Franklin School District Taxpayers Footing Bill For Non-District Residents

In a recent post, one of Franklin’s more contentious and hard-working School Board members and FranklinNOW blogger, Janet Evans, discusses some probably little-known facts and asks some compelling questions about the Franklin Recreation Department‘s fee structure and policies, as well as its funding which, if you were not aware, is under the taxing jurisdiction of the Franklin Public School District and therefore governed by the Franklin School Board.  I gathered from Mrs. Evans’ post that the school district views the Franklin Recreation Department as a pseudo-"wellness program" for district employees living outside of the district, thereby charging these government employees an in-district fee for classes in the Recreation Department’s program.

Defining the Franklin Recreation Department programs as "wellness programs" is simply asinine and ridiculous.  As Mrs. Evans rightly notes in her piece, health insurers generally have a wellness program in their coverage.

The 2009-10 the Recreation Fund budget was $ 411,716 and was increased $42,201 in 2011-12 to $453,917.  That's nearly one half million dollars that should go directly to classroom education versus yoga classes, etc.

Some members of the school board, more specifically, board vice president Jeff Traylor, do not seem to understand the meaning of fiscal responsibility.

$3.1 million Paid to Top Franklin School Administrators Over Past Five Years

"We are returning to frugality and making the long-term decisions to balance our budget now and more importantly into the future. We will do the heavy lifting to protect our children and grandchildren from having to make the hard decisions that were once avoided."

—Gov. Scott Walker, March 1, 2011

In its 2011-12 Budget Draft Franklin Public Schools (FPS) asks: What in the World is Affecting Franklin Public Schools?  Here are the answers provided by FPS’ administration.

• The Economy
• State Budget Problems
• Possible State Law Changes
• Revenue Limits
• More Federal money means more time spent reporting

Like any government monopoly, over-spending didn’t even make the list.

"Since our primary purpose is to be advocates for the students in our community, it is imperative that we place some of the best teachers in our state in front of our students for a quality educational experience to occur.”

—Steve Patz, Superintendent, Franklin Public Schools, FPS2011-12 Budget introduction : Looking Back, and Forward

Huh?!  I thought the school district's primary purpose was to educate its students.

In his July 5 story entitled: Franklin schools tackle challenging budget by FranklinNOW’s Rick Romano we get a good sense for what some Franklin School District administrators and school board members think of the 2011-12 Franklin Public Schools (FPS) budget and budgeting process in light of Governor Scott Walker’s two-year $66 billion state budget deal designed to balance the state’s budget and close the $3.5 billion budget gap without raising taxes or fees, while reining-in local government’s taxation and spending. (e.g. public school boards and municipalities).

From Romano’s piece:

Quoting Franklin’s complaining Superintendent Steve Patz, Romano writes “Every school district is different, but we all face difficulty that has been complicated by the state budget process this year.  Just like in every year, we approve a budget and then wait until we have the final student count in October to finalize the numbers."

How did our neighbors in New Berlin react to Walker’s budget?

Click to read more ...

Franklin Public Schools' '$5.6 Million Deficit' Explained

Based upon the replies we received from Franklin Public School Board Members on June 17 and June 20, especially related to the District’s stated $5.6 million total deficit published on page four of its 2011-12 Budget Draft, we contacted the District’s Director of Business Services, Jim Milzer for an explanation of the multi-million dollar deficit question and how it appears in the budget.  In a telephone conversation Mr. Milzer said the school district does not have a $5.6 million total deficit as indicated on page four of the budget.  Here is how he explained page four and the accompanying bar graph in a subsequent email to us.

The graph on page 4 of the 2011-12 budget presentation shows the deficits that the District eliminated by reducing expenditures and increasing non-tax revenue.  For example, if the District continued all of the programs and services that were offered in the 2002-03 school year again in the 2003-04 school year, this would have resulted in a $1.1 million deficit.  This deficit would have occurred because the District’s costs were rising faster than the allowable increase in revenue.  The District’s tax and general aid revenue is limited by State statutes.  In creating the 2003-04 budget, the District cut $1.1 million in expenditures to balance the budget.  On pages 5, 6, and 7, there is a list of the expenditures that were cut and the sources of extra revenue that were used to balance the budgets in those years.  The District has had a balanced budget each year.

NOTE: In some years the District had expenditures carried over from the previous year when the revenue was collected in one year and the expenditure did not occur until the following year.  These adjustments were made to the balanced budget in that year which may make it appear incorrectly that the budget was slightly out of balance.

When asked how the average citizen would know this, Mr. Milzer said that this was explained to those who attended the budget presentation.  When asked why there wasn’t a note on page four explaining this for those looking at the budget without the benefit of attending the presentation meeting, he indicated changes would be made in the future budgets to avoid this sort of confusion.

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Bialk and Nielson Explain their vote to Approve FPS 2011-12 Budget

Last Thursday following the Franklin School Board’s special meeting to vote on its 2011-12 Budget Draft #1, we spoke with school board member Janet Evans to get her take on Wednesday night’s Special School Board Meeting and find out who voted for and against the 2011-12 Budget Draft #1, the FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL also sent emails to each school board member asking them to explain their vote, including Mrs. Evans.

On Friday, Jun17, we published replies from Board president Debbie Larson and memberMelissa Klein and Janet Evans.

Over the weekend we received answers from Judith Bialk and Tim Nielson. As of this writing Board vice president Jeff Traylor is the only school board member who has not responded to our request. Board member Linda Witkowski was excused from the Jun 15 meeting and did not vote on the budget and therefore was not contacted by the editors.

Here is Judith Bialk’s reply followed by Mr. Nielson’s

Mr. Keller'

This is my first opportunity to respond to your message regarding approval of the 2011-12 FPS budget.  I believe that Mrs. Larson has adequately addressed some misconceptions you had regarding the deficit figures in that budget, so I do not need to speak to that.  Because I was not present for the June 8th meeting, I had a lengthy conversation with Mr. Jim Milzer, and based upon our shairing [sic] of budgetary facts, I openly stated at the June 15th meeting that I was voting in the affirmative for the 2011-12 budget based on three reasons: 1. The budget is balanced.  2.  There are no cuts represented in this budget, and 3.  The tax levy for our community is going down this year.  I considered those facts significant enough to cast my "Yes" vote for this budget.  I also realize that the budget will not be in its final form unti [sic] October of 2011 and this gives the BOE time to make any significant changes should the occasion arise.

Judith Bialk

* * * *

Mr Keller:
 
Thank you for reaching out to me regarding the 2011-12 proposed budget.  This is my first public office and your communication is welcomed.  My answer would echo what Mrs Larson wrote to you with regard to explaining the graph you referenced.  This proposed budget is balanced with no program cuts that I am aware of--which is good for the kids.
 
My 'yes' vote was more due to the fact that this is a proposed budget that will be coming before the board again in July with the opportunity to make changes if desired.  I am looking forward to diving into the numbers even further and making sure the final budget product is a good one.  If there are any particular changes you would like to see or concerns you have, I would be happy to discuss them with you.
Regards,
 
Tim Nielson
School Board Member
Franklin Public Schools

 Thank you to all those school board members who gave our readers the courtesy of an answer to our question.

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School Board President Explains Vote to approve $50 Million Operating Budget

This morning we received responses from three school board members explaining their vote on the District’s $50 million 2011-12 budget Draft #1.

Yesterday, THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL reported the Board’s action to approve the budget during its June15 Special Meeting.

Board members Jeff Traylor, Judith Bialk and Tim Nielson have yet to respond.  Board member Linda Witkowski was excused from the Jun 15 meeting and didn’t vote on the budget and therefore was not contacted by the editors.

The following explanation came from School Board President, Debbie Larson.

Mr. Keller,

The graph that you are referring to on page 4 shows the deficits that the District would have faced had it not made reductions in expenditures or added revenue in the five previous budget years indicated. It has nothing to do with the 2011-12 budget. In each of those previous years the District reduced expenditures and added revenue as it indicates on pages 5, 6, and 7. Looking at the five years in total, the District added $1,237,097 in revenue and reduced expenditures by $4,332,201 to make sure that the budget was balanced. These two amounts total $5,569,298, which was rounded to $5.6 million, or the total amount of the projected deficits. All of these pages in the budget presentation deal with past budgets and not the 2011-12 budget. I voted for the 2011-12 budget because it maintains excellent educational programs for the students of the Franklin Public Schools and it reduces property taxes.

Sincerely,

Debra M. Larson

Franklin Board of Education-President

We received this explaination from school board member Melissa Klein.

Mr. Keller,

Thank you for contacting me for clarification regarding the budget that was approved last night. The $5.6 million deficit that I believe that you are referring to is what the cumulative (since the 2003-2004 school year) budget deficit would have been had the district not made $4.3 million in cuts and also added $1.2 million in revenue during the same time period (this is detailed in pages 5-7 of the budget document). Last week the district's business director, Jim Milzer, and I discussed changing the title of the graph on page 4 to make it more clear in future versions of the budget. I apologize for any confusion that this may have caused.

I voted in favor of this budget because it is balanced, it reduces the tax levy and tax levy rates, and also because it does not cut current programs or services for our students. I am very thankful that, due to past sound fiscal decisions, we are able to maintain class sizes and programming for the coming school year, unlike many of our surrounding school districts who will be required to make significant cuts to balance their budgets.

Please don't hesitate to contact me in the future if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Melissa Klein

Here is school board member Janet Evans’ response.

Dear Mr. Keller,

Thank you for inquiring as to my reason(s) for voting NO in the adoption of the Franklin Public Schools 2011-12 Preliminary Budget at our Special Board meeting June 15, 2011.  As you are aware, the Board originally voted 3-3 on the budget on June 8th.  The budget presented on the 15th did not contain any changes from the June 8th budget.

My reasons for voting NO on the 8th and the 15th were due to what I view as a lack of transparency in the budget and the budgeting for a 2.68% wage increase.  Also, after listening to Board member requests at both meetings to revisit the budget in July for the purpose of making possible adjustments (rather than waiting until October as listed in our Budget timeline) I am not confident a look at the budget in July will see any changes come to fruition.  The responses during the discussions at both meetings were peppered with the words, “not enough time.”

I will thoroughly weigh all activity between July through the final adoption of the budget in October before I cast my vote.  While I acknowledge the budget does not raise property taxes (as mandated by the Budget Repair Bill/Act 10) and the budget is balanced, I believe there is still room for improvement in the budget.

Regards,

Janet Evans

RELATED STORY

• Franklin School District facing $2.5 million decrease in state funding

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Franklin School Board Approves $50 Million 2011-12 Budget Draft

We spoke with school board member Janet Evans today to get her take on last night’s Special School Board Meeting and find out who voted for and against the 2011-12 Budget Draft #1.

Mrs. Evans was the only board member to vote “no” on this $50 million budget which included $5.6 million (Page 4) in total budget deficits, even after FPS Director of Finance stated in this budget draft, a total budget reduction of $4.3 million (Page 7).

THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL has sent emails to every school board member asking them to explain why they voted the way they did, including Mrs. Evans and will report their answers in the days to come.

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Special School Board Meeting Tonight

The Franklin school board will meet tonight a 6:00PM to vote on its 2011-2012 Budget.  Also included on its  agenda, the Board will also discuss strategic and negotiations issues for possible negotiations with represented [union] bargaining units.  Wisconsin law permits, by majority vote, the Board to convene in closed session for this agenda item.  The vote on 2011-2012 Budget is essentially the last item on the agenda.

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