The ugly outlook

The ugly fiscal outlook for MPS was made quite clear in a report the School Board's Strategic Planning and Budget Committee got last night.

Here it is in a nutshell.

If the School Board, in adopting a final FY09 budget next month, doesn't make any cuts to the budget it gave preliminary approval to in the spring, the required tax levy would be 14.9% higher than the levy for the FY08 budget.

If it adopts the budget total proposed by the administration, before the Board amended it, the levy would increase 11.3%; holding spending at FY08 levels would require a 9.1% levy increase.

It's amazing what an $18 million state aid cut will do, isn't it?

A property tax freeze would force the School Board to cut $37.5 million from the spring-approved budget, while holding the district's levy increase to the southeastern Wisconsin average of 6.9% would require a $20.2 million cut.

You can see the chart the committee received here.

What's a district to do? Any suggestions?