Sample Letters Letter 1: Letter from the Council of School Governance Milwaukee, February 26, 2008
To the Milwaukee Board of School Directors and the MPS Superintendent: We, the undersigned members of the School Governance Council of Milwaukee German Immersion School (MGIS) hereby notify you that we have not signed the budget for the fiscal year 2008/09. We are refusing to sign the budget document because we are very upset with the negative impact on our children’s education that all choices to balance the budget imply. We write this letter to voice our concern and dismay about the lack of funds for one of the district’s most successful programs. As you know, MGIS receives only the Board allocation of $ 4,634 per student and a transitional grant of $45,000. We are one of only two K-5 schools in the system which do not get any Title I funds because the percentage of our students who receive free/reduced lunch is 33%. We are also one of only six MPS elementary schools which do not receive SAGE funds. While we realize that many elementary schools in MPS have faced difficult budget decisions in an era of flat revenues with increasing expenditures, we believe that describing the budget-related decisions that our schools has made in the past few years provides a meaningful backdrop for the Board to better understand the difficult decisions we currently face to balance our school’s budget. Specifically, budget constraints in recent prior years have required us to make the following difficult decisions: 1. FY 05: Assistant Principal position eliminated (although with 593 students, MGIS is considered a large elementary school). This results in increased time spent by classroom teachers, as well as the principal, in resolving disciplinary issues, taking away from critical teaching time. 2. FY 03: Art teacher reduced from 1.0 FTE to 0.1 FTE 3. FY 06: Art teacher position eliminated completely. Classroom teachers must now incorporate art education within the classroom curriculum with little or no training in art instruction. 4. FY 02: Technology teacher eliminated, though technology aptitude in the digital age should be fundamental for our students. To fund every position and every line item at the current FY 08 level, we would need $ 3,842,208 for FY 09. Even after adjusting the projected number of enrolled students to 594 (the same number we had in FY 08) we were short by over $ 270,000. By using PLAN money, we were able to reduce the anticipated deficit to about $180,000. These budget constraints were forcing us to make decisions that will severely limit the educational opportunities of our students. More specifically, we were required to
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eliminate two teacher positions. The School Governance Council considered two equally distressing alternatives: 1. Eliminating two classroom teachers at K5 and first grade -- increasing class sizes to between 32 to 35 students per teacher in each of our three K5 and three first grades, or 2. Eliminating our two remaining specialist positions (music and physical education). The music and physical education program that MGIS offers has figured prominently in many parents’ decision to enroll their children at MGIS, since the teachers provide many enhancement activities extending beyond classroom instruction. The Council reluctantly recommended to our principal to eliminate music and physical education completely. MGIS has been one of the highest performing elementary schools in MPS for many years. We find it ironic that one of the Administration’s proclaimed core beliefs is that “the classroom is the most important place in the district,” while at the same time providing insufficient funds to maintain the classroom quality education which MGIS is known for. We also have to question the Administration’s and School Board’s credibility with respect to its recently publicized Action Plan to Improve Milwaukee Public Schools 2007-2012. For example, under Strategies for Goal 1 (5), it is stated that “additional resources are allocated to schools as funding becomes available to create classroom conditions that enable students and teachers to consistently perform at high levels.” It is further stated that the district intends to provide equitable learning opportunities in areas which include the fine arts and physical education instruction. In our 30 year history of success as an outstanding MPS elementary school, the faculty, staff, and parents of the Milwaukee German Immersion School have created conditions that enable our students and teachers to consistently perform at high levels. Why is the Board and the Administration forcing us to make budget decisions which imperil our ability to continue to perform at these high levels? We ask the Board members and the Administration to revisit the allocation of funds provided to MGIS, and provide us with the means to continue our proud tradition of providing a quality, well-rounded education to Milwaukee’s children. Thank you for your consideration. We appreciate the courtesy of a response.
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