The WW-P School District recently released the preliminary financial results for the 2011-’12 fiscal year. The actual classroom teacher spending indicates a disparity across the different grade levels. In the elementary schools the district spent $15,338,904, ($3,067,781 per grade) or $4,200 per pupil in grades one through five. At the middle schools the spending was $12,977,682, ($4,325,894 per grade) and $5,700 per pupil. In the high schools the spending was $14,618,458, ($3,654,615 per grade) and $4,500 per pupil. The district has chosen to spend 20 to 30 percent more in the middle schools than anywhere else. Why?
About two years ago, I attended the “Engaging the Community” meeting held by the district. One of the topics discussed was the possibility of changing the middle school schedule. One of the district administrators explained the situation to our table. He indicated that the three middle school grades all have their own bell schedule. So while the day begins and ends at the same time for all of the students in the building, each grade level changes classes differently. This should not affect the grade-specific teams, but it does impact the elective courses. So in addition to the separate grade schedules, there is a fourth schedule for electives. As a result, the elective classes are shortened to fit into the constraints of the other bell schedules.
So what is the impact? Due to the constraints of the teachers’ contact, the elective teachers have fewer contact minutes than the teams. Since we cannot extend the contractual minutes for each teacher, we hire more teachers to cover the class load. The estimate given at the community meeting was that this inefficiency costs the district over $1 million per year.
In addition, the students get short changed with fewer contact minutes in their electives. The recent Special Services review, included recommendation No. 19 to “Examine structure for scheduling at the middle school to avoid on-team/off-team schedules for students with disabilities.” The district administration decided to reject this recommendation due to the constraints of the schedule and the difficulty that they expected from fixing the middle school schedule. So our special needs students also get short changed.
The recent drop in rankings and the high class size in the high school has been blamed on budget constraints. In that the district has built sizable amounts of surplus in the past several years, I don’t feel that budget constraints are a valid answer. Rather it is the priorities set by the district and the decisions that it has made. The taxpayer money has been diverted to middle school rather than to the high schools. Shouldn’t our priority be high school?
Quentin Walsh
Petty Road
Editor’s note: While Walsh, a CPA, is married to Ellen Walsh, a member of the WW-P School Board, the letter above represents only his opinion.
