private schools that don't accept all students or don't
have accountability measures, >> How are schools doing as we
start the new year? For answers to that, we check in with Dan
Rossmiller, executive director School Boards and thanks for
joining us today. >> Thanks for inviting me. So in
recent years, coming out of the pandemic, we've seen a number of
school districts struggle with staffing, both in terms of
classroom teachers and support staff like bus drivers.
>> How are things looking this fall?
looking a little better than they have in the past. It's very
challenging. I would say that the two things that really
impact staffing are the inflation that we've experienced
in the marketplace. And I drive around the state visiting with
my members and going to regional meetings in the fall. And I
remember last fall seeing all the signs in front of Kwik Trip
and Carver, you know, starting at 17, 18, $19 an hour. And that
made it difficult for schools to compete for many of those
positions. But I seem I'm not hearing as much concern about
those positions this year as I have in the past. Not saying
that we're out of the woods, but things seem to be a little
better. >> We've seen a record number of
districts go to referenda asking voters to raise their own
property taxes. How? And especially for funding
operational referenda, not just building new buildings.
>> How dire is the situation in these districts where the voters
say no? >> Well, it can be very dire.
Over the years, we've had revenue limits in place now for
31, 32 years. And that's two generations of kids that have
gone through school. And over time, many districts have become
increasingly dependent, probably 100 districts or more in the
state rely on referendum funding for 10% or more of their budget.
And if those referendums don't pass. Imagine cutting 10% out of
your household budget or the budget of a business that you
work with. It's significant. It creates a whole set of problems
for those districts and the students that are educated in
them in a new environment. >> We're also seeing more EMS
and cities themselves go to referendum because they feel
they need additional funds. So how does that work when a school
district is competing with ambulance services to get voters
to say yes, well we'll see. >> Last fall, Fort Atkinson
competed their school district with their municipality, and the
municipality succeeded the school district did not. So it's
a challenge. We're going to see that here in Madison. We're
going to see that in a number of communities, it's part of an
interplay. The legislature is trying to hold on property taxes
while providing sufficient funding. And I think it's an
indication that the attempt to clamp down on property taxes is
creating some problems. >> This is a long standing
pathway that got us here in terms of eight years of Scott
Walker and the Republican legislature holding down school
funding, local funding in favor of property tax relief, plus the
fiscal cliff created by the Esser funds and the Covid
pandemic money. Do you think that the public understands how
we got here, or are they just wondering, well, how did this
local school district mismanage their budget to be this far in
the hole? question. And it's a it's a
complicated one. So bear with me for a moment, since the Great
Recession in 2008 and nine and the changes that Governor Walker
made and the legislature made since then, for the first number
of years, that revenue limits were in place for schools, the
legislature made annual adjustments that tried to keep
pace with inflation, and they were pretty successful for the
most part. Districts were able to keep pace with inflation,
maybe even do a little better since 2012. The allowable
increases, the increases in resources for schools that the
legislature has allowed have been roughly half of the rate of
inflation. Chances are, in a few years, if inflation continues,
you are going to be back asking the voters if inflation
continues and your declining enrollment continues, you almost
certainly will be back asking the voters, we've had some
districts, go to the voters ten times or more. And part of the
reason for that is that. It's easier for districts to pass a
temporary exception to the revenue limit than it is for
them to pass a permanent one. So those temporary exceptions last
for two, three, four years. At the end of that time, those
districts find themselves having to come back to the voters or
having to make significant cuts in programs and services. So
that, in a nutshell, that explains why districts are
having to go back to the voters. It's because the resources
provided to them, allowed to them by state law, are not
keeping pace with inflation. But no.
different topic, we're in the middle of a very contentious
election season. >> What is your advice to how
teachers and administrators should handle politics in the
classroom, whether brought up by students or the teachers or
parents or anyone else? >> Well, that's a matter of some
delicacy, and I think it's going to vary from district to
district. I think those are important discussions that can
happen, particularly in our social studies and other
classrooms, about how our democracy functions. I think
it's a it's a balancing act for teachers not to be telling
students how they ought to vote, but educating them about the
process, educating them about the issues, what the candidates
differing views are. I think there's a place for that in our
democracy. But if you get too much on an advocacy side, one
way or the other, I think that is likely to cause problems in
the community. >> The legislature has signed
off on an audit of the Department of Public Instruction
and how it monitors public school finances, especially in
light of the Milwaukee Public Schools, you know, budget issues
recently. What do you hope to learn from that audit?
>> Well, I hope that we'll be able to learn how we can better
help school boards and school districts that have audits that
that show some red flags. Every school district is required to
have a financial audit report filed with the DPI. It's
understandable when you have 421 districts and 421 audits being
filed. And I think, you know, school finance is very
complicated. You mentioned the influx of the federal dollars.
There were differing standards and uses for those monies,
according to which of the three tranches of money the school was
dealing with. So the accounting for that was complicated. And
it's not surprising that some districts, perhaps struggled
>> All right. We'll leave it >> All right. We'll leave it