- The state's two-year spending plan is in the books tonight.
Two months past due but signed into law late this week
and before the end of summer as the governor promised.
Also this week, the governor signed the multibillion dollar
incentive package to bring the Taiwanese technology company to
southeast Wisconsin.
With the stroke of a pen, Governor Scott Walker this week
signed the bill approving up to $3 billion in state subsidies
for the Foxconn plant to locate in Wisconsin.
- And I'm proud to say that not only will these LCD panels be
made for the first time in America,
they'll be made proudly here in the great state of Wisconsin.
[applause]
- More strokes struck items in the bill by way of the
governor's veto pen, including the elimination of legislative
oversight of $250 million in highway borrowing for I-94,
a stretch of road that will serve Foxconn.
The location of the plant is pegged for a 1,
000 acre quadrangle along I-94 in Racine County.
Some land owners with property where the company expects to
build a $10 billion plant have said they've been offered
$50,000 an acre.
The state and Foxconn still have to sign a contract detailing the
incentive package and certain requirements for job creation
and wages.
Governor Walker had a big week.
He also signed in to law the two-year state budget.
A $76 billion spending plan that plumps up education funding,
but fails to find a long-term funding source for roads and
highways.
He made extensive use of his veto pen in the budget.
He appeased some Republican senators by making repeal of the
prevailing wage take effect immediately
rather than in a year.
In all he vetoed nearly 100 items
in the spending plan as passed.
A key one eliminated a funding increase for low spending school
districts saying that would result in a substantial increase
in property tax capacity.
Joint Finance Republican Co-chair John Nygren expressed
his disappointment in that veto saying, quote, as a result,
over 200 school districts across the state will lose over $90
million in funding over the next six years.
One of those districts is also sorely disappointed by the veto
because the item written in the budget by the Legislature's
Joint Finance Committee would have increased the maximum that
low spending districts could spend for each student by $300
over two years, getting those districts up to $9,
400 per student.
The increased funding would have come from a combination of state
aid and property taxes.
The Adams-Friendship district
was looking forward to that bump.
We checked in with its district administrator Jim Boebel.
Thank you very much for being here.
- Thank you for the invitation.
- What is your reaction to the veto that takes away the funding
increase for low spending districts?
- It's a disappointment.
In our district and statewide, that was one of those
opportunities in which we could have helped all the students
in our state.
And it was taken away.
- Was that unexpected, that veto?
- It was.
All of the news reports that our people had been informing us
going into the signing of the budget was that there was a
great chance that that revenue cap would be raised.
And then, boy, it started about a day before
where we started hearing stories about
there's potential that it will be vetoed out.
- Had you kind of factored that in to your accounting mix there
already or how did you handle that?
- Well, we factor everything from worst
case to best case scenario.
And our school budget the last two years
has been a deficit budget.
So we are trying to be responsible stewards with our
taxpayers' money.
Going into next year, this year and next year
we also projected deficit budget.
So having that money, that revenue cap stay where it is,
it makes us become even more-- we have to be more careful with
every dollar that we spend.
That it has to go directly into student learning.
- Let's unpack that deficit situation a little bit.
What is your deficit going into this school year?
And how might that grow going into next?
- Well, currently projected for this school year,
it's about $350,000, and that for me is a sizeable amount when
our total budget is around $18.5 million.
Last year we ended up $650,000 negative.
So those decisions that we have to make are so impactful
and it makes it even more difficult for us,
because we are a rural district.
We're 500 square miles.
It costs a lot to bring our students in.
And we have declining enrollment.
Those factors all point towards
a difficult budget to get through.
- What will that difficult budget mean in the classroom and
in other areas of your schools?
- Well, we're doing everything we can to keep those cuts away
from student learning in the classroom.
What it's going to force us to do is go to our taxpayers and
ask for more funds.
- What's the appetite for those kinds of referendums in your
district?
- An operating referendum we haven't passed before.
So this will be a new venture if that's the decision we make.
The board hasn't decided that yet.
But looking at how the numbers are stacking up,
it certainly looks like a possibility.
One thing I do know is my family moving into the district here
just recently, this place cares about their kids.
And as long as the district can prove we're doing this and this
will help our students learn and we will be able to sustain it,
I'm confident going forward the community will say,
"Yes, we'll support it."
- Are lean budgets and deficit budgets something that students
and parents notice?
- I'm sorry. Could you say that again, please?
- Are these lean budgets and then deficit budgets something
that students and parents notice and talk about?
Or is this mostly just the burden in the front office there
of the district office?
- I don't know if a student would talk about it but
certainly the parents are aware.
They're aware of how we are trying to make the most with
what we have.
And we're trying to do our best as a district to educate our
parents and our taxpayers as far as here's what we can do.
And here's the best option.
And here's how, not only today, because we really have a duty to
serve our students that came to school every day this year.
But we also have to plan ahead, three, five years down the road,
too. - Right.
You are however glad about the overall bump
in per pupil spending in the budget.
How far might that go towards easing your deficit?
- To be clear, we're ecstatic.
The per pupil categorical increase of $200 this year,
$204 next year.
That is the best thing that we could hope for.
The problem is it didn't adjust
or it didn't impact the state funding formula.
And that is where a district like Adams-Friendship in which
we have high property values because of the lakes.
So the formula looks at our district and says high property
values, you have of the money to support,
but what it doesn't factor in is that 68% of our students
are in poverty.
I wish it would calculate that into the factor.
- You are in a difficult circumstance.
We appreciate you talking with us about it.
Jim Boebel, district administrator, Adams-Friendship,
thanks a lot.
Good luck. - Thank you so much.