Superintendent's Presentation Should Be an Eye-Opener

Those planning on attending Superintendent Conrad Farner’s presentation on the state of the state of the Greenfield School District best not go expecting big smiles, rah-rah rhetoric and high-fives.

The district’s immediate and long-term future, proposed cuts in Gov. Scott Walker’s biennial budget proposal and public school funding in general are all grim, sobering topics to Farner.

And should any or all of those topics come up when Farner , as we expect they might, it won’t be pretty.

In a recent interview with Greenfield Patch, Farner shared his thoughts on a gamut of topics, rarely, if ever, providing a glimmer of hope.

The in revenue-generating authority next year. Perhaps more accurately, the change is closer to $2.5 million, because under the current law, Greenfield would have been in line for nearly $800,000 more in revenue.

When it comes to how much money the district would save using the now infamous “tools” – higher contributions to health care and pension plans – Farner estimated that tally at around $1.3 million.

“To expect a labor-intensive entity like a public school system to have a zero increase in costs, much less a dramatic decrease, ignores reality,” Farner said.

The superintendent said though too early to tell for certain, there would likely be two or three partial teacher layoffs next year due to preliminary changes in elementary programming and that other layoffs are possible. He said the district had $1 million left in the Education Jobs money, keeping the axe that makes personnel cuts in 2011-12 somewhat dull.

After that, it gets much uglier rather quickly. Farner estimated a $2 million shortfall in 2012-13, but said there is little else left to cut. Over the years, the district has whacked about $5 million from its budget, trimming it to $35 million. Cuts have been made in all areas, while the district has acted prudently with salaries, retirement benefits and health care contributions, and used open enrollment to fund other projects, according to Farner.

So, then what?

“The educationally responsible thing to do will be to seek an operational referendum in the near future, as that is how the funding mechanisms work in this state,” he said.

Farner said the state has been reneging on its commitment to two-thirds funding of public education and that further de-funding and de-valuing of public educators is a clear indicator that providing the best possible learning opportunities for our children is not a priority.

Farner is opposed to decreasing teacher salary and benefits, saying doing so will neither attract, nor retain the best and brightest education candidates, and even questioned whether the public school system was simply being phased out, or if it’s just time for a new, cheaper public school model. Either way, it’s time to act.

“The current rules and funding mechanisms that force the annual process of deciding what to cut are utterly ridiculous, inefficient, counter-productive and hurting children,” the district administrator said.

Above all else, he wants to know where do today’s youth fit into the equation? What will be the impact on their futures? Why do we want the best of everything else – from cars, to televisions, to smart phones – but will settle for mediocre education? Farner continues to wait for those answers.

“Throughout the entire process, I have heard little, if any, discussion about what is best for our students,” he said. “It is mind-boggling that in an era of unprecedented advances in technology, increasingly high expectations and international competitiveness, the state of Wisconsin is not investing in public education.

“The conversation needs to change from what more can we cut to what are we willing to pay for, and what are we willing to accept for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens? Remarkably, we are not even having the conversation. We just keep cutting with no discussion about the short- or long-term impact. We cannot cut our way to excellence, but we are well on the way to cutting to oblivion. Is this really the best we can do for our children?"