"Cuts led to negative impact on schools"

In Past cuts led to negative impact on schools, Steve Pike, President of Madison Teachers INC, discusses the impacts on Madison schools of having $60 million and over 700 positions cut in the past 15 years:

What's happening here is happening in schools throughout the state. In 1993, the governor and Legislature imposed revenue controls on Wisconsin's school boards, limiting the amount their budgets can increase to about 2 percent per year. Costs are increasing more rapidly than that: energy costs, health insurance costs (no matter what the health plan), and an increase in educational needs all mean that the district's budget needs more than the 2 percent increase in funds per year.

The cuts already made are having a direct, negative impact on our children. The long-term solution is to change the statewide school finance system. For now, the referendum must pass to avoid deeper cuts.