This is happening all over Wisconsin.

The budget, as of now, assumes the following: An increase in equalized values of 2.5%, a decrease of 40 resident students, $325 per pupil increase on the revenue limit, a continuation of service for personnel and educational programming, as well as salary increases that include a 4.12% cost of living increase applied to teacher base wages, 4% increase for support staff and 3.5% for all other groups.

 

It calls for a general fund budget of $52,718,149, a 6.9% or $3,418,913 from the previous year. The total budget of all funds — excluding Fund 73 — is roughly $70.6 million and net total expenditures are $65,040,309.

Most districts are educating fewer and fewer kids and spending keeps increasing. There’s always an excuse. Inflation. Old buildings. Whatever. At some point, should spending decrease with the student population? No, it’s not linear, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single district actually lower their spending even though many of them have lost well over 10% of their previous attendance. It’s not like this is a temporary bubble. All of the projections show the decline in students to be a widescale trend that will continue for at least another 10 years.

I’m tired of hearing excuses for why school districts can’t scale spending to their customer base like every other private entity in the universe.

Good for them.

MEQUON, Wis. — A group of parents have filed petition signatures to recall members of the Mequon-Thiensville School Board.

 

The parents said they were upset over the board’s handling of the district’s COVID-19 protocols.

 

They want four of the seven members replaced.

 

The group needed to collect 4,150 signatures from registered voters to legally file the recall paperwork.

 

They said they turned more than 16,000 into the district offices Monday afternoon.

 

“We have successfully collected the signatures needed to recall all four members,” organizer Amber Schroeder told WISN 12.

 

The mom of three launched the grassroots effort earlier this summer.

 

She said they’re not politically motivated but believe the district’s COVID-19 mitigation strategies last year failed and the education of the students suffered.