central to any discussion of revenue caps because districts which report increasing enrollments tend to have fewer cost-cutting actions than districts which are losing students. If enrollment had dropped statewide over the past few years, the percent of districts reporting cuts in each of the areas listed in Table 1 would be significantly higher. (It is expected that enrollment increases will level off in future years.)
Statewide, in 1997, district cuts were most likely to be made in the areas listed immediately below. In each case, 40% or more of districts report making cuts in the six areas below:
- delaying/reducing purchase of computers and other technology (60.9%)
- spending less for improvements of buildings and grounds (53.4%)
- spending less for maintenance of buildings and grounds (52.4%)
- delaying building maintenance or improvement projects (50.2%)
- increased administrator workload (49.8%)
- delaying/reducing hiring of new staff (41.4%)
Other actions taken by one-fourth or more of the districts are the following:
- delaying/reducing purchase of textbooks and curricular materials (32.9%)
- using the fund balance to support the budget (32.2%)
- increased student fees (28.7%)
- offering fewer staff development opportunities for teachers (27.7%)
- increased class sizes (27.4%)
- increased teacher workload (26.7%)
- limiting purchase of consumable supplies such as paper (26.4%)
- limiting programs for talented and gifted students (26.4%)
- limiting summer school programs (25.1%)
Posted February 4, 1998
 |
 |