School Budgets Rescued as Savings Pile Up

Now that the recent state budget reforms have taken effect, we are beginning to receive a windfall of good news from school districts across Wisconsin. Many districts that had expected to take serious budget hits as a result of state funding changes are now finding that they are able to save taxpayer dollars while not increasing class sizes or cutting teachers.

Local schools are finding that the reason for this good news is the tools and flexibility provided to them in Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill (Act 10) from earlier this year as well as the recently-passed 2011-13 state budget. In response to a state and local government finance crisis, the legislature in partnership with Governor Walker took action and passed strong reforms that are helping to control the costs of government and ultimately reducing the burden on Wisconsin’s taxpayers.

Specifically, a recent study by the MacIver Institute revealed that local schools are already set to save about $155 million as a result of Act 10 reforms. Most of these savings are coming from requiring teachers and educational staff to pay 12.6 percent of their health insurance premium and 5.8 percent of salary toward their pension.

In Kaukauna, for example, this new flexibility could turn a $400,000 deficit into a surplus of as much as $1.5 million. These same changes resulted in projected savings of $11 million in Green Bay, $6.6 million in Sheboygan and $3.5 million in Eau Claire. The Racine school district might save as much as $19.2 million due to their freedom to adopt a high-deductible health insurance plan and implement pension savings.

These are just a few examples of the fiscally liberating changes we are seeing in school districts across the state. MacIver Institute estimates that, if every single school district in Wisconsin adopted the bottom-line flexibility measures contained in Act 10, it would save taxpayers more than $450 million without reducing class sizes or educational programming – or eliminating teachers’ jobs. That amounts to a savings of about $500 per student statewide.

On the other hand, districts that extended contracts without the flexibility measures in place are now realizing their mistake – and it is coming at the cost of good young teachers. Milwaukee Public Schools, for example, recently laid off 519 employees because of a funding crunch that could have been avoided with the Act 10 changes. Facing a similar situation, Kenosha’s public schools may see layoffs of 212 full-time teachers.

Despite the heated political rhetoric that we hear today, everyone in Wisconsin wants our state to have the very best educational system in the world. A good education is our children’s ticket to a prosperous future and no one wants to deprive them of that. Moreover, good schools will allow us to educate a top-notch workforce that is well-prepared to compete in this global economy.

Those who are viciously attacking others for wanting to ruin education in Wisconsin are being fundamentally dishonest. We now know that the changes we made in Act 10 are actually maintaining the quality of education in Wisconsin at a more affordable cost for taxpayers. Let’s be honest with each other and move forward.