Schools

School Board Hears About Unprecedented Budget Bind

Superintendent briefly spells out difficulties of dealing with 'uncharted territory' of state impasse.

Superintendent Phil Ertl was brief and blunt in delivering his report Monday night to the Wauwatosa School Board on the progress of the 2011-12 budget.

"Not much has changed," he said, "except that more complexity has been added to it.

"Right now, we're looking at a worst-case scenario of somewhere between a $6 million and $7 million deficit, and that worst case is that the state budget is adopted but AB10, the budget repair bill, is not in effect."

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Without the savings provided for in Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, the massive cuts in state aid to public education in the biennial budget would produce huge shortfalls to the district. The repair bill was held up for three weeks when Democratic senators left the state and it is now held up in court.

"We have a timeline, and a deadline to meet on June 1," Ertl told the board.

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That is the "drop dead date for informing our teachers of layoffs," Ertl said.

Board member Phil Kroner asked Ertl, "What kind of budget will we be able to pass if AB10 is still in litigation?"

"We'd look at something conditional, I think," Ertl said. "We would have to be able to go back into it before it took effect in October.

"It's uncharted territory for us. Administratively, we've never seen anything like this before. We're going to be seeking the advice of lawyers."

"Whatever happens," Ertl said, "we will make responsible decisions. We will be open for business in September."

Ertl said the district would also continue lobbying the Legislature to reverse the school tax levy credit and revert to the school aid formula.

"The school tax levy credit shifted $2.5 million a year onto our taxpayers," he said. "It doesn't add any money to our budget, but it would save our taxpayers $2.5 million if it was shifted back to the school aid formula where it was meant to be."

Goodbye to a colleague

Moving on from the budget, Ertl officially announced to the board the results of the April 5 election for four open seats: No. 4, Mary Jo Randall; No. 5, Sharon Muehlfeld; No. 6, Tom Jarosz; and No. 7, Lois Weber.

But the annoucement of newcomer Jarosz meant saying goodbye to Jon Ray, who decided not to run again after serving six years on the School Board.

"Jon came onto the board at a very tumultuous time," said board President Anne Fee, "and he provided a very thoughtful even-handed approach, for which I will be ever thankful."

Michael Meier told Ray, "For six years, I have felt that every vote I have taken was not a responsible vote unless I took into account what you had to say."

Mary Jo Randall praised Ray's "thoughtfulness, and your demeanor, which is very calming and reassuring."

And Lois Weber, the longest serving board member, said simply, "You're invaluable, not just to this board but to this community, and we're not going to let you go. We're going to keep on drawing on you."


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