While I was in Madison watching the Badgers roll past Iowa at the Kohl Center, I apparently missed quite a meeting of the South Milwaukee School Board on Wednesday night.
Hundreds packed the Performing Arts Center for several hours to protest proposed cuts to South Milwaukee school music and other programs as part of what could be a $1 million to $3 million budget shortfall.
The video from this Today’s TMJ4 story says it all.
Now if only City Council meetings had live music …
Seriously, I’ll do my best to keep you posted on this as the budget process continues. This is an important community issue.
And something tells me this won’t be the last we hear from concerned parents and students. There is a lot of passion around this issue, and rightfully so. Our school music program is a strong source of pride for the entire community.
But my challenge is always the same when it comes to budget debates — school, city, state, federal and otherwise: If your feel your program should be spared, then what should be cut? The shortfall is real, and cuts have to be made … somewhere.
Your next chance to weigh in on the proposed cuts appears to be the March 10 School Board meeting, with approval of the preliminary budget and staffing plan expected at the March 24 meeting. Here is the full school budget calendar.
Also check out the South Milwaukee Music Portal for more.
South Milwaukee Blog 
You said it! If we want to save X what is the Y that is going to be cut…and then you’ll end up with the Y supports doing the same thing. As the reporter in that Channel 4 clip said, they weren’t talking numbers, they were talking passion….and that’s the problem…you (the elected official) get stuck having to cut something at the end the day.
Madison School District is having their turn – $30 Million shortfall and the announcement will happen on Monday 3/8/2010.
Why does the school board take a 10% pay cut and pteachers and ay 25% of their health insurance, teachers and school staff could also take a pay freeze and help pay for there insurance, we people who work in the privite sector do, we have hard jobs too, if the school is concerned about cuts in programs join the rest of us and start paying for your benifits.
Come on high paid adminstrators and teachers you need to start taking some cuts. Let’s start by paying more for your benefits like the real world does.
I don’t think a 10% cut on the board would due much good, considering the pittance they get paid for all the time they put in. I don’t believe it would cover one teacher’s post-retirement insurance premium for one year. On the other hand, I do believe the board saved us a significant amount by hiring an internal candidate for superintendent and not having to pay for an external search firm. In addition, the new superintendent is new to the administration role and replacing a senior experienced administrator. While I don’t have access to the confidential salary info, I would guess (hope) that there is a significant savings there as well.
Also, with respect to what ConcernMom said: YES. How big of a raise (if any) did the rest of us get? How much do we pay for insurance? How long does that insurance cover us after retirement? How much extra do we get paid for every additional job that is handed to us after our co-workers are let go?
You want live music at a city council meeting, I can arrange it anytime. I am the Band Booster President.
To solve the problems, there needs to be collaboration and some giving in on all sides. Playing around with benefits is one of the biggest potential cost savings.
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