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| Madison Metropolitan School District Madison, Wisconsin Art Rainwater, Superintendent | ||
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| BOARD OF EDUCATION Minutes for Special Meeting - Open Session May 10, 2004 |
Doyle Administration Building 545 West Dayton Street, Room 103 Madison, Wisconsin |
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Special Meeting of the Board of Education was called to order by President Bill Keys at 5:06 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Carol Carstensen, Bill Clingan, Bill Keys, Juan José López (arrived 5:09 p.m.), Ruth Robarts, Shwaw Vang (arrived 5:44 p.m.), Johnny Winston, Jr.
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Bob Nadler, Art Rainwater, Barbara Lehman-Recording Secretary
OPEN SESSION
Jane Belmore, Mary Gulbrandsen, Roger Price, and Joe Quick joined the meeting at 5:44 p.m.
2. Announcements
Mr. Price updated the board members on the situation with the water main at West High School and O'Keeffe Middle School.
3. 2004-05 Amended Proposed Budget
(Packets included the individual board member amendments and the administration's summary of the BOE amendments. Copies are attached to the original of these minutes.)
Shwaw Vang distributed his proposed amendments (a copy is attached to the original of these minutes).
Mr. Price referred to the log sheet indicating the accumulated summary of the board members' budget amendments. Mr. Keys announced to the audience that people should know how the board members' agonized over the amendments and that they did not want to cut anything. He suggested that each proposal be explained by each board member in alphabetical order until finished, then questions could be asked for clarification. There would be no voting tonight.
Carstensen proposals: Fee increases probably not enough but can be adjusted; trying to keep freshman fees lower. Trying to restore the cuts in extra-curriculars. Season pass needs to be priced. Charging for fine arts program provides a way for people to contribute and the district can provide a calendar of events. Confirmed that 65 percent of 9th and 10th graders participate. Could charge flat rate for grades 9-12 instead of a graduated schedule by year. Impact was taking from $100 to $115. Process last year was to keep a running total of the cuts then vote on add-backs. How the duties of the Fine Arts Coordinator would be handled; steering committee would be elected, hiring by measuring skills of those who apply and in conjunction with principals, allocations done by Mary Gulbrandsen and principal supervisors. Steering committee would be compensated if not working during their contract time. They would have to get permission from Teaching and Learning to do anything districtwide and cannot expend funds. Grants cannot be used for the operating budget because they are short term.
Keys proposals: Concerned with condition of the buildings in the long run and short run. The $200,000 figure involved preventing any layoffs in the custodial area, staffing patterns would not change, the ratios would remain the same, and three would be added to the substitute pool.
FOLLOW UP: Provide information on the ethnicity of the three custodial staff.
Keys proposals continued: Number for strings was found in the Virchow Krause report, compensates for the add-backs, and checked with administration to find out how it would pay for itself. Provides valuable experience for kids but there are tradeoffs for private v. public lessons. Rapid drop-off in participation from 4th to 5th grade. The fee is bargainable. Strings can dip into the Fine Arts curriculum. Buying building care for all students. Do not want to frame in terms of a "cleanliness" fee. There was some discussion on the likely impact of enrollment numbers and reductions in FTEs, how much parents pay now, including rental fees, and whether there had been any communication with parents about increases. Can get feedback at the forums. Two years ago tried $60 per semester and people were irate. Waiting for analysis of Lapham .5 teacher and 20 hours of EA time.
López proposals: Will have to do something dramatic like change class size. Additional elementary school teacher reduction means there are only two places to get those from, supplemental or social worker/psychologist support. Classroom can only come from 4th and 5th grades or non-SAGE schools. No way to raise class size by one because it results in raising class size from 25 to 33. Still want to look at busing contracts. Still do not think there is enough "teeth" in the RFP policy for outside contracts; refer to committee. Do not support fees. Will wait for the analysis on the reading program at Lapham.
Robarts proposals: Do not understand what is in the budget to reach out there and match with something from cut list. NSBA suggests that the board should have a clear understanding of the budget and should know every possible alternative. Find that hard to do here; see indirect services to kids but not direct. Did bring numbers if people want to talk about some other time. Added Reading Recovery for Lapham. Three schools have 1.0 and the rest have .5. Need the analysis for direct instruction; has been performing. EA support for the LMCs has been cut several times and they cannot deliver professional part of library services. Need to have one Minority Service Coordinator in each of the schools and not downtown. Added back JV teams and No Cut Freshman Sports to engage kids in school. Keeping those GPAs up for the team keeps students engaged in academics. Custodial layoffs will result in loss in cleanliness and maintenance. Add .6 Athletic Directors at each of the four schools and no position at central administration. Cut side: not a freeze, no base, no seniority, and no reclassifications. Do not feel good about it and would not do longer than one year but conveys seriousness of financial situation. Begin to charge parking fees. Parking fee is low and could raise at least $33,000. Freeze the money for teacher buy-outs; comes out of salary line. Overloads - class sizes are very low or there are multiple study halls. Would like to discourage those kinds of overloads. Cannot afford a lead principal position; highly qualified to be back in the schools where we have vacancies. Local transportation - would like to see results of reconsideration of RFP by the provision of transportation services through local providers who have proven to be safe and reliable and offer better costs. Legal Counsel should be able to work that out. Pay for custodians by cutting Purchasing Services. Particularly concerned that the district continues to have big contractors and pays their fees.
If $946,000 is taken out, there would not be enough money to pay for the busing contract. Ms. Robarts asked for more information. Most remaining money is in facilities, telephones, building maintenance, and technical services. Need about $8-$10 million per year to maintain facilities. List is itemized by priority (Ms. Robarts asked for a copy). There are also ad hoc repairs.
LMCs - high schools get student help but elementary and middle generally do not.
Purchasing Services - What happens if the busing requirement is changed? Virchow Krause did from 1.5-2 miles - very little savings. Cannot control having to bus because of hazardous roads.
FOLLOW UP: Provide a summary of what would not get done if the $946,000 were taken out of the Purchasing Services budget. Identify who is getting direct instruction at Lapham and look at the performance of 3rd and 4th grade compared to those that have services like from Title 1 or Reading Recovery.
Recessed at 7:02 p.m.
Reconvened at 7:16 p.m.
Questions relative to Robarts proposals continued: Valencia Douglas will investigate the overload courses at the high schools and stated that she would not have approved one for a study hall. She explained when overloads happen and what is required for staffing.
Outside legal counsel - used for Hearing Examiners for expulsion cases, when specific expertise is needed, when there are conflicts of interest, and for Affirmative Action issues. Ms. Robarts asked for the expenditures for outside legal counsel, by department, for last year. Teacher buy-out is a policy item that would have to be changed. No budget savings because the employee would continue on to termination and costs would be paid as the case moved forward; only three cases in ten years. Parking fees would only be assessed to those on at least .5. No slots would be reserved; should charge something close to market rate. Copies of the Reading Recovery report were distributed.
Vang proposals: Six items to restore and $427,000 cuts. Some of the numbers may have been doubled up. Tried to take funds that were not related to positions; mostly from operations. Took from Fund 10 and primarily no more than $1‑$2,000 from any one account. From #62 on is not Purchasing but materials and supplies. Numbers cannot be verified without further study. Need more detail.
Winston proposals: Took out the change to elementary allocations. Thought the Minority Services Coordinators were very important. Not sure if the Athletic Director proposal will work. TAG teachers and support go together. Revised custodial positions to three so no one has to be laid off. Withdrew the amendment regarding Program Support Teachers in Special Education and the Trades position. Lapham needs a little more support because they are losing Title 1. Cuts: agree with textbook fees and athletic fees. Would like fees to be spread across the board. Administrative Wage at 50% of increase - not a reflection on any administrator in the district. Have to look at fine arts and can do that in Partnerships Committee. Use the Contingency fund as a last resort and set a limit. Board donation - should be giving something.
General discussion: State law does not require keeping any money in reserve. No Cut Freshman Sports amended amount $21,267. Under EA support for LMCs, offset by DRA central cataloguing system. Nothing in its place. Should have substitute product in place this summer to replace catalogue and inquiry software for the libraries that will simplify the process. Has not yet been communicated to the librarians. Any money collected for fees goes into the general fund. Staff will keep the board informed about progress in the area of athletics and MSCR. Losing kids in 9th grade; may have to look at freshman sports in January.
4. Public Appearances
Bruce Kahn made recommendations for cutting back on the budget - lowering the temperature in the buildings between 2 and 5 degrees, increasing the textbook fee to $25 (he stated that many parents would be willing to pay much more ($40-$50), and suggested purchasing as part of CESA or a statewide contract. It was clarified that the district belongs to a number of purchasing consortiums and through state contracts. Temperatures are also lowered over night.
FOLLOW UP: Report back on the potential savings of lowering building temperatures 2-5 degrees.
Joan Eggert wished the district would sue the state. When she suggested raising class size by one across the district, she was not aware that it would actually raise some as high as 33. She did not want that to happen. She asked that Spring Harbor be considered as a cut. She also added that there is not one program that works for all children; direct instruction does not teach comprehension as other programs do. Asked how one could measure an attitude change as a result of a relationship with a particular teacher. Cautioned that the board would have to be careful advocating one program at any time. She was willing to pay for fees but pointed out that there are those to cannot who are not on Free and Reduced lunch.
There was a response from the board that the potential for suing the state was being pursued. There was also a response that no one wants to eliminate Reading Recovery but to leave in place a program at one school where there is reason to believe it is working until the data is gathered.
Janet Morrow asked why class size is at 20:1 at Spring Harbor. She was aware of the space issue at Spring Harbor but did not believe the idea of increasing class size should be thrown out totally for middle schools and high schools, including Spring Harbor, and to go towards more multiage classrooms at the elementary level. It was clarified that Spring Harbor was opened in order to reduce overcrowding at Toki and Jefferson and was made attractive by lowering class size. Speaker responded that it could be looked at in terms of equity.
Jeff Henriques thought the board should consider raising MSCR summer fees as a source of revenue. It was clarified that raising fees for MSCR would reduce the tax burden but would not address the gap. Speaker thought it could be a message to the taxpayers. He added that reading scores measure comprehension as well as reading ability. He supported statistical analyses and comparison data. He thought that most of the support money pays for substitutes for compensatory time and each school could use it as they want to. He was also asked how he felt about the participation and success of kids of color and about TAG magnet schools. He noted that parents have talked about it but appropriate criteria would have to be defined.
5. Other Business
There was no other business.
6. Adjournment
It was moved by Juan José López and seconded by Ruth Robarts to adjourn the meeting at 9:01 p.m. Motion unanimously carried.
Previous: 2004-05-03 || Special Meeting - Open Session || Next: 2004-05-10a