School District Prepared to Deal with Uncertainty from the State

The reverberations from the passage of Gov. Scott Walker’s collective bargaining legislation are starting to make their way through school districts across Wisconsin, including the Hamilton School District.

But for the next two years, the district should be in a better position than most when it comes to dealing with the impact of that bill and Walker's proposed state budget, said district spokeswoman Denise Dorn Lindberg.

Lindberg said the district started planning a few years ago for a storm that’s now hitting the state. 

“Our district recognized there was a structural deficit in the state budget,” she said.

Walker’s budget proposal calls for reducing the revenue limits for schools by 5.5 percent. It would be the first time that revenue limits would decrease since they were imposed nearly 20 years ago.

Many districts, including Hamilton, have relied on the increases in the revenue limit to account for the inflationary cost of doing business. 

“We’ll be losing about $590 per pupil,” Lindberg said.

Lindberg said the district will absorb $1.1 million dollars of the projected $2.6 millon dollars it would lose. 

Lindberg said the remaining $1.5 million will come from a variety of sources.

“We probably won’t replace a number of resignations and retirements,” she said.

She added that duties of some eliminated positions will be spread among several employees. “We’re going to formally restructure some positions like our former curriculum and instruction position," she said.

Lindberg said after two years, the story will be different and Hamilton will start to feel the impact of the budget changes and will have to make some drastic changes.

“Our staff will certainly feel it,” Lindberg said. “Some of the reductions will include not purchasing some textbooks, and the high school and middle school will have to do without some building supplies.”

While Wednesday’s move by Senate Republicans to quickly approve a bill will take away most collective bargaining rights stunned many Hamilton teachers, Lindberg said  they are dealing with it in a professional manner.

“The teachers are really focused on the students right now,” she said, adding that students are learning and teachers aren’t protesting. 

“My office is at the high school, so I interact with teachers all day long,” Lindberg said. “People are aware of what’s in the news but they’re focused on their students. They’re keeping their personal opinions to themselves.”