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.