Health insurance, fund balance remain hot buttons for BASD
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
When the Burlington Area School District School Board votes on Monday to accept the proposed 2012-13 budget, expect some hearty disagreements on principle.
That much at least was evident Monday night as the BASD finance and personnel committees discussed the final numbers Assistant Superintendent Peter Smet had put forth, as well as two much-disputed policies – district employee health insurance and payments in lieu of taking the insurance.
In the end, the Finance Committee chose to vote 3-0 to send the budget to the full board for consideration next week. Both citizen representatives on the committee abstained from the vote.
The discussion, as it has been over the last nine months whenever the district budget or health insurance is discussed, got heated Monday night. At one point, committee chairmen called a question to end the discussion on “cash in lieu of” payment, and at another, two citizen representatives abstained from a vote because, in part, one felt the voice of his counterpart hadn’t been heard.
“I felt they were kind of not noticing Tom’s comment,” said Bill Smitz, one of the two citizen reps, of Tom Preusker. “They just wanted to kind of move on.”
Preusker said Tuesday that he wanted to voice his opinion that the health insurance should have gone with one of the other plans – one that tweaked deductibles upward and then had a 90 percent/10 percent payment split until a certain limit had been reached.
That, Preusker said, would have given the district more bang for its buck – and saved the district about $500,000 more.
He also wanted to add that he didn’t see the need for keeping a large fund balance – another point of contention raised by School Board member Roger Koldeway.
2012-13 budget
With the health insurance numbers in – giving district employees a choice of a high-deductible plan or their current plan while paying the difference between the two premiums (essentially paying 12 percent of the premium) – Smet presented an updated budget.
That budget would require spending about $522,000 of the district’s $3 million-plus fund balance, as well as raising the tax levy 1.28 percent. That would work out to a 13-cent increase per $1,000 of equalized property value.
The compromises on the health insurance weren’t enough to satisfy either Koldeway or Phil Ketterhagen – the two new school board members who were elected in large part on a platform opposing any tax levy increases and benefits that were out of line with what the private sector offers.
Koldeway said Monday that utilizing the fund balance was essentially “kicking the can” down the road to next year – and would equate to an actual 3.8 tax levy increase.
“It’s still not solving the problem,” he said. “We need to solve this year’s problems this year.”
Ketterhagen, meanwhile, wanted to see the district slash payments for cash in lieu of health insurance to a maximum of $3,000 and require some portion of the premium be paid by teachers.
However, when that discussion took off in the Personnel Committee, Committee Chairman and School Board member Bill Campbell cut off the discussion, calling the vote in order to end the meeting.
“We could sit here all night discussing it,” Campbell said.
The health insurance question seemed to fall to the wayside in light of the discussion over the next part of the budget – the tax levy increase.
In the Finance Committee, Campbell added, “We need to take a good hard look at why we’re here. Are we here for lowering taxes, or here to educate children?”
The discussion went back and forth for several more rounds, with Ketterhagen saying teachers needed to take ownership of their work and not get a pay raise when their work may not merit it; Koldeway again commenting on the fund-balance usage; and Smet trying to play peacemaker.
“To make up the $2.4 million (in state aid cut) is extremely difficult,” Smet said. “(The budget is) a combination of compromises.
“No one is going to be happy,” he added. “How do you absorb that kind of hit?”
Smet added Tuesday that whether or not the budget did enough to impact staff depended largely on point of view, saying that a teacher who lost his job would probably say the cut was too severe, while opponents to a tax levy increase probably would want more.
“It’s a budget of compromises,” he added. “It depends on your point of view.”
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Smet added Tuesday that whether or not the budget did enough to impact staff depended largely on point of view, saying that a teacher who lost his job would probably say the cut was too severe, while opponents to a tax levy increase probably would want more.
“It’s a budget of compromises,” he added. “It depends on your point of view.”
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Actually, just the opposite, Smet (and Illinois boy, Moyer). The teacher who lost their job would think the trimming was not enough because the union backed administration threw them under the bus by not cutting back starting last year. The administrators got huge salary increases, they paid back the union by not having them chip in, teachers got laid off and the kids paid the price. Facts are stubborn things. Glad to see WEAC just spent $4 million of the dues they stole from teachers’ on a worthless recall too. A system the MOB would be proud of.
In the Finance Committee, Campbell added, “We need to take a good hard look at why we’re here. Are we here for lowering taxes, or here to educate children?”
– Couldn’t agree more. Sad to see people that care less about our children’s future and more about their taxes.
Ketterhagen and Koldeway, with Walker slashing left and right, local tax levys can do nothing but go up to help. But keep on proposing to cut more – this school district will dry up and die and soon Burlington will be the next Racine. Classy.
Statewide property taxes went down last year for the first time in forever. Smart schools took advantage of benefit savings and added teachers or services. Fiscally sound people like Ketterhagen and Koldeway saved teacher jobs.
Those like Burlington and Milwaukee slow to save and tools of the union cut teacher jobs. These are facts. If you wake up to them along with the reality that Walker won by more than he did 18 months ago because of those facts – maybe you’ll be happy for lower taxes and better schools??? Now THAT would be classy.
‘Fiscally sound’ people like Ketterhagen and Koldeway are asking Burlington teachers with Masters degrees to cut their pay down to enry level positions. What a joke. My issue with those two board members is that they have never claimed to be doing anything for kids. They have claimed from day one that they don’t want their taxes to go up. Politics do not belong in a school board.
I’m 27, considered going into Education. All I have to say is Thank God I didn’t. If my employer pulled this stuff on me, I’d be finding another job ASAP. Unfortunately, unless teachers get licenses in other states and move their families, they can’t.
It’s a shame that the dictator Walker only favors the rich, and schools unfortunately will do the same. Rich kids will go to private schools. And poor kids will get terrible education in public schools. Who in their right mind would choose an Education degree in Wisconsin?
The state portion of my property taxes did NOT go down last year. However, the benefits my community received did. Walker decided that it would be better to pass my tax dollars onto corporations rather than send them back to my local community. You need to think about the value the community lost due to the reduction in state aid. If your state portion of your taxes when down, was that worth all the strife, all the hatred, all the bitterness? Was the few cents you saved worth it when tomorrows students will have fewer opportunities compare to what we had as kids?
It comes down to whether you think about the community as a whole, or sit and count the few pennies that individuals can save at the expense of the greater good.