UW Professor Estimates $1.5 Million Loss for Greendale School District

While Gov. Scott Walker plans to release his 2011-2013 state budget this afternoon, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor calculated estimated financial losses to school districts.

 Andrew Reschovsky’s, a professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison, estimated some numbers saying that school districts' revenue limits could be affected by Walker’s cuts in school aid by more than $900 million and a loss of $500-per-pupil reduction in property tax authority. He also said that the expected proposal from Walker could result in about 7% reduction in allowable revenue for all school districts.

According to Reschovsky's numbers, could lose over $1.5 million in revenue limit authority. Neighboring school district Greenfield will loose about $2 million. Pewaukee School District is said to also experience a cut of $1.5 million.

In the past Greendale Superindent William Hughes has compared Greendale and Pewaukee in school board meetings.

A district's revenue limit is the maximum amount of revenue provided by state general aid and property taxes. 

On Monday State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers released a statement in response to Reschovsky's working paper. In his release Evers compares the cuts to the Great Depression and describes that impact of school cuts and teacher layoffs.

“When you make unprecedented and historic cuts like these to schools, it means teachers are laid off, class sizes are larger, course offerings are reduced, extracurricular activities are cut, and whole parts of what we value in our schools are gone. These cuts to public education will do substantial damage to Wisconsin’s schools and the students and communities they serve."