Transcript IMPACT OF STATE BUDGET PROPOSAL ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS BACKGROUND & CONTEXT.

IMPACT OF STATE BUDGET
PROPOSAL ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
BACKGROUND & CONTEXT
Most Kids Attend Public School…
Private Schools
(Tuition-Paying)
93,500
26,509
Voucher Schools
Overall Enrollment
(2013-14)
Public Schools:
875,000
Private Schools:
120,000
Virtual
Charter Schools
6,964
Independent (2r)
Charters
8,412
Charter Schools
29,298
Public Schools
(Home District)
829,320
0
500,000 1,000,000
Source: Department of Public Instruction. Public School
Enrollment Data http://lbstat.dpi.wi.gov/lbstat_pubdata3
Private School Enrollment Data
http://lbstat.dpi.wi.gov/lbstat_privdata
• Out of 425 school districts in Wisconsin, approximately
2/3 are rural
• Rural districts cover an average of 170 square miles,
which is 50% more than non-rural districts
• Rural districts have an average of 650 students or less
than 5 students per square mile
• 36 districts have less than 2 students per square mile
• 96% of districts with less than 1,000 students are
rural
Poverty is Growing in WI…
Change in Free & Reduced Lunch (2001-2012)
Wisconsin
FRL Rate
Doubles
2001: 21%
2012: 43%
In many rural
districts, more
than half the
students are
eligible for
free-andreduced lunch.
Source: Wisconsin Department of
Public Instruction. School Finance
Maps. http://dpi.wi.gov/sfs/maps.html
And so are the # of Homeless Kids…
16,709
15,504
13,364
12,027
10,949
9,324
8,069
7,864
6,384
20,000
18,000
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
-
5,354
Homeless Children & Youth In Wisconsin Schools
Half of Wisconsin’s
homeless kids can be found
in just 10 school districts.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Homeless Children and Youth data: http://homeless.dpi.wi.gov/hmls_data
And Poverty Impacts Achievement
(2012-13 Report Card Data)
HIGH-poverty,
LOW-performing schools
LOW-poverty,
HIGH-performing
schools
Avg. FRL
There is a very strong
correlation between poverty
and school performance.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. School and District Report Cards http://reportcards.dpi.wi.gov/
Students are in Fewer Districts
Change Student Membership (2001-2012)
In 2001, 1/3rd of districts were in declining
enrollment.
Wisconsin
FRL Rate
Doubles
2001: 21%
2012: 43%
By 2012, over 2/3rds districts were in
declining enrollment.
Today, 75% of our students are located in
just 30% of our districts.
Cumulative
# of
% of
Enrollment Percentile Districts Districts
209,535
25%
8
2%
419,387
50%
41
11%
626,834
75%
114
30%
871,551
100%
424
100%
District Enrollment
Under 1,000
Under 3,000
Under 10,000
Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. School Finance Maps. http://dpi.wi.gov/sfs/maps.html
% of Districts
55%
83%
98%
Which Means Rural Districts Have
Fewer Kids & Greater Poverty
Wisconsin
FRL Rate
Doubles
2001: 21%
2012: 43%
Source: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. School Finance Maps. http://dpi.wi.gov/sfs/maps.html
SCHOOL FINANCE
The share of the state budget spent on
K-12 is at a 20-year low
50%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Source: Legislative Fiscal Bureau
As programs like Medicaid consume a larger
share of the state budget, K-12’s share declines
(even as the state invests new money)
32.4%
25%
33.3%
33.1%
34.1%
37.1%
37.3%
37.6%
38.1%
39.3%
40.1%
39.8%
39.9%
39.4%
39.5%
36.8%
30%
39.1%
35%
37.7%
38.4%
40%
43.1%
45%
32.6%
Percentage of State General Fund Budget
K-12 School Aids as a % of the State General Fund
During the Great Recession,
Revenue Limits Were Cut …
Change in Per-Pupil Revenue Over Time
$400
$300
$200
$100
$$(100)
$(200)
$(300)
$(400)
$(500)
$(600)
Pep-Pupil Aid
Revenue Limit Change
Source: Department of Public Instruction. 2011-13 State Budget. http://pb.dpi.wi.gov/pb_11-13_budget
2013-15 State Budget. http://news.dpi.wi.gov/news_2013-15-state-budget-information
Which has Resulted in
Significant Staff Reductions
Teachers
400
200
0
-200
-400
-600
-800
-1000
-1200
-1400
-1600
-1800
Aides
Administrators
Support Staff
215
26
-43
-153
-175
-130
-355
-599
-690
-785
-812
-1,676
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
Wisconsin schools cut more than 3,000 educators
during the Great Recession.
Source: Department of Public Instruction. 2011-13 State Budget. http://pb.dpi.wi.gov/pb_11-13_budget
2013-15 State Budget. http://news.dpi.wi.gov/news_2013-15-state-budget-information
2015-17 BUDGET PROPOSAL
2015-17 Budget Proposal –
Revenue Limits & General Aid
As you all know …
Revenue
Limits
State
General Aid
Property
Tax Levy
Governor’s Proposal:
1. Revenue Limit Adjustments: $0 in FY16 and FY17
• No additional revenue authority, other than exemptions
(e.g., referendum)
2. General/Equalization Aid: $0 in FY16, $108 M in FY17
• State General Aid reduces Levy – not “new money”
2015-17 Budget Proposal –
Per Pupil Aid
Per Pupil Aid – Governor’s Proposal
•
•
$0 in Per Pupil Aid in FY16 – this is a reduction to districts’
spending capacity of $150 per pupil
~$165 in Per Pupil Aid in FY17
HOWEVER:
– No longer a sum-sufficient appropriation (amount per
pupil = total appropriation divided by statewide
membership)
– Provided on a one-time basis in FY17
State Support for Public Schools
Change in Per-Pupil Revenue Over Time
$400.00
$300.00
$200.00
$100.00
$0.00
-$100.00
-$200.00
-$300.00
-$400.00
-$500.00
-$600.00
Rev Limit Change
Per-Pupil Aid
Source: Department of Public Instruction. 2011-13 State Budget. http://pb.dpi.wi.gov/pb_11-13_budget
2013-15 State Budget. http://news.dpi.wi.gov/news_2013-15-state-budget-information
2015-17 Budget Proposal – Tax Credits
Governor’s Proposal – School Levy Tax Credit
Increases allocation by $105.6 million in FY16 & FY17
(e.g., for tax bills going out in Dec 2015 & Dec 2016)
•
The SLTC reduces property taxes – it is not additional
revenue beyond a school district’s revenue limit
•
The SLTC is distributed based on a municipalities share
of the statewide school levy – not equalizing
2015-17 Budget Proposal –
Categorical Aids
The Governor’s Proposal includes the following
increases requested by the State Superintendent:
• Sparsity Aid:
– Eliminate FRPL eligibility criterion & fully fund at $300
per member (currently $236 for districts under 650
enrollment with less than 10 students per sq. mile)
• Transportation Aid
– Raised reimbursement rate for 12+ miles category
from $275 to $300
• High Cost Transportation Aid
– Increase funding to provide reimbursements at ~50%
of costs above 150% of statewide average
2015-17 Budget Proposal –
Categorical Aids cont.
• Governor’s Proposal – freezes special education,
Bilingual, SAGE, school breakfast, Gifted & Talented,
STEM grants
The Governor’s Proposal eliminates funding for a
few existing categorical aid programs:
– Career & Technical Education Incentive Grants
(transferred $3 million annually to DWD, Wisconsin Fast
Forward Program)
– Environmental Education Grants
IMPACT ON RURAL SCHOOLS
Challenges for Rural Schools
• In rural school districts, the lack of economies of
scale, sparsity and fixed costs (insurance, utilities)
prevents districts from proportionately reducing
costs to match flat or declining revenue limits
• Most rural districts have had no choice but to either
cut deeply into student opportunities (foreign
language, AP classes, career & technical education,
art, music, library, guidance, reading specialist, etc.)
or pass a referendum to exceed the revenue limit
Challenges for Rural Schools
• Recent years have taken a toll on administrative
services, support services, building maintenance
and technology infrastructure in rural districts
• Teacher/administrator recruitment and retention is
an emerging issue for rural schools
– Increased part-time positions leads to greater turnover
– Since 2010, there has been a significant decrease in undergraduates enrolled in teacher training programs
– 85% of education graduates in 2009 planned to teach until
retirement compared to 39% of education graduates in 2013
– Salary disparity between rural and non-rural school districts is
significantly increasing
Challenges for Rural Schools
• High transportation costs in rural districts diverts
money from classroom instruction
– 75 rural districts with less than 3.6 students per square
mile exceeds the average transportation costs for all
remaining districts by 50% or $225,000 for a district of 750
students
• 200 school districts have fewer than 8 students per
square mile, 100 less than 4 students per square mile
and 36 less than 2 students per square mile
Challenges for Rural Schools
• Sparsity and geography results in many rural school
districts spending more than $800 per student in
transportation costs
• State transportation aids (including new $) cover less
than 10% of the total costs
• As a result, rural school districts have less revenue per
student to put into the classroom
Challenges for Rural Schools
• Less support for special education from both the
state and federal government has reduced the
resources available for regular school programs for
all students
• Lack of adequate bandwidth prevents many rural
communities from growing and attracting business
and rural schools from taking advantage of effective
application of technology
– More than 30% of the state’s rural population does not receive highspeed Internet service
– Technology infrastructure in most rural schools needs to be updated
Challenges for Rural Schools
• There have been over 1,000 referenda to exceed
the revenue limit over the past 15 years
– Some are to fund additional costs of operating new schools, technology
expansion or facility upgrades
– Most are to maintain existing programs
• Over 80% of referenda to exceed revenue limits to
maintain existing programs are held in rural school
districts
• Many rural school districts have become
referendum dependent in order to exist
The Key Question
HOW CAN WE JUSTIFY STATEWIDE
CUTS TO K-12 AND EXPANDING
PRIVATE SCHOOL VOUCHERS AND
INDEPENDENT CHARTERS AT THE
FURTHER EXPENSE OF RURAL
SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES???
Jerry Fiene, WiRSA Executive Director
[email protected]
Strong Schools, Strong Communities
www.wirsa.org