This Just In ...

Franklin Public School district about to pour its favorite whine

Posted by Kevin Fischer on July 2, 2012

Like pigs at a trough, Franklin Public School officials anxiously awaited the recent announcement from the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) of how much anticipated state general school aid the district would be receiving next school year, 2012-13. It’s an estimate now with the final certified amount to be determined in mid-October.

A few days ago the numbers were released for every school district in the state. Let’s see where the wheel of state money fortune stopped for Franklin:

$13,513,788.

Oooooooohh. That’s a lot of cashola. Good news, right?

Wrong.

Franklin received $14,317,477 for the previous 2011-12 school year.

Let’s do the math for public school grads that always had trouble in this area.

At this point in the process, Franklin will receive $803,689 less this school year than last, a 5.61% decrease.

That’s no good.

But wait! This isn’t all that bad!

We merely go to the same playbook we Franklin Public School district officials have been resorting to year after year after year after year after year. It sounds something like this:

Dear Franklin property taxpayer, you have no idea how this pains us. In our heart of hearts we really would prefer that we didn’t have to take the action we’re forced to. But the big, bad ol' state of Wisconsin leaves us no choice because they’re so greedy and stingy. As much as we hate to, we’re left with no alternative but to suggest a property tax levy increase that goes above and beyond the rate of inflation. We are extremely sorry, but it’s not our fault. And besides. It’s for the children.

BS!

Can we expect the folks who run our under-achieving school district to operate like the rest of us who’ve had to adjust to a recession? The answer is hell yes, we can. But they won’t.

The state of Wisconsin historically has been very generous when it comes to funding public education. However the educrats with outstretched hands will never, ever be satisfied. It will never be enough.

Despite the positive results of the spring Franklin school board elections, I am not optimistic. I see a big school property tax increase coming this fall. This is Franklin after all, i.e., Tax Hell USA.