Board of Ed Spreads Cuts in New Budget Proposal

Special needs teachers, sports assistant coaches, music and language programs and custodial positions could be the victims of spending cuts, according to the Madison Board of Education’s latest budget proposal.

District Business Administrator Gary Lane presented the new plan at a Budget Forum at Madison High School Tuesday night.

The forum was the fifth in a series of public information sessions conducted by the BOE this month. The board will vote to adopt a new budget at its meeting March 29.

Lane in his presentation said that the district is facing a budget deficit of $854,968, after counting new revenues of $637,800 from taxes and tuition for out-of-district students of $48,000.

The tax levy is capped at a 2% increase from 2010-11 according to state law. The new budget loses surplus funds of $437,500 and miscellaneous monies totaling $90,000 from the previous year.
 
Selected expenditures highlighted by Lane include $370,000 in federal job monies for salaries that will no longer be available as of July 1; a $200,000 increase in the cost of health benefits; $500,000 in staff salaries, and $240,000 for special needs students. Those expenditures total $1,310,000. Recently announced state aid of $346,732 due Madison shrinks the budget shortfall to $854,968.

Lane pointed out that the budget is “a living document, it gets us from here to there. Adjustments can be made, good and bad, so we can do the best we can for the taxpayers and the students.”

Click here to watch Gary Lane explain why it's important for Madison voters to pass the new budget.

The new budget, which Lane formulated after a finance committee meeting earlier in the day, includes proposed cuts arrived at after consultations with department heads, administrators, and the board itself.

At the high school, proposed cuts include one English teacher, increasing the teaching load on each teacher from 4.5 to five classes; and reductions in German, which is being eliminated, as well as cuts in history and library media services. A secretary position is also being dropped.

In high school sports, one assistant coach position is to be cut in football, boys and girls lacrosse, spring and winter track, and wrestling.

In high school extra-curricular activities, seven areas will feel the squeeze, including the reduction from two to one freshman class advisor.

The proposal calls for an increase in the school activity fee of $100 by about 50%.

In the elementary schools, two teaching positions will be cut in line with changing class sizes, and one position dropped as Spanish is eliminated from the curriculum. The budget also proposes cutting two teachers and eliminating the fourth grade instrumental music program.

District-wide, the budget replaces two certificated special needs teachers with teacher assistants; eliminates a part-time technology integration specialist; cuts three of 27 custodians, and eliminates another yet-to-be–determined teaching position.

The budget retains a part-time coordinator of visual and performing arts previously funded by a federal grant that expires at the end of 2011, and adds a position to the technology staff.

The tax impact, Lane said, is 1.75%, or a $118 annual increase on the average Madison home assessed at $410,600.

“There’s no mechanism to increase the budget,” Lane observed. “We are capped at 2% growth going forward. If the budget is defeated [at the April 27 elections] and it’s cut again, that cut is felt forever. The big cuts are labor; it’s hard to save $255,000 on supplies.”

Lane said that passing the budget is something that goes right to the bottom line for most Madison residents.

“One of the most valuable things in your community is your schools. If I have to have a 2% increase to maintain the value of my house, that’s a good thing. There’s an endgame there when I want to sell my house.”