Milwaukee Weather
State Shocks School Districts With Major CutsBy Gary ReistadHARTLAND - A summer school robotics class in North Shore Middle School in Hartland sure is a hit for kids like fifth grader Travis Gorlik. “I like that you can get involved with it yourself instead of just watching other people do it,” he said.
However, the major hit his school district will take from the state is anything but fun. Hartland-Lakeside’s Superintendent Glenn Schilling has already done away with gym classes, axed library budget and eliminated staff positions.
“There’s no more fat there to squeeze,” Schilling told TODAY’S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray. “We’ve looked at every option. So as we cut, it is really starting to affect the students and the education.”
Now the difficult choice, raise property taxes to make up the difference or cut school programs. Either way, upsetting to parents like Lisa Jett.
“There’s not much left,” she said. “As much money that we pay to live here, it seems like they’re having less and less opportunities in school. We’re paying all this money, for what?”
State aid will be cut by 15% or more at fifteen school districts in Southeast Wisconsin. Seven of those districts are in Waukesha county.
In Franklin, Superintendent Steve Patz anticipated a 3% reduction in state funding, instead his district is in that group of the hardest hit.
"You have to look at programs and all programs,” said Patz. “We can't have any out there that are immune to being reduced, maybe even eliminated."
Wendy Brack's three children attend Robinwood Elementary.
“It's hard to make ends meet right now,” she said. “If they keep taking things away from my children, it's going to be very hard.”
State aid is determined by a complex formula. Some districts, like Cudahy, Fox Point and Pewaukee, will actually get more from Madison for the 2009-2010 school year.
Milwaukee Public Schools, the state’s largest district, will lose less than one-percent of its state aid. In dollars, that’s a nearly $5 million loss.
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