I'm still looking for major cuts in Special Ed staffing and programs? Hmmm..oh, that's right,there are State and Federal mandates. Let's see them. John Q Public is not so ignorant as to believe everything done for Special Ed. is ordered by the government.

Flash Back to February 2003. These students were referred to as Low Incidence/High Cost Students. 3 student's range was $50,838-$65,363, 8 student's range was $40,661-$43,833, 27 student's cost ranged from $27,770-$39,725, and 36 student's cost the district $6,159-$24,915. Grand total: 74 students cost the district $2,074,560 to educate. Now these costs included teacher, transportation, special education aide, technology, occupational and physical therapy, specially designed physical education, music therapy, nursing, speech and language, vision and/or hearing impaired services. This doesn't take into account the thousands of dollars spent to renovate buildings to accomadate these children.

This was in 2003. Can you imagine what the costs are now? Our Special Ed. continues to grow. People move here, and remain because of the pristine education their Special Needs child(ren) receive.

How sad that all our regular ed children(which are thousands) are asking for are decent size classrooms, with a librarian and counselor in each building and courses that allow them the ability to compete in today's world.

Oh, and in 2006-2007 the cost to educate a Special Education Student started at $35,000. Started there, and the only way is up.

Come on folks. There is "fat" to be cut everywhere. Those State and Federal mandates need to take "time-off" too. Funny that no one of authority steps up to the plate, and says enough is enough. Regular Ed. parents no one is going to fight for your child(ren) except you. You are not a horrible person if you question the cost of Special Ed. You love your child as much as anyone else, and your child deserves the best,too!

sluggo - the community is already paying the teachers' salaries through their property taxes.

Local businesses are already helping school budgets through their property taxes.

I would like to see the local businesses step up and help the schools. Is every business in town a member of Forward Janesville and a disciple of Walker?

thank you, sluggo. i'm not a teacher any longer, but i was, and i'm feeling quite defensive for them.

goodone - seriously? Beggars? Why should the teachers be the only ones to ante up here? It's a community problem, before Walker even came into the picture there was a problem. The board can blame the contract all it wants but in all reality the contract didn't cost this 10 million - and the other 3 is coming from the Walker cuts, not the "bill". Let's start figuring out what went wrong and fix it. Pointing fingers isn't going to help. Voluntary donations is a feasible start. I'll throw in my 300 bucks no problem as soon as the board owns up to its mistakes and apologizes for placing blame solely on the union.

goodone - did your school bus happen to be a little shorter than the rest?
of course the state and national unions have more money. that's no revelation.
we were talking about the JEA. i'm not sure why, exactly, since this is not the teacher's union's fault.
i guess if it makes the simple-minded feel better, so be it.

Also the national group has tons of money, with much much funds available from national unions all over. All taken via blackmnail tactic, from workers. How insane.

The Wisconsin teachers union has tons of money.Who do you think pays for all the signe and t-shirts and lawyers? The state union leaders all have six figuire salaries and plenty of perks paid by the sheep following them.

I have attempted to explain to Jody over and over in another blog the many facets of delusion to this post, from her miscalculations of how much is collected in dues, to the fact that dues are determined by expenditures, leaving no sitting pot of money left over, but she refuses to listen. The best thing is to just ignore her.

Sodemann=Walker. Sodemann has imposed his will on the school district and I am voting him out. As a board commissioner he and his crony D. Severson have set our district back a long way. Our children have suffered and will lose in the future because of these 2. Please remember that these fellows along with Stottler provided the leadership on our board that CAUSED our current crisis. Walker and his cronies, the Koch brothers are imposing the Koch brother’s will on Wisconsin. Walker and the Koch cronies BAD for Wisconsin, Sodemann and his cronies including D. Severson and Stottler BAD for Janesville, all BAD for students! The BOE's "leadership" caused our Janesville crisis, now the voters can start to fix it by voting Sodemann out! Sorry for poor use of the word LEADERSHIP. :-(

Jodymac/cass; Wrong again, Our concern (and goal of the buisness plan) is the kids and their education not the teachers. And for my kids I'm glad there is a wide range of programs available not just the three r's (that includes a clean environment and good food and an available nurse and a librarian). Yours is 18th century thinking. As for the fees sure increase the parking fees and athletic fees (although I think the athletic fees should go twords athletics [they aren't]). And again how many people are joining your one man band...... none.... zero. Don't you get it? it is a dumb idea!!!

goodone:
"They want me to give them more money on top of ripping me off?" This is what the teachers should be saying, not you!

goodone: Go to school and become a teacher. It's not a bad gig. 4 years of undergraduate, 2-3 years for your master's degree. And then you can become "ignorant" just like them. I think your post shows who is actually ignorant!

The teachers I know make $60,000 a year for 9 months time. Two teachers in mmany families. They are wealty. Not a bad gig.Now they are beggers, like they showed on TV tonight. They want me to give them more money on top of ripping me off with their high cost demands. How greedy can they get.They are so ignorant, how can they teach anybody, when they can't even teach themselves with any common sense or reasoning. I'll give to the Salvation Army, where people in need can use it.

"and now we are on the way to smaller government" - WHAT?!? I'd be behind Walker if he was a libertarian. The authoritarian conservatism that he and Fitz are pushing looks a lot like the peoples' republic of china. If that is their interest... I have to say, "Good riddence". There are plenty of plutocracies in the world. Wisconsin won't be one of them.

djs - name one that does.

"Furthermore, with all the school supplies parents buy now you want to charge a $2 paper fee? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING! With technology available today such as smartboards the use of paper should be minimal at best. I see the amount of paper my kid brings home and its wasteful use of paper. Use email to send "notes" to parents; email notices of tardiness, excessive absence, behavioral issues, etc. Don't SNAIL MAIL it. Besides half the notes are never seen by parents. There is a lot of waste when it comes to paper. Its time the Janesville School District went GREEN."

One thing that you are forgetting (or not realizing) is that not everyone has email or can afford a computer especially those below the poverty line. Email won't work for them. Even with an opt-in option for email notices, that may not be feasible for notices given out by an individual teacher since that teacher would have to figure out who to give the paper handout to and who not to. Also, by individualizing who gets paper notices and who doesn't, it highlights the kids who are from the poorest families and subject them to ridicule. It is better to give paper handouts to everyone than highlight whose family can't afford computers. I don't think anyone cannot afford a $2 fee for paper. People spend $2 on a lot more frivolous things than that. That is the approximate cost of a large soda from a fast food joint or bottle of soda from the convenience store.

Agree with you shortcircuit. I wonder what the cost of insurance is for the school system (taxpayers)is for the parking lot. They should take that cost, divide it by the number of parking spaces/parking permits and charge that to the students. A car for a high school student is a luxury and should be treated as such.

"Or the schoool board(sodemann and severson) voting in favor of a COMPLETELY unnecessary 127,000 dollar WALL by Craig because some residentsdont like the noise! If they dont like it then THEY should pay for it! 127,000 is at least 3 teachers!"

I guess I missed the thing about them building a soundproofing wall. I agree the homeowners that want it should pay for it! Craig has been there for over 55 years. Those homeowners didn't get surprised that all of a sudden a school was built close to them. They knew it when they bought the home or have lived with the noise for years. I'm sure the noise isn't any louder than it has been before. In fact, in the mid-60's right before Parker was built, there were 2 shifts at the school (days and nights) because it wasn't large enough for the quantity of students. If at anytime a soundproofing wall would have been needed, it would have been them. The noise during the school year is the price for buying a home near a school.

"And lemme get this straight...... it costs $100 for a student to park at school? I graduated from Craig in the early 80's and there was no such charge. Where does that money go?"

It sounds like the money goes to help pay for part of the budget and keep property taxes down. I don't think it is so wrong to ask for a fee for the students to park at a school. They don't need a car there. I took a bus or walked and so can they if they don't want to pay the fee. In fact, I never even owned a car until I had to drive to college which was an 8 hour drive away. When I was in school, I remember a carload of my classmates that got killed over the lunch hour as they rushed back to school after lunch. $100 is less than $1 per day to park there. I think they should pay more.

I don't know who Wendy Haag is, but she should get the teacher of the year award! Why not consider what she proposed? KUDOS TO WENDY! This is what teaching is supposed to be about. You need ANYTHING for your classroom Wendy, email me. Maybe you should run for school board president, things might get done the right way!

Teacher Wendy Haag proposed voluntary contributions from district staff, community members and businesses to hold off some of the cuts, with a United Way-like fund drive.

Haag suggested some might be able to pledge 1 percent of their incomes to keep the schools thriving, which is not only good for kids, she said, but would stave off a slow economic death for the community by keeping the schools' reputation for quality intact.

"I want to save our schools," Haag said. "I don't want to beg for this program or that program. I want to save the whole package."

Janesville has cheered in the past when the State test scores came out and the results for the city's children were average. I thought that this was rather odd - being thrilled to be average. I see that in the future being average in Janesville will be a monumental achievement, given the proposed cuts and the lack of support for education. Good luck to you all!

jodymac I think people know how you feel.Enough about outsourcing the custodial and food service to Kandu. I challenge you to come to a school and shadow one of the custodians. The first shift starts at 5am! As for food service, come do the same. See how hard they work to get upwards of 430 students through the lunch line in less than 1 1/2 hours, while the custodians set up and clean in between the shifts. See the jobs these people do on a daily basis, and see if you change your tune. There is a great deal more involved than pushing a broom and serving meals!!!

Lets get real, the teachers and staff for the JSD need to have a reality check. Why are we paying for teachers when the classes arent full, paying for the delinquints in town to get an education, paying to bus kids when if their parents want them in that program great drive them there. We as taxpayers have been paying for services that we dont need lets get back to we pay for what we actually need and not want. I am so tired of paying for things that arent needed such as outside companies monitoring this and that, and paying for babysitting the kids that should be in juvenile detention, hey wait that would create jobs. Just teach our kids with the staff needed for the basics and take all the frill out.

Nice scare tactics. First of all, there are already to many suspensions and suspensions are handed out for "crimes" not warranting suspension. Why would a child be suspended for swearing? After being harassed and bullied be suspended for almost getting into a fight with the bully -- initiated by the bully? Furthermore, out of school suspensions and expulsions put students unsupervised into the streets and therefore further exasbertates their deviant behavior (studies have proven this).

Fewer graduates? Really, c'mon I highly doubt the handholding that goes on affects graduation rates; more like the suspensions and expulsions lead to it as children reach the age of which they can drop out.

What bothers me most of all is Schulte stating: "We will cover the tasks we can, and some things will be left undone. That's the best we can tell you. We will learn to manage." The fact there is no plan as to dealing with the fall out of budget cuts concerns me most of all.

Furthermore, with all the school supplies parents buy now you want to charge a $2 paper fee? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING! With technology available today such as smartboards the use of paper should be minimal at best. I see the amount of paper my kid brings home and its wasteful use of paper. Use email to send "notes" to parents; email notices of tardiness, excessive absence, behavioral issues, etc. Don't SNAIL MAIL it. Besides half the notes are never seen by parents. There is a lot of waste when it comes to paper. Its time the Janesville School District went GREEN.

Apparently there are no critical thinkers or people who can look outside the box to make significant cost cutting changes either on the school board or within the district office.

fear, name one local private school that does not have better test scores than any of our public schools.

Private schools test numbers are LOW! send your kids to them if you want to waste your money and want them brainwashed, that sshould be the correct comment!

cASS- contracting them out COSTS money! You act as if we will somehow recant all that money by outsourcing. Not only will we have lower quality maintenance/custodial/foodservice workers that will make less money. Some local head hunter will also clear a profit from their workers. Its NOT a good idea CASS give it up!

Goodone- do you even konwo what youre whining about? The JEA is asking forward janesville to contribute to a fund that they are starting by giving back the raises negotiated into their contract! they just want everyone to share in the pain, as they should! Yuri is now a "union boogeyman"? Your posts are laughable at best, as well as your knowledge of the issue at hand! Stop making false claims based on ZERO knowledge, it does no one any good. If Forward Janesville and other local businesses want the teachers to take a large cut to pay for the schools then they should too. Like it or not we have a public school system that we are all vested in. When the economy was good and teachers were under the QEO while corporations and businesses were getting HUGE raises and record profits I heard NOTHING from any of you how the teachers should get increases, now after having teir wages capped for years they should have to take huge cuts because the party is over in the privte sector?
Goodone you seem to be an angry uninformed Fox news viewer, I wish you would just keep watching TV. You sir/maam are the only "boogerman" here.

Tech- your comments are just plain uneducated and stupid, I am guessing you were one of those drug addicted kids.
I would also like to point out that I live in a very nice part of Janesville. I don't understand all of you that cry so loudly about your taxes being so high. Mine are almost the same as they were 7 years ago when I bought my home. Maybe a couple hundred higher. I think that Rock county/Wisconsin should have a sales tax referendum to pay for our schools and other needs in the communities. Why not a .5% increase?
My least favorite thing on earth is those of you that piss and moan about taxes. Especially when the marginal tax rates per individual are the lowest they have been percentage wise in 40 years!
BTW those of you that are so anti-spending why arent you whining about the 3 million dollar ice rink? Or the schoool board(sodemann and severson) voting in favor of a COMPLETELY unnecessary 127,000 dollar WALL by Craig because some residentsdont like the noise! If they dont like it then THEY should pay for it! 127,000 is at least 3 teachers! Dont cry about teacher salaries and then spen frivoulusly else where. I am getting sick of this garbage, can any of you tax whiners tell me how it was a good idea for governor low-IQ to take 5 million in state funding away?

Another thought. On hearing about the teachers asking for another handout, maybe they should close the schools down completely. This is because kids have more common sense before they even attend school than what I see coming from the teachers. I see plenty of danger that our kids may be brainwashed for sure. SenD your kids to private school if yOu want them truly educated instead of brainwashed, as it appears the teachers have been braINWASHED THEMSELVES.

Do some teachers really think forward janesville would donate to the teachers union after the union boogieman yuri raskin stuck a stick in the eye of forward janesaville and the city of janesville and its 89% non-union workers and the businesses in Janesville who are trying to create jobs here, which maybe could then support our schools???

This is unbelieveable that theachers now want to pick more money from our pockets so they can enjoy the high life, like nothing is wrong, and these are the type of people that are supposed to teach kids to be respecful and learn some knowledge. They are clearly saying its us silly, its not about the kids. How did these people ever become teachers??? This is backdoor theft in disguise.The system needs to change for sure. It would make much more sense to have a public fund drive through the Salvation Army for those who have lost their homes, are unemployed and will lose their home because of the greedy teachers union demands. The teachers asking for another public handout is not only unbeliveable, its its flat dumb. How low can they stoop???

I know enough. Put them in the classes with the mediocre students that will be cops. That way they will get to know each other early in life.

Please do not respond to jodymac/Cass. It's getting old! Ignore,Ignore,Ignore!

For the record neither of my children has been in trouble with the law.
It’s basic common sense pertaining to the statement about the law. When’s the last time you were pulled over for great driving or had an officer come to your house for a social visit? Answer never.
The school dist needs to cut the fat and stick with the basics.
This for the children garbage is simply that Garbage. It’s called pulling at the heart strings of the common tax payers to save your own hide.
I’m tired of paying for waste due to bleeding hearts and union flunkies!

Oops, typo! Throw it on the teachers it was suppose to read.

Maybe Forward Janesville could find a way to match any funds that are donated to the district by the teachers. Make this a community effort and not just through it on the teachers.

jodymac, I hope your last post isn't a reflection of your intelligence! It doesn't take a whole lot of common sense to realize if the teachers donate what they can to go towards the cuts, then those that might be getting laid off, won't. If a teacher makes $45,000 and donates $500 to the district, that might go towards saving a guidance councilor, librarian, or reading specialist.

I doubt any teachers that are getting a pink slip are going to give up some of their last dollars they are receiving from the district, and donate them.

The donations will come from those that will have a job for sure and those in the community that support keeping many of the teachers and things up for cuts.

Why does everyone take this so personal? The major fact is the overall cost of education is going up much faster than the wages of the majority of taxpayers. This has happened for years. The increases used to be, in large part, paid for by taxes on new home building in the district. That is how the tax rate was kept down. This could not happen forever. When the new housing builds were greatly reduced, the increase in property taxes they provided was gone. Taxes then needed to be raised even higher than they had been in the past. This could only go on so long, before the taxpayers ability to pay was gone. Over 50% of the students in the district live at poverty level or below and their parents ability to pay more, is simply not there. It is really just economics. Unfortunately for all the employees involved, it means cuts now.

Although I find this quite disturbing, it just goes to show how bad off local and state governments are. Property taxes are already at obscenely high rates and there isn't money to run the schools? It makes me wonder just exactly where that money goes. And lemme get this straight...... it costs $100 for a student to park at school? I graduated from Craig in the early 80's and there was no such charge. Where does that money go? Cutting field trips to the JSOL? All of these cut will only hurt the students. There were no on site police officers when I went to school. Why are they there? Is it really that bad at Janesville schools? And if it is, it is just a reflection of the parents who want to sit around and complain and never volunteer to help out on class activities or show any type of support for the schools.

I can see cutting the funding for the drug addict kids, but not the gifted kids. Let's support the ones that will do something with their life's.

Bakerboy...Your post claims it is the school's fault for any child you see at the court house??? Where do these children spend most of their time? AT HOME! The saying "It takes a village to raise a child" goes on the assumption their parents are active and involved in their lives FIRST. Without a caring parent/guardian it's is uphill all the way.

Sodemann=Walker. Sodemann has imposed his will on the school district and I am voting him out. As a board commissioner he and his crony D. Severson have set our district back a long way. Our children have suffered and will lose in the future because of these 2. Please remember that these fellows along with Stottler provided the leadership on our board that CAUSED our current crisis. Walker and his cronies, the Koch brothers are imposing the Koch brother’s will on Wisconsin. Walker and the Koch cronies BAD for Wisconsin, Sodemann and his cronies including D. Severson and Stottler BAD for Janesville, all BAD for students!

Teachers could give up half their salary and benefits and this community would still find something to complain about and bash them. Trash will be trash no matter how you put it out to the curb.

Little tougher for the big bad board , when they start understanding what we are looking at huh? Stop farting around, use fund 10. Dont stretch the truth either.

Hmm I thought enrollment was so far down? A 20,000 dollar revenue from a 2 dollar per student paper charge.(Id pay 10!) That would be 10000 students! Seems right around what its been for years, interesting to me.

IMO - How about we ALL join together to take care of this problem? I feel bad for today's teachers, especially here in Janesville. It's not bad enough that the Governor is attacking them, now you want our local problem to come off their backs too? This is a community issue that should be dealt with equally by all members.

Sonny1 said it best!

jodymac... I finally agree with you. "Why do we have two High Schools that Teach 1/3 class size courses of French level 4?"
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French serves no purpose. My girls take mandatory Chinese in the 4th grade and beyond. Much more advantageous IMO since they will be working for Chinese employers who export manufacturing operations to the U.S. in 15 years because U.S. labor is cheaper than Chinese labor. Go, tea party. Gimme 10 bucks a month for 60 hours a week... so long as it promotes 'job creation' and helps 'balance the budget'.

bakerboy if you are so unhappy with the JSD then feel free to pull your children out at any time and send them to private school. Based on the content of your post, I would guess they wouldn't want them though.

"Fewer graduates" = more minimum wage candidates = good for business... yay?
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"Cut busing for Challenge Program students" Granted... I'll do my part to help the district save $48k.
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"Cut $30,000 of support items from the talented-and-gifted program" I thought the additional support items formed the foundation for the talented-and-gifted program... whatever... I guess. We don't really want to support gifted and talented students anyways... they grow up to be critical thinking liberals... LOL.
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"Ended a contract with NAMI, shifting monitoring of high school heating and cooling to district staff, saving $103,000" - What?
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"varsity basketball games use only two referees instead of three. That would save about $2,700" - How about no referees and save 8100?

Get over the Kandu idea, it would never work!!!!!! Broken Record!!!!!! The District is not chosing Support Staff over teachers support staff is cut every year whether there is a budget shortfall like this or not. Hours are usually cut and what not. A large number of support staff are part time, and don't even have benefits!!

Nice... let's charge the students more. Next we'll roll back child labor laws and minimum wage like Maine and Missouri... The children can close the budget gap. I would LOL, but it's really just sad.
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bi...
http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2011/...
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While we're at it, let's remove that liberal Thomas Jefferson from the history books like Texas did.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/12/texa...

bakerboy, I'm actually on my phone so the answer to your questions is yes.

"School board member DuWayne Severson questioned whether these things would come to pass or whether they simply might happen. He asked if there were any data to back up those assertions."

Why would DuWayne Severson be so stupid as to ask such an idiotic question? He was referring to Schulte's list of consequences should the district enact all of these cuts?

Data???? Does he really think a school system has ever really tried to operate under these awful "suggested" cuts. Why would he ever think that there would even be any data to back up the consequences of laying off all support staff, librarians, etc. etc. The guy is an idiot! Needs to resign immediately and take Sodemann along with him!

Allfor1and1forAll – You haven’t left your house lately have you?

bakerboy, that is a typical southern white trash response I'd get in Mississippi or Alabama. Wouldn't expect it here in Janesville.

As a parent of 2 children in HS I can honestly say this is the funniest garbage I’ve ever read.
The only reason these schools have on site police is to pass off the responsibility. When’s the last time anyone had a good experience with a police officer? Police = tickets & court appointments. Don’t believe me hang out at the court house sometime. I was up there paying my taxes and I must’ve seen 40+ kids up there waiting for their hearings………. Great job school dist of Janesville.
In the private sector when positions are cut others simply pick up the slack – guess not with union jobs.
Here’s an idea. Stop teaching crap and stick with the basic’s…………………………..

Shocky, you can bash the teachers all you want, but you need to think about the students and their future. This district has nearly 50% of its kids in poverty. Don't you think many of these kids need as much support as they can get? Cutting guidance councilors and social workers is not going to help them at all.

Maybe Mr. Severson could see if Mercy could sponsor the JSOL for 4th graders. They must have plenty of money these days since they are looking to expand, expand, expand! Aren't they pushing to build a new hospital in Crystal Lake area?

Where was all the teachers when gm and other companies was thinking about closing> Did they care when all of them lost their jobs. Why should we care about them. My taxes are high enough being on a fixed income. Not income was reduced for 3 years in a row. No one was there to help us. Let them take their cuts like everyone else.

Maybe some of the businesses that are part of Forward Janesville could sponsor the JSOL for 4th graders! Or perhaps Quint Studer could be of assistance.

Anyone heard from Quint during these difficult times?

After watching the school board meeting last night, it truly shows that the board members need to spend some time in the schools to better understand what the guidance councilors, librarians, and learning support teachers do on a daily basis. How can you think of cutting these positions when you clearly don't have an understanding of what they do or how important they are to the overall success of students.

jodymac-
I have a question for you. I was just wondering what you have against food service/custodial/maintenance? Every chance you get you are slamming us and telling the board to outsource our jobs.

So we are keeping sports and clubs-that only a FEW students take part in-but cutting guidance counselors that ALL students use. Guidance counselors help kids schedule classes, advise them on post-high school endevors, get colleges or military to come into schools, keep up to date on college requirements, processes, counsel students that are suicidal, homeless, beaten, etc when teachers cant due to class instruction or because teachers are not qualified to handle those situations. The list goes on and on. WE NEED THE COUNSELORS! Please do not cut them!

They won't because they were told that there were no guarantees the money used from insurance/retirement savings would be used to save jobs.

I know. How about employees pay for pension and insurance and take a small paycut ensuring everyone gets to stay employed. Oh that's right..........they won't.

JodyMac/Cass-They will be touched, it just hasn't happened yet. Secretaries, food service, custodians, teachers every group of workers will be effected by cuts somehow. Plus you sound like a broken record on here. We all have heard your view on outsourcing. How many times do you have to repeat yourself? Plus I called Kandu today, and you answered the phone. Everyone on here knows you work there!

Scrapping the JSOL trip for 4th graders is a shame. It gives the younger kids an appreciation for nature, and gives the high school guides a great opportunity for leadership. Hopefully a local group will step up and take this over. "Friends of JSOL" ??