Monday, February 27, 2012

A Look At How Janesville School District Makes Decisions

Looking at our neighboring city, Janesville, we see that they too are struggling with school budgets. Janesville's new school buildings and swimming pools have not furthered the local economy or increased the city's population. There has been a decline in their elementary school enrollment over the past few years.  Last year, the Janesville school board studied the idea of closing one elementary school to save costs.

The most interesting part of this for us in Beloit is the process we see with the Janesville school board as compared to the process we see here in Beloit. This is how Janesville proceeded with the idea of closing one elementary school:
  • A committee of community members began looking at the issue, examining the potential need to close a school
  • In April 2011 the board discussed whether or not to proceed and developed a timeline for the process
  • The community committee was scheduled to meet weekly and present a preliminary evaluation to the board in July
  • The committee's evaluations were to be based on a long list of criteria including costs for maintenance and transportation, the schools’ capacities, suitability for reuse, the number of students who walk to school and the effect on the neighborhood
  • The committee and board would gather community opinions in July. The committee, by Aug. 15, would recommend up to three schools for analysis of how the students would be distributed to other schools
  • The committee was scheduled to hold public hearings in September and make a final recommendation to the board in October
Remember, this was a plan to close one school -- not several schools. It was not a plan to ask for 70 million dollars from the Janesville taxpayers. It was not a plan to restructure the entire education system in Janesville. It was a plan to close one school and the Janesville School Board, involving the entire community, committed close to one year to the research and planning of this decision. Beloit parents and taxpayers certainly deserve the same careful, diligent, inclusive planning for such an incredibly important decision as has been proposed in this referendum. We are being asked to vote for a referendum that is not even completely planned and certainly presents issues which have not been properly vetted -- a referendum that will completely change our school district and our neighborhoods. A decision of such magnitude is worthy of the most deliberate research and planning. Beloit deserves at least that.
Janesville's Plan to Close a School -- The Janesville Gazzette

10 comments:

  1. I'm pretty sure Janesville ended up NOT closing any schools. See what happens when parents and the general public "interfere" with their schools?

    ReplyDelete
  2. School board member Tia Johnson will present the referendum to Kiwanis today at 9:00 am. The presentation is at Our Saviour Lutheran Church on Bluff St. and is open to the public.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Public input is just one of the missing factors of the referendum -- especially considering the plan includes closing so many neighborhood schools. Janesville considered it essential. So should Beloit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As a parent of four children, one in 4th grade at Cunningham and the triplets at Converse in 1st grade, I am completely opposed to this new plan. I do not want my children exposed to some of the things that they will learn from other children in the upper grades at their ages. Yes, it would be nice to have all the kids in one school so I am not running my butt off to drop off and pick them all up in a timely manner; however, the learning that they would be exposed to is something that I do not want as a very involved parent in my children's life!

    Education is very important to my husband and myself. I hope for my children to go onto college when the time is right. I hope for a better future and better learning opportunities for them as they advance in their respective grades; however, the learning should come as age appropriate, not b/c the district wants to save money. What happened to a quality education? What happened to thinking about the kids before the almighty dollar?

    Simply put - my vote will be NO!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you, Jackie. We agree wholeheartedly. Textbooks, programs, etc., are all things that should have been included in the referendum. All students and all schools should have been considered. Schools are not meant to bring in businesses. Schools are meant to educate children. When we do a great job of educating our kids, the businesses will see it and take note. To say that it's the building that matters more that the education is simply too shallow.

    I heard an interesting question today -- "If old schools are bad, why would anyone want to attend an ivy league college?"

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Beloit Board of Education discussed energy efficiency projects for Aldrich and McNeel middle schools and where to locate the newly-merged Brother Dutton and Eclipse Charter school programs at their Tuesday evening meeting.
    To respond to community concerns about Aldrich and McNeel middle schools, Superintendent Steve McNeal updated the Board of Education on a plan for the two middle schools at a price-tag of $1.2 million.

    Aldrich and McNeel aren’t included in the referendum, but have energy efficiency projects which will be paid for by a revenue limit exemption that’s given by the Department of Public of Instruction, according to the district’s Executive Director of Business Services Janelle Marotz.
    Marotz said the Board of Education voted on Oct. 25 to raise an additional $1.2 million connected to a state exemption to accommodate spending for energy-efficient projects. She said the district originally had planned to use the money for boilers. Now, since boilers will be addressed in the proposed $70 million referendum, she said the money can be used for maintenance needs at Aldrich and McNeel.
    “Doing things all at those schools has been part of our plan all along. Because it has to do with savings on energy costs, it’s just good money management for the district,” said Board of Education Vice President John Acomb.
    At the meeting the Board of Education voted to approve entering into an energy efficiency performance contract with McKinstry, an energy and facility services company, not to exceed $1.2 million to do necessary energy efficiency projects on the schools, Marotz said.
    Improvements to McNeel are estimated to cost $710,000, and will include building envelope needs, ceiling tile replacement, exterior stucco repair and lighting retrofits.
    Improvements to Aldrich are estimated to cost $510,000 and will include building envelope improvements, roofing and exterior tuck pointing.
    The improvements will be done by June. Construction work will be done on nights and weekends when students are in school, Acomb said.

    From the Beloit Daily News 2/29/12

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Redirecting the funds we received for new boilers in the elementary schools is a premature move. It is an effort to convince the citizens of Beloit that Mr. McNeal really does intend to make repairs to Aldrich and McNeel. But there are a couple of questions:
      1. Why were these schools excluded from the referendum to begin with? The middle school roofs and the roof at BMHS need more than just patching. This referendum could have provided new roofs for these schools, had they been included.
      2. What happens with the boilers now if the referendum does not pass? This is a risk -- redirecting funds to these schools now to appease the voters when the board and the administrators clearly believed, last October, that the boilers in the elementary schools were the major concern.
      3. Doesn't the redirection of these funds now increase the price tag of the new schools by 1.2 million dollars? Mr.McNeal has already publicly stated that the proposed project is an 80 million dollar project being funded by a 70 million dollar budget. Moving these funds to other schools just made this an 81.2 million dollar project being funded by a 70 million dollar referendum. Looks as though we may not have the money to complete the project. This is why proper planning of a referendum is so important.

      We will be even more in the hole now that we have added 1.2 million dollars to the overall project. That money will have to come from somewhere and will likely result in budget cuts just to get the projects completed. This will set the middle school back even further in receiving funds for needed repairs and upgrades. A referendum is supposed to solve problems, not create them.

      Important to note is that although the administration says that they always intended to make the needed repairs to Aldrich, McNeel, and BMHS, a plan for this was never even developed until January of this year -- after the referendum was voted on by the board. Why? Because the board, when they voted, believed these schools were all included in the referendum. When the referendum wording was made public, and people saw that so many schools were left out, the administration began drawing up a "5 year plan" for repairs to these schools. The plan just for repairs was estimated at 8 million dollars and another 2 million needed to actually make improvements to the facilities beyond required maintenance. So, the question remains, with annual budget cuts and predicted decreases in state funding, where will the money come from?

      Delete
  7. With the rush to get the referendum before the public and the number of unanswered questions, I'm afraid I would have to vote NO. The BOE needs to take time to study this issue and to get sufficient input from the community before going forward. At this time, they have not.

    ReplyDelete
  8. In reply to the comment about how the referendum money should be used for text books and programming. That is against state regulations. Referendum money cannot be allocated for text books.

    ReplyDelete
  9. http://www.stoughtonnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=2253&TM=82782.16

    An operational referendum can pay for textbooks:

    "An operational referendum is the district's way of asking residents for additional funds beyond what they are able to get from taxpayers according to state law. Those additional funds would help cover the cost of everything from personnel (teachers, administrators, custodians, educational assistants and support staff) to supplies (paper, copies, desks, chairs, lockers, etc.), programs (i.e. talented and gifted, athletics, academic teams,) and services (such as some transportation, special education, professional/support services for staff)." From Stoughton Schools website, link above

    ReplyDelete