October 25, 2013 at 5:19 p.m.
Rural schools task force hears testimony on school funding, aid
Rural schools task force hears testimony on school funding, aid
The task force, chaired by Rep. Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander), was commissioned by State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) to study issues ranging from transportation needs to strategies for financial stability to ensuring students are ready for life after high school no matter what career path they may choose.
"We realize that Rhinelander and others are potentially on a cliff here," Swearingen said. "We were able to convey our case in front of Speaker Vos and to his credit he, at that time, agreed that a speaker's task force should be formed. ... We're here to listen."
The superintendents invited to speak were Kelli Jacobi (Rhinelander), Mike Richie (Northland Pines), Ben Niehaus (Florence County and Goodman Armstrong Creek), and Todd Kleinhans (Lakeland Union High School). Curt Priefer from Hypro Manufacturing was also invited to speak, along with high-speed Internet guru Don Sidlowski and parents Dave Heck and Lauri Millot.
Funding formula
Each speaker told the panel the state's school funding formula needs to be changed.
All speakers acknowledged that changing the formula would be a difficult process, but insisted that something needs to be done in order to achieve greater parity among the districts around the state.
Jacobi started by outlining the cuts made over the last decade in the School District of Rhinelander. Her goal was to show the committee that the district has done its best to keep its fiscal house in order. Now there's nothing left to cut "but bone," she said.
"We have been proactive in trying to solve our worsening financial situation. We're running out of options," she said.
She then went on to outline the declining state aid the district receives as a result of the funding formula while poverty numbers continue to be high.
"This is startling to me, that a district with free and reduced lunch numbers as high as 47 percent, which is our current number, ... gets 17 percent state aid. That's been declining over the years and that's where we are now," she said.
"Our median household income is just under $35,000. ... We have districts in our state that get more state aid than we do - by a lot - that have incomes of over $100,000, that have no poverty."
Jacobi said it's time to stop looking just at property values and start looking at poverty levels and local incomes when deciding state aid amounts.
"We have very high property values, but we also have very high poverty. Much of the high value property in our district is owned as vacation property by people outside the Rhinelander area," she said.
"This type of situation wasn't taken into account when the original school funding formula was established. ... We need to be looking at it in a different way. More has to be taken into account, such as the poverty levels."
One thing Jacobi made perfectly clear is that she no longer wants to hear that there's no money available to help schools. It's time for legislators to get down to business and fix the problem, she said.
"It's disheartening to hear that there is no money to increase support for struggling schools, but $100 million magically appears for property tax relief. I hope that all of the legislators decide to work together to keep Wisconsin schools strong," she said.
"It hurts to hear people in Madison say it's too difficult, we can't make those kind of changes, it'll take too long, it's too encompassing, it's working for some districts. I think if we can rise above, look at the big picture, and get all of those brilliant minds together, ... we can make this happen. Wisconsin's a great state."
Niehaus reiterated many of Jacobi's points.
"We're working with a school funding formula that's antiquated. It's had so many Band-Aids put on it that we can't control the bleeding from unforseen changes and implications. It's time for change with that funding formula, as complex and as difficult and as challenging that may be," he said.
"As alluded to already, our rural schools, specifically those in northern Wisconsin, are income poor yet property rich. ... Our working families earn considerably less than the state average in per capita income and they're asked to share the burden of their local school's revenues because of matters that are out of their control. The system is broken."
"The funding of our public schools usually centers on property taxes, but rarely do we think to inquire about where those tax dollars paid by working taxpayers in the form of state income taxes go relative to their area schools. I question whether there's an equitable return of these dollars, paid by working Wisconsin families in the form of state income taxes, back to their local schools," he added.
Kleinhans echoed his fellow superintendents.
"All students throughout the state of Wisconsin deserve some level of state financial support regardless of where they live and regardless of property wealth. In my district, (there's) 50 percent poverty, one in every two students. (There's) close to $6 billion of property wealth, but those aren't the students that come to my school, those aren't the families that live year-round in our communities," he said.
"Every student deserves some level of state financial support."
Heck and Millot also called for changes to the formula.
"I've talked to representatives on both sides, have spent over 10 years talking to people on both sides, and I've heard one thing and one thing only, that it can't be changed, we don't want to change, which I think is a complete excuse. It's hurting kids. You hate to say the word discrimination, but when you're paying and funding different levels for different kids throughout the state, you give me a better term or a better word for that," Heck said.
"(The school funding formula) is outdated, it's not relevant, and it isn't the reality in Wisconsin anymore," Millot added.
Richie argued the state needs to allow local control to increase levy amounts.
"One alternative to having to go to referendum on a regular basis would be to allow local control to have the ability to increase the levy amount above the caps in lieu of holding a referendum. You could also set a limit onto what any local board could adjust their levy," he said.
"If we had the authority to raise our levy by $1 million, it would be between $2.7 and $2.9 million per year for us and that's exactly what our last two referendums were."
Swearingen said changing the funding formula is going to continue to be a frustrating task.
"The school funding formula, to me as a freshman legislator, is probably one of the most frustrating things that I've been put up against in the last 10 months. I can't speak for the entire committee, but in my opinion, the very first recommendation that I'll be making to the speaker ... is we need to take a serious look at the school funding formula," he said.
"The speaker has indicated his attention to that as well. That may not be the focus of this particular task force, (but) we're certainly willing to talk about the school funding formula. That's number one, our first priority of things to be done and I hope we can get that addressed early next session."
Rep. Jeff Mursau (R-Crivitz) agreed with Swearingen. He said changing the formula is going to be difficult as taking money from other districts isn't going to go over well with representatives of those districts.
"Above Highway 29 there's 16 out of the 99 legislators. Down in Milwaukee, there are 20 or 22," Mursau said.
"Changing that funding formula never has been an easy job and that's why it's never been changed yet, because you can't get the votes to take money from one place to the other."
Rep. Chris Danou ( D-Trempealeau) said from what he's heard, it looks like the new formula, should one be created, should involve more than just property levels.
"Everybody's been saying generally the same consistent thing, and I think one thing that seems clear to me ... is that any school funding formula, even if we were to do a Band-Aid, needs to take into account the income of the residents of the district," he said.
"That should be one of the parts of the formula, to look at the actual income or poverty levels or whatever metric you would choose, but something that takes into account the actual income of the people that live there as opposed to just the property levels."
Rep. Mandy Wright (D-Madison) said the state needs to start taking a harder look at how it uses some of its money.
"I would say that based on our last budget, we spent $420 million of public money that goes to private schools, more than ever before. We just did $100 million property tax cut," she said.
"I just want to make sure that we are all clear here that there is actually money to be spent on our kids."
Rep. Steve Nass (R- Whitewater) said it should be the public that decides whether or not a new formula is needed.
"What if we were to get it out of the Legislature, as far as the funding formula? You'd have to have probably two people do the appointing, but have a committee ... of people that are knowledgeable about the formula and let them come up with a formula and present it to the Legislature?" Nass suggested.
"It would be interesting because among that committee, I think you would see the tug of war going on."
Rep. Fred Clark (D-Baraboo) said it needs to be the committee that begins the conversation on changing the funding formula.
"This conversation is really getting at the heart of what our charge as a committee is," he said.
"If we're really serious about doing what's best for rural schools, we cannot avoid this conversation about funding and all the different ways rural schools get the short end on how we distribute aid to education. My hope is that as a committee, we're serious about tackling that."
Sparsity aid
Sparsity aid was also a hot topic during the hearing.
Jacobi said changes need to be made to the qualification requirements for the aid.
"Rhinelander would definitely benefit from sparsity aid with a few minor changes. Our district membership is approximately six students per square mile, less than the 10 member criteria. Our poverty rate is more than double the criteria set for sparsity aid. The student district membership is what prevents our district from receiving this aid," she said.
"Big, high-number districts aren't considered for sparsity aid. We have too many students. High poverty and few student members per quare mile should be sufficient for a district to qualify for sparsity aid."
Richie agreed that sparsity aid requirements need to be changed.
"The criteria says your enrollment cannot exceed 725 students. We have 1,355, so we're too big, so we don't qualify," Richie said, adding that his district meets the other requirements.
Kleinhans also concurred.
"I don't understand what poverty and enrollment have to do with it. Sparse means sparse, and in our case, 725 kids is under one student per square mile," Kleinhans said.
"We're in agreement on (sparsity aid). I don't see what (free and reduced lunches) has to do with sparsity aid. Another criteria is, what relevance is school size, too?" said Rep. Ed Brooks (R-Reedsburg).
Transportation aid
The superintendents also had questions about transportation aid.
"School District of Rhinelander covers 411 square miles. We are by no means the biggest school district, but we are a very large school district. We have 31 bus routes and 2,320 miles are driven each day on these bus routes. Our transportation costs are huge, at just over $1.5 million per year and we don't qualify for aid for high transportation costs," Jacobi said.
"We haven't quite reached that 150 percent mark of the average transportation costs. Our total general fund, Fund 10 expenditures this year is just over $28 million, so that $1.5 million is a very large portion of our expenditures."
Kleinhans and Richie said their districts spend millions on transportation as well, money that could be better spent on student learning.
"We spend approximately $1 million to transport students. We receive approximately eight percent of those costs back through categorical aid, or about $80,000," Kleinhans said.
"We spend $1.3 million (on transportation). That's $1.3 million I cannot spend on curriculum and instruction. I have to spend it on diesel fuel," Richie added.
Danou asked Richie if "moving transportation ... from the levy limits would be of assistance?"
"Absolutely," Richie responded.
Internet
One hot-button topic in the Northwoods currently is access to high-speed Internet. Oneida County is discussing the topic, as are many towns throughout the county. Schools are also impacted by a lack of access to high-speed Internet, the superintendents said.
"We're lucky in Rhinelander, all of our schools have high-speed Internet, but many of the students in the outlying areas cannot work on their projects at home because they still have dial up. There's a compatibility issue and to do some of the projects that they're working on at school, they need access to the high speed," Jacobi said.
Richie said Northland Pines is in a similar situation.
"As a district, we need affordable access," he said.
"We are fortunate. In all of our school buildings, we do have high-speed Internet access, however, all of our students and staff do not have access at home. ... I can only imagine how our students feel as they attempt to do their homework without having high-speed Internet available to them."
About a quarter of students at Lakeland live without access to high-speed Internet, he said.
"We conduct an annual survey of our student body and over the last four years, it continues to show that ... about a quarter of our student body do not have access to the Internet," Kleinhans said.
"Students are at a disadvantage if their homes do not have access to high-speed Internet. I really believe in my heart of hearts that this is an equality issue."
Sidlowski said the state needs to get to work on the broadband issue quickly as speeds and needs are only going to increase as time goes on.
"Everyone agrees it's needed and those needs are only going to increase in the future," he said.
Education and business
Priefer addressed the panel to express the importance of an educated workforce to Wisconsin's economy. If students don't receive a quality education Wisconsin businesses are going to suffer, he said.
"The perception in the past on careers in manufacturing is that it's a less than desirable, dirty job that takes little education and I'm here to tell you that's exactly the opposite," he said. "If we can provide a skilled workforce, there are jobs in rural Wisconsin that we can retain here, increase enrollment, draw those people into and keep them in rural Wisconsin."
Moving forward
Future meeting dates and times for the task force have not yet been set, however the next hearing is expected to take place in Merrill.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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