White Lake Votes to Shorten School Year
In a dramatic response to a budget squeeze created by
the state’s inequitable system of funding education, voters in the
White Lake School District have voted to cut 10 days out of the school
year’s calendar.
District Administrator Peter Kososki told a January
special meeting of district voters that his proposal was both a cost-saving
measure and way to send a message to state officials that the school funding
system is a failure.
“There are 350 people in this community, and we
had 250 people here to vote,” Kososki said, adding that 80% to 90%
of the voters approved the measure on a show of hands. “It was basic
democracy at the grassroots level.”
The Antigo Daily Journal, which covered the meeting,
quoted Kososki as saying: “Let’s start a revolution. There are
legislators who are going to look at what is taking place here tonight.”
In late January, Kososki sent a letter to the Department
of Public Instruction, requesting a waiver from the requirement that school
districts schedule at least 180 days of instruction per year.
Under Kososki’s plan, the district would close
schools for 10 days during the winter months to save $20,000 to $40,000
in heating, busing and food costs. The days off would be scheduled to
extend some weekends to three or four days.
No instruction time would be lost because 20 minutes
would be added to each school day. The day would start 5 minutes earlier
and end 10 minutes later, and the lunch period would be cut by 5 minutes.
The White Lake district, in northeast Wisconsin, suffers
from the fact that state aid is based on property value. The area has
considerable high-valued vacation property that is owned by non-residents.
As a result, the district receives only about one-third state funding,
compared to the statewide average of two-thirds.
However, the district has many low-income families,
as evidenced by the fact that 64% of the students qualify for free or
reduced-cost lunch.
Resource page
on school district revenue controls
Posted February 1, 2002