Understanding School Finances

Here is a sobering fact about public education in Door County:  The state average of where a rural school district receives its operating income is 32 percent from local property taxes, 54 percent from the state, 10 percent from federal sources and four percent from alternative funding sources (that could be everything from student fees to PTA bake sales).

For an urban school, the formula reads 28 percent local, 54 percent state, 16 percent federal and two percent other sources.

For the Southern Door School District it is 73 percent local, 19 percent state, 2 percent federal and six percent other. For the Sevastopol School District it’s 83 percent local, 3 percent state, 8 percent federal and 6 percent other.

Why the huge disparities between Door County districts and state averages?

Blame it on two things:  The byzantine school funding formula and the property rich/cash poor nature of Door County.

These and other eye-opening facts of public education in the 21st century were presented during a hands-on learning activity called Investing in Wisconsin’s Public Schools that was hosted by the Door County League of Women Voters at the Sturgeon Bay Public Library on the evening of Feb. 19.

“This is what we’re living with,” said Sevastopol School District Administrator Linda Underwood, one of three coaches at the session, along with Sevastopol School Board President Sue Todey and Kathy Rohde, a UniServ Director for Bay Lakes United Educators.

Despite the huge amount of local funding for the Door County schools, there is not a representative amount of local control because the districts must still adhere to the state mandates, or as one attendee at the session said, “The state has usurped control.”

Scot Ecker, associate vice president and controller at Carthage College in Kenosha, developed Investing in Wisconsin Public Schools as a financial literacy tool to educate the public about the complex school financing system. Last year Ecker was honored by the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO) with its 2013 Pinnacle of Excellence award for developing Investing in Wisconsin’s Public Schools.

Three state organizations collaborated on creating the school finance learning tool – the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials (WASBO), Wisconsin Association of School Boards and the Wisconsin School Public Relations Association.

Woody Wiedenhoeft, executive director of WASBO, said so far about 40 of the state’s 424 school districts have purchased the $750 Investing in Wisconsin’s Public Schools kit, and 130 coaches have been trained.

“It’s a pretty complicated financing system, but the fundamentals were developed back in 1848 when the state Constitution was put together, and this does go back to the fundamentals,” Wiedenhoeft said.

“It does work,” Underwood said. “I can’t think of any other way – other than taking a graduate course in Wisconsin school finance that – anybody could present the finance system better than this does.”

Because of the skewed financing formula, school referendums have become a reality in the funding formula. It was because of referendums that Door County districts turned to Investing in Wisconsin Public Schools as a way to help inform the public.

“When we were all preparing to run the referendum to exceed the revenue limit, there were lots of conversations about trying to make people understand the revenue limit, because that’s a huge hurdle,” Underwood said. “Because it is so complex, there are so many misconceptions about it, and we really wanted to make people understand so they could make informed decisions on real stuff. So conversations took place about that. As part of those conversations, Patti Vickman, who came to Southern Door from Oshkosh, was aware of this simulation. She said we all need to get trained in this. It’s great. You can use it for your boards, for your community groups. It’s a great way to help people understand.”

Underwood and Todey went through the training together at the CESA 7 office in Green Bay and so far have made three presentations.

“As we get feedback from people, we learn more about how to make it better,” Underwood said, citing, for example, that in the first session, they used the state funding averages that come with the kit.

“We did the first presentation and realized, the Door School districts are so different from the state average. We wanted to have that information at our fingertips, not only the state average, but here is what it is for us and this is why it’s so different.”

For example, three of Door County’s five school districts (Gibraltar Area, Sevastopol and Washington Island) are among 20 of the state’s 424 school districts that receive no equalization aid.

“There are some special challenges in Door County,” Underwood said.

Underwood points out it’s best to come to a session with an open mind.

“If you have a group that is real set in their ways, one way or another, and isn’t really willing to talk and listen, then it doesn’t work very well,” she said. “You wind up with people trying to prove their point rather than having civil discourse.”

Community groups interested in learning more through an Investing in Wisconsin’s Public Schools session should contact either Underwood at Sevastopol or Southern Door Administrator Patti Vickman.