School District of Waukesha News
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Monday, 17 December 2007 |
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SOMEONE GETS THE SCHOOL WOES.
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Friday, 30 November 2007 |
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2006 Teacher Salary Averages. Look how Waukesha fairs--towards the top, again. (Click on 2006 Teacher Salary Data tab.)
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The Waukesha School Board is on Board! |
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Wednesday, 31 October 2007 |
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They are taking the EAW to mediation/arbitration over salaries and benefits--see below for the reasons why.
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How to Calculate School Taxes |
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Friday, 28 September 2007 |
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Waukesha Forward has published their new newsletter and much of what they said, we agree with-the support the AB447, AB448 and AB449, the call on the union to slow down the rate of growth of teachers' salaries. However, while we appreciate the board's attempt to slow down the administrative salaries, we believe they should have been frozen. If our district adminstrative costs were brought into line with other districts (per position comparison), our district could have saved hundreds of thousands (see WaukeshaForward.org). In addition to slowing down the rate of growth in teacher salaries, we also believe there needs to be changes in the insurance--copays AND contributions to premiums. These are all things that the Waukesha Taxpayers League has supported for a very long time.
Now that we are coming into tax season, we will give a lesson on how to calculate school taxes. This has been an area of contention we have had with the school district and the way the tax increases get underplayed. Sometimes, the newspaper catches the misreprentation and sometimes they don't.
House Valued @
$250,000 in 2006 |
7.78
(2006/07 rate) |
$1945.00
(total 2006/07 tax) |
House Valued @
$265,000
in 2007 |
8.00(2007/08
rate) |
$2120.00(total 2007/08
tax) |
Even though the tax rate went up by 1 cent, the actual impact on a home owner will be over $100. (The above example shows $175.00) The School District adjusts the tax rate by the rate of growth districtwide. When the state determines the value of the school district each year, the value includes both new growth and inflation. In order to calculate the impact on a home owner correctly, inflation must be applied to the cost of the house. The district, in calculating the rate, used an 8% increase in value of the district. In reality, this 8% typically represents an approximate 2% increase in real value (new growth) and a 6% inflationary growth (as applied above). The exact impact per homeowner will vary, according to which municipality they live in, but will not be $2.50 cents as stated in the newsletter.
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Waukesha Teachers Top Out |
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Saturday, 22 September 2007 |
Not our headline, but the Journal's.
"The extent to which you have a higher and higher number of people at the top of your salary schedule, it becomes more expensive."-Jack Bothwell, executive director of human resources for the Waukesha School District.
Easiest way to explain. A 2% increase on $40,000 is $800. A 2% increase on $70,000 is $1,400. The Waukesha School District has 35% of its teaching staff at the top--far exceeding the 10% norm of the county. Additionally teachers have increased their salaries by education credits which counts for thousands of dollars per year per teacher. AND IT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE $21,000+ HEALTH INSURANCE AND THE DOUBLE DIGIT PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS.
"We are concerned with the speed with which people are earning credits and the effectiveness they can have in their classrooms."-Janet Bashirian, president of the Education Association of Waukesha.
WE ARE TOO. Not to mention the program reductions that hurt kids because this costs too much.
Will the union do something to fix this? Wouldn't bet on it. The Waukesha School Board needs to grow a back bone and take the union to arbitration to fix the salary schedule and related contract language and to get insurance concessions as most other districts have gotten.
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School Board Choses Pleasant Hill Over Class Sizes |
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Thursday, 13 September 2007 |
The Waukesha School Board chose to keep Pleasant Hill open by taking the total population of Pleasant Hill and Hillcrest schools and putting K-3 in one building and 4-6 in the other. This didn't eliminate the underused facility problem, just spread it between two schools. Instead of closing Pleasant Hill, which could have saved the district -$300,000-$400,000 per year and provided the one-time cash windfall from the sale of this very valuable piece of property, the board embarked upon what looks like an educational fad that doesn't save the taxpayers one dollar. The administration put the fear into school board members with the threat of "we will lose all the students to Elmbrook if we do this" and the parents reinforced this message. Whatever. We have heard this threat before and as the school board continues to underperform, we will continue to hear this well into the future for each and every proposed increase in class size and every elimination of programs.
Why did we use the word threat above? Because we know that while parents are willing to say they will put their kids in the neighboring district, it isn't as easily done. While the neighboring district may be willing to let the kids in, it takes a parent or parents to get the kids there and home or to pay the extra to bus them. Additionally, there are all the other events that surround school-scouts, concerts, meeting with teachers, etc.
Do we doubt we are losing students to other districts and to private schools? No. But we also don't believe that the school board should be making decisions based on this potential but rather the cold hard numbers that drive the budget and where potential savings can be found.
Kudos to Pat McCaffery and Frank Finman for their NO votes and for doing it for the right reason.
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Has the Waukesha School Board Used the Arbitration Word Yet? |
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Friday, 07 September 2007 |
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Waukesha Schools Don't Measure Up--Regardless of What We Spend |
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Monday, 20 August 2007 |
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This is shocking. Haven't we been repeatedly told that Waukesha is a great system? Just imagine how much better we could be if we raised out student contact time up to other surrounding districts.
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Friday, 15 June 2007 |
The WTL's response to Comments Made.
 Once again, Waukesha Freeman columnist Pete Kennedy takes on the WTL without talking to the WTL. This isn't the first time Kennedy has done this and it certainly isn't the first time he has misrepresented the WTL. The WTL will be adressing this situation in the near future. In the meantime, browse through our website and see what reforms we support and what we don't.
A side note to Josh Carter and SAWS. The WTL has never said anything against their group and what they are trying to do. Despite having great concerns with their current affiliations (those same affiliations which Kennedy neglected to point out) including Project ABC (which hasn't proposed any solutions nor have they taken a position on AB110--allowing school districts (and other governmental bodies) to switch insurance carriers outside of the arbitration process, Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools, a group that isn't shy about their position of increasing school funding 32% and the Institute for Wisconsin's Future, a democratic party think tank that wants every tax dollar it can get its hands on, I gave Mr. Carter the benefit of the doubt and personally took time away from my family to meet with him.
Josh Carter did extend an invitation to us to carry our website if we put his on ours. Our policy has been and will continue to be that we affiliate with those that share our views. While we all agree that something needs to be done, to date, we have not seen any solutions from SAWS or the other affiliated groups of SAWS that we agree with. SAWS is welcome to list us if they chose to. At this time, we will not be reciprocating.
I will give Mr. Carter the benefit of the doubt once more after reading his comments in Kennedy's column. Additionally, I challenge Pete Kennedy to contact the WTL in the future instead of presenting what he believes our position to be.
-Chris Lufter, President
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