I fail to see where any significant changes have yet been made to justify a tax increase. I am really baffled by the smoke screens and blindness of some folks still. If someone asked you to give them more money to MAINTAIIN an uncontrollable expense account, would you just hand it over?
The kids and their classes and all the sports:
no need to touch them (infact the board president said outloud at last weeks board meeting, 'no plans for the cuts even if referendum is voted down'.
THERE IS STILL ALOT OF FAT TO TRIM without it affecting the kids, and that needs to be done.
Then guess what, probably no more money needed. Wow, how simple. Then business will stop losing more money because of higher taxes.

The school boards pride group is a slick way to try and sneak the referendum by; again people are tired of slick.

lovemycountry:
Apparently bankrupt, foreclosed, unemployed, working poor citizens CAN afford additional taxes IN COMMUNITIES THAT VALUE EDUCATION.
Your numbers are wrong.
Eight (8) school districts requested ten (10) referendum questions on Tuesday, February 17th, totaling over $31.9 million in funding.
Four (4) districts requested their communities vote on debt questions for facilities totaling over $26.6 million.
Five (5) school districts asked questions to increase their revenue limit authority for non-recurring purposes by approximately $4.5 million.
Overall, 80% of the referendum questions WERE APPROVED.
ALL of the debt referendum questions RECEIVED APPROVAL.
Four of five (80%) non-recurring revenue limit referendum questions RECEIVED APPROVAL.
Where education is a priority and voters understand the issues caused by the way Wisconsin funds its schools REFERENDA PASS.

I know we need to cut costs everywhere, but I don't think we can afford to cut anymore out of our kids' education budgets than we already have. I would gladly pay another percent or five in taxes to give the schools MORE money. And we need to pay our teachers well to attract good educators to our schools. We need to make sure our kids get a solid education with the necessary resources in place - our kids are the leaders of tomorrow and maybe they can make better decisions than we did!

Isn't there a consultant firm that could go thru the budget and school to recommend cuts ?

get used to it, more to come. I bet a few teachers try to leave because of the pay freeze, but times are tough and a job is better than no job I guess. I had a 3 year pay freeze no increase across the board back in the early 90's for all employees of one of the biggest employers nationwide, GM (no, not the plant, but GMAC financing), and let me tell you, 1/4 of the staff found jobs elsewhere and they were smart since about 3 years later, the branch closed it's doors and we were all left without jobs, just a small severance package. Most, including myself, would have been better off finding a different job like the 1/4 of the staff did back then since the people who left had to have their jobs included in the people who stayed. So, basically, I was doing 2 1/2 jobs and tons of overtime for a few years with no pay increase for 3 years, miserable and stressed out, and for what? 5 months severance package and get the boot out the door a few years later. Thanks GMAC - NOT!!!

Part of the problem is NO ONE wants to give up anything. One person says no field trips, one person says cut sports, one person says freeze wages, or get rid of extra administrators. The person that knows isn't going to say "cut my job or freeze my wages or "cut" my wages by 10%. The thing that gets cut won't be what really needs to be gotten rid of, because no one wants to be "gotten rid of". It is a hard job for the school board to be put in but I guess thats what they signed up for. We need the school and we need the school to give our children a good education. The student should be allowed to prepare for graduation and what they want to be when they grow up. They think sports will get them there, they think extra classes will get them there. But I think if they are good at whatever they do, whether its being just a good involved person they can acheive their goals. Brodhead isn't the only school making this difficult decision, but I still think there are things to be cut that the administration isn't willing to let go of. Whether its their wages, the fancy football field, or field trips. The people are asking them to figure out what is really necessary and what isn't.

The field trips are not paid for by the district but by the P.T.A. There is a lot to be learned from field trips. My son has been on two this year and the cost was 20.00 for one, and 25.00 for the other.
Which is more than I have ever paid for any of my kids to go on a field trip. But I don't mind because I think its important. There was also arrangements made for those students whose families could not afford it, the money was covered solely by the P.T.A.

I feel your pain! Every employee in the company I work for received at least a 10% pay cut in April 2009 and any kind of cost of living increase for this year was nixxed as well. We also had about a 30% lay off and a few were coerced into retiring early. A few of those laid off returned but only to cover attrition. No unions or contracts to protect us either. Our maintenance department can't get repair parts; even office supplies are hard to come by. Yet we just keep going and do the best we can to serve our customers. Good luck teachers!

Sure, there is never one big expense that can be cut. Lots of little things will have to be sacrificed.

Across the state, in February, 7 out of 10 local school referendums to increase spending were defeated. Local referendums are incremental tax increases. Bankrupt, foreclosed, unemployed, working poor citizens cannot afford ANY additional taxes.