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| Madison Teachers, Inc. 821 Williamson Street Madison, WI 53703-4503 (608) 257-0491 Fax (608) 257-1168 |
Madison Metropolitan School District Doyle Administration Building 545 West Dayton Street Madison, WI 53703-1995 |
March 12, 1999
Dear Superintendent/Uniserv Director:
We have joined in efforts to attempt to assure that all Wisconsin children are provided with continued excellent educational opportunity. We invite you to join our efforts.
As you are aware, Wisconsin law mandates that a local school district s cost to educate children in special education be reimbursed at 63%. The state, however, only funds at 35%. Given the state revenue controls, districts cannot raise local taxes to replace funding the state is obligated to provide but does not.
The education of regular education students, school maintenance and updating curriculum materials suffer, as these are the only places the district can cut in order to meet their federal obligation to provide the entire necessary educational program for youngsters in special education.
When revenue limits began during the 1993-94 school year, the state reimbursed local school districts 45.5% for special education costs. For the 1998-99 school year it is estimated that districts will be reimbursed at 35%. Handicapped aids have been frozen at $275.5 million since the 1994-95 school year, even though costs continue to increase annually. Unfortunately, it gets worse.
The Governor's budget continues to freeze the appropriation and he also eliminates the statutory 63% reimbursement rate. School districts are forced to cannibalize regular education budgets to pay for state and federally mandated programs and services. We wholeheartedly believe that every child deserves the best education possible. That is why we are writing to you.
Legislators must hear from educators and parents about the disastrous impact of this funding shortfall. If the state merely returned to the reimbursement levels at the inception of revenue limits, our district would have an additional $4.5 million - which would eliminate our backlogged maintenance woes. If the state actually kept its 63% reimbursement commitment we would have an additional S 1 1 million - enough to solve our maintenance problems, fund the $2 million annual cost to just maintain our computers and lower K-3 classes to 15 students! We suspect you have a similar list of programs and services you could provide your community's children.
In the next several weeks, the Joint Finance Committee will review the Governor's budget. The hearing schedule is attached. Please make every effort to mobilize parents and staff to attend and testify at the hearings. If that is not possible, contact your legislators so they are aware of the impact to your district of the state's unfunded mandate.
Attached is some of the information we've developed to illustrate Madison's plight related to this lack of funding. We encourage you to do the same and share it with your legislators and also your local media. Together, we can work to ensure a more equitable funding plan for handicapped aids.
Sincerely,
| [signed] Art Rainwater Superintendent of Schools |
[signed] John Matthews, Executive Director Madison Teachers, Inc. |
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