US/ND-1: Revenue Caps
Revenue Caps
Bill Cosh (bcosh@wasb.org)
Thu, 29 Aug 1996 16:34:43 -0700
Several participants have commented how difficult it can be for schools
to plan for the use of technology and for upgrading technology once they
have it due to the costs involved.
I wanted to share with the group an additional barrier faced by schools
in Wisconsin--revenue caps. Wisconsin several years ago passed a law
that provides a cap on school costs. Rather than limit a school
district's spending, the amount of revenue that they can raise is
capped.
The effect that this has had on the ability of Wisconsin schools to
access the "Information Superhighway" has been astronomical. Schools
that did not begin to build into their base the necessary
telecommunications costs have been left with having to go to referendum
to obtain funds. If the allowable growth rate is not available in a
school's budget to repay a loan to purchase computers for $50,000 or
$100,000 the district has to go to referendum for even amounts of this
size. To give you an idea of how far $100,000 in technology funding
goes for a school, I visited a medium sized school district in Wisconsin
(Waukesha). The estimate for category 5 wiring for thier buildings comes
to $8.5 million alone. That doesn't even include connecting it to
anything like a computer in the classroom.
School districts with declining enrollments are especially hit hard. A
lot of these districts are faced with a situation where they need to cut
hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from their existing programs,
let alone try to find money to set aside to purchase technology or
access.
I can't tell you how often I have encountered school districts in
Wisconsin that have planned very well for technology, that have spent
years upgrading their equipment. Now, they have a plan in place to
replace equipment over a 3 year time frame or 5 year time frame so that
they don't fall behind or become outdate. With revenue caps those plans
have become useless as districts facing $500,000 per year budget cuts
can't even make the first year's replacement of equipment.