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I am writing as a frustrated school board member and parent from the Milaca School District. Last year our board made over $200,000 worth of painful budget cuts, and we have made reductions every year of the past seven. If our operating referendum fails we will need to cut at least $600,000 for the 2008-2009 school year, and most likely more in the future. As my husband, a family physician, puts it, "We are way past cosmetic cuts, we have sacrificed muscle, moved to bone, and now we're at the point where we start amputating limbs." These cuts will be teachers—(at least 14) which will increase class sizes and decrease class offerings, they could also include all extra curricular activities, or we could spend ourselves into SOD and have the state take control in approximately 2-3 years. I honestly can't say which of these horrible choices I would make, but these are the options available if the referendum fails. That said, I'd like to share that despite our rather average showing on the MCA tests as part of the federally underfunded No Child Left Behind program, I think our school is moving in a positive direction on several fronts. Our superintendent is a strong, fair leader with vision for our district. She has suffered unwarranted criticism during this referendum campaign for receiving a salary which is only fair for someone with her education and experience. We have enthusiastic principals and assistant principals in both the high school and elementary who genuinely like the kids and treat them with respect. In the wake of budget cuts, they have maintained their positive attitudes and implemented programs that really help kids—like RTI in the elementary which reaches kids at their level and catches them up before they have a chance to experience failure and frustration. In the high school we have advanced placement classes which allow students to do college level work for college credit while staying on our campus. My children could not have had better teachers or better extra help than they have received at our public school. They have teachers, social workers, food servers, custodians and other staff members who are all looking out for them. We can no longer leave the decisions about public school funding in the hands of those who only pay attention to the schools when they fear their taxes will go up. I have had to explain several times that $500 per pupil unit does not mean there is an increase of $500 to everyone's taxes, nor is it a per capita charge for each child a parent sends to school. School board members are elected officials entrusted with the responsibility to maintain our local schools but without the authority to make decisions about the funding needed to do so. I fear that no one who really cares about education will want this job in the future. I don't want this job on Wednesday if our referendum fails, but I will stick it out because the teachers have to and the kids have to, and while I have no authority to make things better, I still have the hefty weight of the responsibility. Let's not lose the excellence in our schools, let's move forward with vision. Let's not strive to be adequate, let's strive to prepare our children to compete and succeed in the global economy of the 21st century. I am tired of working to just maintain what we have. I'm tired of fundraising for basics. I want to work on education issues not sell referendums to the public. I want the state to accept the responsibility for funding public schools or, failing that, give boards the authority the fund them locally. Sincerely, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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