Joint Finance Committee budget includes QEO repeal

5/28/2009 12:48:26 PM

	A message from WEAC President Mary Bell

The budget now goes to the Assembly and Senate.

Provisions of the final Joint Finance budget include:

• Reductions to general aids to local school districts by 3.1% and cuts to categorical aid programs of 3.5%, with a few exceptions, totaling more than $300 million over the biennium;
• Reductions to per pupil aid under the Milwaukee voucher program by 2.5%;
• Reductions to scheduled revenue limit increases, in an attempt to hold down property taxes. The revenue limit would return to $275 per pupil after the two years;
• Increases to the existing school property tax credit; and
• High-poverty aid for property tax relief is increased to cover 47 school districts instead of 24 that qualified in the current school year. While counted as school aid, the property tax credit and high-poverty aid are targeted to property owners, and are not used to educate kids.

Coupled with the K-12 education funding cuts, there are also steep budget reductions that will affect state employees, including layoffs and furloughs. The previously approved increases to technical colleges remained untouched.

Despite the bad news this budget brings, there is some good news, such as collective bargaining reform, voucher school accountability measures, and ESP retirement equity.

Collective Bargaining Reform

There are several collective bargaining reform measures in the budget, including the repeal of the QEO. Under the plan, implementation of the QEO repeal is delayed for one year, until July 1, 2010.

This one-year window allows all parties involved in the collective bargaining process to transition into the process of a more equitable system for contract negotiations, said WEAC President Mary Bell.

During the transition year, access to interest arbitration is possible only if mutually agreed upon by both parties. If a contract would go to arbitration in the first year, the contract would be settled under the new arbitration rules.

Also, arbitrations would take place under new standards whereby arbitrators are no longer required to give greatest weight to revenue caps and greater weight to local economic conditions.

Milwaukee private school vouchers

The budget establishes a timetable of measures that move toward greater voucher school accountability, such as requiring voucher school teachers to have bachelor's degrees and ensuring that voucher school students take the same tests as public school students. Voucher schools will also be required for the first time to publicly share testing results the same way public schools do.

The committee recommendation provides a general easing of the taxpayer burden from vouchers, as well as adding a third pupil enrollment count date to track students who return to public schools.

ESP equity

Education Support Professionals will finally be recognized equitably for their contributions under the Wisconsin Retirement System. Early retirement calculations will now be based on the school year, instead of the calendar year, just like teachers' retirement is calculated. The independent actuarial study on the cost impact for school districts shows that this change will have less than a .01% effect on the retirement contribution rate.

Cuts will have consequences

While the budget contains these measures to improve student learning and accountability and provide fairness to educators, the cuts will be severe and their impact will be longlasting, Bell said.

“Wisconsin educators will see firsthand the consequences this state budget will have on students,” Bell said. “We recognize that the current budget crisis is temporary and there needs to be give-and-take from all of us right now. But we also recognize that after 16 years of revenue controls, any cuts to public education will compound the damage to quality schools.

“I encourage you – educators and friends of education – to talk about the impact deep cuts have on students and schools. Together, we can get through these tough times and turn our attention toward the future, rallying for school funding reform that supports great public schools for all Wisconsin kids.”

State Budget