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The Racine Voucher Experience: Property Taxes Rise

By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 21, 2013

During the 2011-13 state budget process, state lawmakers expanded private school vouchers to Racine.  We thought it would be valuable for SAA members to hear about the Racine voucher experience and the impact on Racine Unified School District (RUSD).  We received the following information from Marc Duff, former Republican Assembly representative (and member of the powerful Joint Finance Committee) and current Director of Business Services – Budget for RUSD.  According to Marc:

1) The current financing system for vouchers causes property taxes to increase due to the diversion of general aid to pay for vouchers. For this year RUSD property taxes increased 3.44%…without vouchers it would have increased .05%. That was with an enrollment cap of 500 for vouchers. Next year it will be unlimited.

2) According to data from DPI, only half of the students participating in the voucher program were students enrolled in RUSD. A significant percentage of students receiving vouchers were existing private school students. As a result, the greatest beneficiary of the voucher program in Racine has been private school parents who received a financial windfall. We actually had parents enroll their child in Horlick High School mid-year so they could get a voucher to Racine Lutheran for next year. All of the 9th graders who received vouchers in the first year of the program went to Shoreland Lutheran and none were previously RUSD students.

3) Test scores indicated voucher students in Racine performed worse than RUSD students. Choice advocates suggest that the students they are receiving have not been the best students creamed from RUSD and it indicates how low performing the students are that they are getting. The problem is that half of the students were never RUSD students! Since half of the students were either private or charter students and RUSD test scores were better, wouldn’t that indicate it was the former private school students who are dragging down test scores?

Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »

State Budget Documents Available

By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 21, 2013

The Department of Administration (DOA) has made the Executive Budget documents available.  You can access a Budget in Brief as well as the complete Executive Budget document here.

Now that the Governor has introduced his budget proposal, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) is hard at the task of analyzing the proposal.  The Legislature will wait for the LFB’s definitive word on the budget document before moving forward in the budget process.  We anticipate the LFB will take three weeks or more to complete its analysis.  Next up is the Joint Finance Committee (JFC).  For a reminder of who serves on JFC, click here.

As definitive information regarding the Governor’s budget proposal becomes available we will distribute it to the SAA membership.  Hang tight.  The SAA will keep the membership apprised of any new budget developments.

Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »

Voucher Expansion in Green Bay: Property Taxes Will Rise

By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 20, 2013

As you know, Governor Walker’s K-12 budget proposals, if adopted, will initially expand private school vouchers into Green Bay and at least eight other school districts in Wisconsin.

School officials in the Green Bay Area Public Schools (GBAPS) have produced an analysis of the fiscal effect of private school voucher expansion in GBAPS.

The bottom line is this: If GBAPS has 200 voucher students, district taxpayers would pay an additional $1,231,080 in property taxes.  If there were 500 voucher students, district taxpayers would pay an additional $3,131,972 in property taxes.  As the number of private school voucher students increase, so will the additional property taxes for GBAPS taxpayers.

Private school voucher expansion means property taxes will rise.

See the GBAPS analysis here.

Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »

Journal Sentinel Editorial Against Voucher Expansion

By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 20, 2013

This morning, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel came out against Governor Walker’s private school voucher expansion plan.  The editorial from the state’s largest and most influential newspaper was unexpected to say the least.

See the full editorial here.

Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »

SAA, WREA Announce Strategic Alliance

By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 19, 2013

The School Administrators Alliance (SAA) and the Wisconsin Retired Educators’ Association (WREA) today announced the formation of a strategic alliance designed to jointly lobby Wisconsin lawmakers on school funding, private school vouchers and other public education issues.  SAA and WREA will also collaborate on efforts to promote public education throughout Wisconsin.

See the full release here.

Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »

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