Opting Out After All: $180,000 Extra for Madison Schools

The Madison Central School District has reversed fiscal course for the second time this year, deciding it wants some opt-out money after all. After a close vote in June to not take advantage of the opt-out revenue authorized in a 2006 public vote, the school board voted unanimously to levy $180,000 above the state's property tax limit. According to tonight's MDL [Chuck Clement, "Board Requests $180,000 in Opt-Out Money," Madison Daily Leader, 2007.09.11, p.1], the board originally voted not to take opt-out money this year out of fear that the state was planning to penalize schools that maintained big budget reserves. Since June's vote, district business manager Cindy Callies has learned that such penalties are not coming, so the school is in the clear to claim the money it has coming.

Various folks around town have floated the opinion that the school was crazy not to reach out and grab all the money it could. After all, this opt-out is only good for four years, so, to paraphrase the great Governor George S. Mickelson, if it's gonna rain, you better set out your bucket. Some will thus still see the board showing a bit of its crazy streak, as it is claiming "only" $180,000, rather than the full $250,000 that the 2006 vote authorized.

Superintendent Vince Schaefer has done us the favor of itemizing how he wants to use the opt-out funds. $105,000 goes for curriculum updates spurred by the long shadow of No Child Left Behind: "We have found our students have been tested on materials that we don't have," Schaefer tells MDL. Hmm... sounds like we'll be buying books to teach to the test.

$65,000 goes for increasing health benefits for staff. The district is facing a 9% increase in its premiums this year (that outstrips the 6.1% national average for health premium increases, as reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation today... but both figures outstrip 2.6% average inflation and the 3.7% average national wage increases), so the opt-out money will help cushion out-of-pocket costs for employees. The district is also increasing health benefits for staff, tripling the wellness benefit from $75 to $225 and expanding that wellness benefit to apply to dental, vision, colonoscopy, and EKG's.

That leaves $10,000 in opt-out money for a study of scheduling differences between the high school, which operates on 12-week trimesters, and the middle school, which operates on 6-week... um... hexamesters? The Madville Times sincerely hopes this money won't be wasted on outside consultants. After all, if there's a problem, the teachers probably already recognize it and already have some good ideas on how to fix it. If we need to spend money to research the problem, let's offer a stipend to teachers willing to put in a little extra time in the library. If there's a problem, let's solve it in-house and keep the money in the local economy.

Sadly absent from the opt-out budget was funding to restore the music staff to previous levels. Just $35,000 or so puts another music teacher back in the middle school. Another $35,000 gets the lone high school band director a sorely needed assistant. That's $70,000 -- hmm, the same difference between the board's $180,000 opt-out levy and the $250,000 the voters authorized. Hmm... maybe next year?