A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel highlighted that Wisconsin residents could be facing the largest property tax increase in ten years. It is estimated that school property taxes may rise by more than $220 million this year. This increase is a result of state budget changes and referendums approved by individual districts’ voters to exceed state revenue limits. The Tomah Area School District is benefiting from the four year, non-recurring, $1.5 million operating referendum which passed in April of 2019. The support of our community in ensuring that we continue to provide quality educational opportunities for students is greatly appreciated. However, I believe that support is also based on our Board of Education’s history of fiscal responsibility which places the Tomah Area School District’s mill rate ($7.34 per $1000 of property) as the 27th lowest in the state of Wisconsin. Accountability and transparency exists in funding for public education. An annual meeting is held in August each year where the District budget is reviewed and our community votes on its approval. Monthly Board meetings are posted and held openly for any residents to attend and ask questions about the operations and budget of our school district. However, that same accountability and transparency is greatly lacking in the funding of charter schools. This is evidenced by a recent report entitled, Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter School Program Recklessly Takes Taxpayers and Students for a Ride, published by the Network for Public Education. The report “details a two month examination of the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter School Program (CPS)”… finding, “Numerous examples of federal tax dollars being misspent due to an inattentive process that routinely accepts applicants’ claims without scrutiny.”
Here are a few of the findings:
- Hundreds of millions of federal taxpayer dollars have been awarded to charter schools that never opened or opened and then shut down.
- The CSP grant approval process appears to be based on the application alone, with no attempt to verify the information presented.
- Grants have been awarded to charter schools that establish barriers to enrollment, discouraging or denying access to certain students.
- The CSP’s grants to charter management organizations are beset with problems including conflicts of interest and profiteering.
Tomah’s public charter school- the Tomah Area Montessori School (TAMS)- is an instrumentality of our public school district so it is subject to the same accountability and transparency to which our school district is held. However, that is not the case for other private charter schools in the state of Wisconsin. As stated in the Asleep at the Wheel report, “Two hundred eighty-nine (289) grants were given to open or expand charter schools in Wisconsin from the federal charter schools program between 2006-2014. At this time, at least 132 (46%) of those charter schools are now closed or never opened at all. In total, over $48,621,668.00 was awarded to Wisconsin charter schools during those years that either never opened or shut down.”
I agree with the report’s conclusion that “American taxpayers have a right to demand that their tax dollars not be wasted. Tax dollars that flow to charter schools that never opened or quickly closed should not be considered the cost of doing business. The Charter School Program which has a stated commitment to spread “high quality” schools should not be a major funding source for schools that leave families in the lurch and promote discriminatory enrollment practices that increase segregation and unequal opportunity for students with disabilities, behavioral challenges or English language learner status. We cannot afford to continue to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into a program whose stewards are clearly asleep at the wheel.” It is time for taxpayers to wake up and acknowledge that the best investment in education is in our local public schools!
You can access the full report at https://networkforpubliceducation.org/asleepatthewheel/
If you have any questions or comments about the information and opinions expressed in this edition of The School Bell, please contact Cindy Zahrte, District Administrator, at cindyzahrte@tomah.education or 374-7002.