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Mukwonago Schools Face Program Cuts; $1.7 Million Budget Shortfall Projected Over 3 Years

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 March 2006, 15:00 CST

By AMY HETZNER

Mukwonago Staring at budget shortfalls projected to total up to $1.7 million over the next three years, School District officials have proposed program cuts affecting everything from kindergarten aides to sports.

The School Board is slated to take action toward the end of April on an estimated $500,000 in program cuts needed to balance the district's 2006-'07 school year budget.

District officials will lay out the reasons for the reductions at a budget forum at 7 p.m. Thursday in the high school library.

As district Business Manager Darren Clark put it, "Expenses are growing at about a percent higher rate than revenue."

At the board's request, administrators have drafted a list of 24 items that could be cut to reduce $1.7 million in expenses over the next three years. The list includes the reduction of nearly 32 full- time staff positions as well as non-personnel items such as eliminating intramural sports at the middle school, reducing high school athletics and ending participation in an alternative high school program.

Other topics suggested that the School Board include in its budget discussions are student transportation, high school graduation requirements, class size, student fees and the possibility of holding a referendum to increase district revenue, School Board President Paul Wysocki said.

To do its job, he said, the board needs to look at any possible efficiencies, appropriate staffing costs and whether the amount that taxpayers are spending matches their needs.

"Certainly, referendum is a part of that mixture," Wysocki said. "And, I think, ultimately that the goal behind the three-year budget- balancing plan is to come up with a way that balances the three things."

Wysocki noted that Mukwonago is considered a low-spending district and said the district would have to increase its staff by 25% to reach the same staff-to-student ratio as Wisconsin's average.

"We've been a fiscally conservative district," he said. "We've done a good job of keeping an eye on the taxpayers' money."

The goal of Thursday's forum is primarily to educate the public on the reasons for the program cuts, Superintendent Paul Strobel said.

Because of the district's below-average spending rate in the state, it is allowed to increase its per-pupil spending by a larger margin than most other districts bound to the state's revenue caps. If not for that provision of the state budget, Clark said, the district would be looking at $700,000 to $750,000 in program cuts for the coming school year.

The district will hold a budget hearing on March 27 at which the public may tell district officials what they think about the proposed reductions. The board is to finalize its work on the 2006- '07 budget at its April 24 meeting.

Copyright 2006, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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