State Budget Means Fewer Teachers, Larger Class Sizes for Elmbrook

The state budget will result in fewer teachers and for the Elmbrook School District, even after teachers pay the governor's proposed increased health and pension contributions.

Class sizes and student fees will rise, but school property taxes for Elmbrook residents will decrease, under a 2011-12 school district budget approved unanimously Tuesday by the School Board.

Elmbrook will collect about $6 million less in total property taxes, a cut of 7.8 percent from last year. The final budget and tax levy will be adopted next fall, after Elmbrook finalizes its enrollment, state aid and tax base figures.

Elmbrook administrators say the $6 million tax cut — required by Gov. Scott Walker's 5.5 percent reduction in school revenue caps — is too deep and not in keeping with the Legislature's intent to hold the line on taxes. The lowered revenue caps mean Elmbrook can collect $647 less per pupil after years of having state permission to collect about $200 more per pupil annually.

Coupled with Elmbrook's declining enrollment, the state budget means less revenue for Elmbrook to pay for teachers or other materials. 

School Board President Tom Gehl said the decrease in Elmbrook's property tax levy was the first in his seven years on the board.

"We never cut the budget prior to this year," Gehl said.

The board has cut programs and line items within the budget, but the total budget has risen every year, Gehl said. That rise is driven largely by increases in staff salary and benefits, which comprise more than 80 percent of the budget.

Unlike many school districts around the state, Elmbrook officials chose not to approve any new or extended teacher contract to succeed the existing contract that expires June 30. 

Elmbrook instead relied on the governor's budget repair bill, which ended unions' right to bargain on any issue other than inflation-capped wage increases. Implementation of the collective bargaining restrictions was blocked by a Dane County judge, whose by the state Supreme Court.

Elmbrook's 2011-12 budget calls for teachers and all employees to contribute 5.8 percent toward their pensions and 12.6 percent of their health care premiums.

The Elmbrook School Board met again in closed session Tuesday to continue discussion of how to handle all issues previously subject to bargaining, including sick leave, health and retirement plans and teacher pay and evaluations.

Gehl said the district could not have closed an $8 million budget deficit without shifting labor costs to staff and increasing class sizes to reduce staffing.

"The reality is the only way we could get to this day is to increase class sizes," he said.

Only 26 of 52 retiring teachers will be replaced in the budget, said Christine Hedstrom, Elmbrook's assistant superintendent for human resources who is leaving this month to take a job at the Waukesha School District. Another half-dozen support staff and Swanson Principal Anne Kreul also are retiring this month.

Under the 2011-12 school budget approved Tuesday by the School Board:

• The teaching staff will be reduced by 26.75 full-time equivalents districtwide, including 8.62 at the high schools.
• Burleigh Elementary School will move forward with to prevent large class sizes in fourth grade. 
• Fees to participate in most sports and clubs will increase by $20 each, which will generate about $100,000 in additional district revenue.
• National travel for Brookfield East High School's forensics and debate teams will not be funded, and the award-winning teams will have to self-fund trips they take, as other clubs and organizations do.
• Elmbrook will discontinue bus routes for some private and parochial school students, instead offering those families "parent contracts" or vouchers for transportation costs. The move will save Elmbrook about $58,000 but was strongly opposed by Gehl, who was in the minority.