This is the seventh consecutive year that WASDA and WEAC have reported on the impact of the revenue caps on district programs and services. Over these years, a core set of questions has been repeated, and, as appropriate, additional questions have been added. As a result, it has been found that many districts have raised student fees and sought alternative sources of funding to support important programs and services. Superintendents also have told us that maintaining programs and services for regular education students has become more and more difficult because of the need to meet the requirements of students with special needs.

Many superintendents also are managing to comply with the caps as a result of a variety of measures, all of which are listed in Table 1 of this paper. These include delaying building and maintenance projects, delaying or reducing purchases of materials (including textbooks), delaying or reducing purchases of computers, reducing staff development opportunities, offering fewer courses, increasing class sizes, increasing student fees, delaying new hires, and reducing their Fund 10 balance. Many superintendents in their written comments also say that retirements of experienced staff have allowed them to realize some "savings" because they are able to hire new staff at lower salaries. They also say that added state dollars for lower class sizes under the SAGE and federal class reduction programs have allowed them to cope with the revenue caps.

Although each study has reported some unique findings, the overall conclusion has remained consistent: the majority of superintendents continue to say that the revenue caps are having a negative effect on the quality of education offered in their districts. Furthermore, superintendents from districts with declining enrollments tend to report greater difficulties due to the caps. Budgetary problems related to declining enrollments are likely to become more widespread due to the fact that 48% of superintendents say that their district will lose students over the next several years. These and other reasons explain why only 5% of superintendents in the current study favor maintaining the status quo regarding the current revenue caps legislation. This compares with 87% who favor changes that give school boards greater flexibility to exceed the caps.

The 1999-2000 study is different from the previous six because this year superintendents were given the option of sharing their written responses with members of the general public. Forty-five percent of the superintendents who participated in this study agreed to do so. This figure is significant because it tells us that many superintendents feel so strongly that the revenue caps cannot continue as is that they are willing to share what is happening in their individual districts with the general public. The responses of these superintendents will appear in a separate paper.