Monday, November 12, 2012

School Districts Saving Money

Well… whadya know? Act 10 at work. 

The report by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance released Monday shows school districts across Wisconsin collectively cut spending on health and pension benefits by about $287 million in the 2011-2012 academic year. That includes benefit cuts from a larger number of retirements and layoffs.

The alliance found the benefit cuts offset about 64 percent of the $451 million decrease in revenue for school districts imposed by Gov. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers to balance the budget last year.

Bear in mind that almost no school boards have yet fully utilized the tools available to them thanks to Act 10.

(8) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1041 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. That is $287,000,000 that does not need to come out of the economy.  That is $287,000,000 that someone else doesn’t have to earn to pay for someone else’s purchase.  That is $287,000,000 that we do not have to pay debt service on.

    Even more importantly, it shifts the discussion from how much we should take away from the economy to what should each person pay for their purchases.

    Tad

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 12, 2012 at 1731 hrs


  2. Those damn teachers were probably sticking the $287,000,000 in foreign bank accounts rather than spending our money in Wisconsin.

    ...and since it is our money, don’t we have every right to confiscate the WRS pensions in the name of the people?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 12, 2012 at 1803 hrs


  3. Love the anger from the spoiled teachers.  Love…

    McDONALD’S's is hiring…

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 12, 2012 at 1950 hrs


  4. Bear in mind that almost no school boards have yet fully utilized the tools available to them thanks to Act 10.

    What do you base this statement on?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 12, 2012 at 1953 hrs


  5. Can’t wait for the Iowa test scores.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 12, 2012 at 2014 hrs


  6. Act 10 has been a great thing and a huge success, but Owen, you do need to be mindful that some districts were doing MUCH more with less before Act 10, and though Act 10 helped them, there was much less “fat” to cut.

    Take local schools for example.  West Bend and Hartford Jt #1 are both extremely frugal districts.  Both made noble choices thanks to conservative school boards, but those districts had much less fat to cut compared to higher spending districts.

    Districts have cut health care benefits, increased employee contributions, done the WRS contributions, reduced sick days, eliminated/reduced retirement benefits, eliminated salary schedules and now are very much targeting a “market based approach”

    You are absolutely right that some districts have much to do, but hats off to our local districts that have used Act 10 to save the local taxpayers money and are still providing a pretty damn good education to our kids.

    Oh… and EPIC fail to those who thought Act 10 was going to take education back to the stone age..

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 12, 2012 at 2102 hrs


  7. “Districts have cut health care benefits, increased employee contributions, done the WRS contributions, reduced sick days, eliminated/reduced retirement benefits, eliminated salary schedules and now are very much targeting a “market based approach”

    Yep, can’t wait for those new crop of teachers to come rolling through our doors in the next 20 years!

    Because, of course, market forces are the key to educational reform…or not necessarily.

    http://truth-out.org/news/item/618

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 12, 2012 at 2356 hrs


  8. “Yep, can’t wait for those new crop of teachers to come rolling through our doors in the next 20 years!”

    Yea I am sure no one will want to be a teacher now.
    I would much rather be a roofer slopping that tar mop around in the summer heat making $9.25 an hour than sitting by the pool all summer.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 13, 2012 at 0846 hrs


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