Neillsville School Board's Annual Meeting, Part 3
Thursday, September 1st, 2016 -- 9:20 AM
-The Neillsville School Board held their Annual Meeting on Monday.After hearing about the levy, District Administrator John Gaier talked about some challenges small, rural districts are facing and will face in the future including funding, teacher shortages, referendums and the futures of their kids. Funding is getting less and less for districts every year and most rural districts, and bigger districts are already facing teacher shortages. Neillsville alone has 24 new staff members. More and more districts are going to referendums to make up the difference the lack of state aid is causing and as more debt is being accumulated by the state, it will leave today’s students to pick up that burden.
Even at times when new funding is suggested, it doesn’t all go to public schools. An example given at the meeting included $208 million the legislator is suggesting be spent on education over two years compared to the previous budget. However, of that $208 million, $108 million will go to property tax cuts and $50 million will go to the private voucher and charter schools, leaving only $50 million for public schools. In regards to Neillsville, it was stated that Neillsville is one of three districts in the state that has no debt and they haven’t been using any money from a referendum since 2012.
In Case You Missed It:
Part 1: http://cwbradio.com/news/index.php?p=news&fn_incl=1&fn_mode=fullnews&fn_id=17321
Part 2: http://cwbradio.com/news/?fn_mode=fullnews&fn_id=17333
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