State Budget Leaves 'Funding Cliff': Greenfield School District

GREENFIELD, WI— The current biennial state budget proposal, slated for a vote this week in the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate, could leave "significant funding cliffs" for the Greenfield School District as it confronts the learning losses it sustained from the pandemic, according to district officials.

The state joint committee on finance proposal would commit at least $408 million from the biennial state budget to public K-12 schools but would rely on federal grant money to subsidize a significant portion of school operating costs, a memo from Greenfield district Superintendent Lisa Elliott said.

Such a use of federal dollars could result in "significant funding cliffs," Elliott said.

The federal grant money would be part of the elementary and secondary school relief fund created by the federal coronavirus relief bill. The money would primarily be earmarked for school costs associated with rebounding from the pandemic.

A revenue increase could let the federal grant money be used with state money to address the many problems that Greenfield schools face as they emerge from the pandemic, according to Greenfield school board clerk Robert Hansen.

But instead of using the money to supplement state funding, the Joint Committee on Finance proposal would have federal money replace parts of state funding, effectively cutting Wisconsin's contribution to public schools, Elliott said.

The cash that Wisconsin could save would add to a current $4.4 billion state budget surplus that multiple outlets have reported.

The federal dollars being used to achieve that, however, are temporary and will lead to budget shortages down the road — especially taking inflation into account, as well as the lingering challenges of the pandemic, Hansen said.

"Without spendable, predictable, sustainable funding that keeps up with inflation, the School District will realize budget deficits," Elliott wrote in her memo to state representatives.

Over three school years, the deficits could add up to more than $5 million, Elliott said. The decision could also lead to tax increases for property owners across Greenfield, she said.

A lack of any increase in revenue limits for school districts would exacerbate the problem, according to Hansen.

"There is no increase in local revenue limits, so schools will not have the ability to spend state dollars beyond what they had last year to continue basic operations and meet student needs," Wisconsin's superintendent of public instruction, Stanford Taylor, said about the proposed budget.

The use of the federal dollars could also restrict how the Greenfield School District addresses the increased academic, social, emotional and physical needs of its students and families, Elliott said.

"The Joint Committee on Finance came in woefully short on our state's investment in education," Taylor said.

Elliott did propose a resolution to the problem. The district asked for a minimum of $200 per student for the first fiscal year of the new budget and a minimum of $204 per student in the second fiscal year.

Elliott asked for 50 percent of the district's special education funding to be reimbursed by the state.

Overall, using the federal and state funds better together and adequately raising revenue limits for state schools could help to address the state budget shortcomings, Hansen said.