2017–18 superintendent’s proposed budgetmps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/mps-english/cfo/budget...the...

Milwaukee Public Schools 2017–18 Superintendent’s Proposed Budget

2017–18 Superintendent’s Proposed Budget

Questions & Answers As of 5.15.2017

Table of Contents Revenue and Expenditures ............................................................................................................. 1

Staffing ............................................................................................................................................ 6

Demographics and Enrollment ....................................................................................................... 8

Central Services ............................................................................................................................. 10

Revenue and Expenditures

Question 1: Does the budget assume there will be a $200 per pupil increase in state categorical

aid as proposed by the governor?

Answer: Yes, this amount is included in district’s revenue assumptions for 2017-18. It is very likely that the $200 per pupil assumption will be included in the state Joint Finance Committee recommendation. The MPS budget proposal is consistent with best information MPS has regarding this aid.

Question 2: What happens if the per student amount from the state is less than $200 per pupil?

Answer: The chart below shows some of the modeling completed to estimate various revenue scenarios, focusing on the state’s categorical aid. Each reduction of $50 from the level in MPS’ revenue assumption would mean a loss of $3.9 million for the district. The district also modeled changes to the per pupil amount in the revenue limit.

A strategic decision was made to use the governor’s proposal based on the fact that further cuts to keep a balanced budget would reduce staff when it may not be needed if the proposal is adopted.

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Question 3: What is the timeline for budget decisions for the state Joint Finance Committee?

Answer: The state budget by statute must be completed by July 1 of each year. It is unlikely the process will extend beyond July 1.

MPS adopts a proposed budget in late May that will be finalized in the fall. The district will adjust the entire budget in the fall after the State has adopted the biennial budget, enrollment is known, the impacts of the early retirement window are clearer, and updated estimates of costs or revenues can be incorporated.

Question 4: What is debt service and how much is MPS paying?

Answer: The Debt Service Fund is used to account for the accumulation of resources for, and the payment of, general long-term debt principal, interest and related costs. This fund is reflected as part of the School Operations Fund.

The 2017–18 proposed budget for debt totals $32.8 million, a $1.7 million increase over 2016–17 due to increased principal and interest payments. New debt was issued in 2016 primarily for energy efficiency projects. The district’s revenue limit is adjusted upward to accommodate the debt payments, starting in 2017–18.

Question 5: What is Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB) and how much borrowing

authority does the district have? Is that available for 2017-18?

Answer: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allows public schools to issue QSCB for the construction, rehabilitation or repair of a public school facility or the acquisition of land on which such a facility is to be constructed at little or no interest cost. ARRA borrowing authority is allocated to MPS by the Department of the Treasury. Interest for QSCB is absorbed by the federal government either through interest expense reimbursement to the school district or a tax credit to the purchaser. The result is favorable interest costs for school districts. All school districts and school buildings were eligible, regardless of size or income level.

The district has $34.9 million remaining in QSCB borrowing authority which may be used for the repair and remodel of school buildings. The administration’s plan is to potentially use that in 2018-19, as shown on the Construction Fund Five-Year Projection (Chart 3.28 on page 3-30 of the

Notes

AID per pupil 450$ 35,236,800 Governor's proposalAID per pupil 400$ 31,321,600 AID per pupil 350$ 27,406,400 AID per pupil 300$ 23,491,200 AID per pupil 250$ 19,576,000 Current level

*Based on an estimated three year average of "membership" (enrollment) of 78,304 pupils.

Per Pupil Categorical State Aid In MPS Budget*

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Superintendent’s Proposed Budget). The district must have the resources available to pay the loan back.

Question 6: What is the Construction Fund and is adequate funding available?

Answer: The Construction Fund is used to fund the repair, remodeling and maintenance of school buildings, recreation sites and buildings, and administrative buildings.

The construction levy would normally exceed $10 million, but is set at $1.1 million in the proposed budget for 2017-18. This is the same level as the current year Construction Fund levy. The Construction Fund is reducing this year due to the Energy Efficiency projects funded in 2016-17 ($27 million). The majority of the $10 million is targeted toward deferred maintenance projects, MPS has been very strategic in choosing the energy efficiency projects to also cover outstanding deferred maintenance projects. In addition to the levy, the construction fund in 2017-18 will have carryover funds, rental revenues and new projects funded by borrowing for energy efficiency improvements.

Question 7: What is the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act and how is funding changing?

Answer: The Elementary and Secondary Education Act includes Title IA, IIA and IIIA. Title IA provides services to help students succeed academically. Title IIA provides professional development for teachers, para professional assistants and principals. Title IIIA provides services to help English learners achieve academically and attain English proficiency.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). For Title IA, IIA and IIIA implementation begins during the 2017–18 school year. Through the reauthorization the amount of funds set aside for services for private school students has increased. In the past the district was allowed to set aside a portion of funding for activities required in public schools but not required of private schools. The remainder of the funding was then distributed equitably between public and private student services.

In 2017–18 under the new ESSA rules funding will be shared with students at private schools from the whole Milwaukee allocation. Due to this change Title IA services for Milwaukee children attending private schools will increase by $6.4 million.

The estimated budgets planned for public and private student services in Title IA for 2017–18 are the following:

2017–18 Title IA Milwaukee Public Schools Estimated Allocations

Title IA Estimated Percent of Students Total Estimated Allocation

Public 72.69% $56,780,477 Private 27.31% $21,334,383

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Question 8: What is the breakdown of IDEA funding (State, Fed, MPS) and total cost?

Answer: The total Special Education costs in 2015-16 was $207,933,988. Of those costs $17,615,134 was covered through IDEA and other grants and $6,205,827 through Medicaid, this would be 11.46 percent of the total costs. State funding which includes State Special Education reimbursement and Equalization Aid totals $113,257,544. The percentage of costs covered by State and Federal funds was 65.92 percent. This leaves $70,855,483 or 34.08 percent of the total costs to be covered with MPS local funds.

Question 9: What is Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) and what is the district’s 2017-18

budget for retiree health care and other post-employment benefits? Can MPS reduce payments

to the OPEB trust in 2017-18?

Answer: Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) are benefits, other than pensions, that state and local government provide to their retired employees. These benefits principally involve health care benefits.

The proposed budget across three statutory funds includes estimated payments of $48,570,580 to the OPEB trust. This is based on actuarial estimates of the annual cost. (reference: line items on pages 3C-188, 3C-210, 3C-243)

Based on current estimates of Retiree OPEB related costs, MPS cannot contribute less than the budgeted amount in the FY17-18 proposed budget or it will forfeit eligibility for state aid on the OPEB contributions to the trust.

Background: Starting in 2010, MPS began to bring its health care costs under control by instituting actions such as redesigning its medical, dental and pharmaceutical plans, hiring a new third-party administrator and differentiating premium costs by creating low and high-cost plans. Subsequent changes followed, such as the district’s decision to raise the employee threshold to receive fringe benefits from 20 to 30 hours a week and the closing of the district’s supplemental teacher retirement plan to new employees. The district’s unfunded “Other post-employment benefits” (OPEB) liability has dropped from $2.8 billion a few years ago to $1.0 billion today. The 2017–18 proposed budget includes $48.6 million for contributions to the OPEB trust. (reference: Key 5 on page 3-9)

The advantage to school districts for establishing a post-employment benefits trust is that the full amount of the contribution to the trust is aidable, even if the contribution exceeds the current year’s retiree healthcare costs. If, annually, an amount equal to at least 105% of the current-year pay-as-you-go cost is contributed to the trust, the district can also receive special education categorical aid on payments to the trust that are made to fund benefits for staff charged to the special education aid programs. This aid is over and above the normal level of special education aid received and will help fund the 5% excess pay-as-you-go cost necessary to fund the trust in the subsequent years.

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MPS was able to reduce contributions to the OPEB trust in FY16-17, using the rolling three year criteria (Criteria iii shown below). However, reductions under this criteria are not met based on current estimated FY17 and FY18 OPEB expenditure levels.

One of three criteria must be met to determine whether the District’s contribution, when less than the required annual contribution (ARC), meets eligibility for state categorical aid (special education, high cost and state tuition) administered by DPI.

Criteria i: contribution equals or exceeds the ARC amount as determined by actuarial valuation (Only the amount up to the ARC is eligible)

Criteria ii: contribution equals or exceeds current year expenditures paid from trust by 5% (expenditures will be determined by the total amount withdrawn from the trust for retirees inclusive of implicit rate subsidy)

Criteria iii: rolling three year contribution exceeds rolling three year expenditures paid from trust by 5% (expenditures will be determined by the total amount withdrawn from the trust for retirees inclusive of implicit rate subsidy)

Question 10: What is shared cost and how is it calculated?

Answer: DPI describes shared cost as follows: … “in general, Shared Cost can generally be defined as the sum of the Net Cost of the General Fund and Net Cost of the Debt Service Fund.” By net cost, DPI is referring to costs which have no other funding source than equalization aid and local tax levy.

Question 11: Why does the district spend down current resources instead of saving for next

year?

Answer: State Statute 121.07 (1) (a) indicates “The membership of the school district in the previous school year and the shared cost for the previous school year shall be used in computing general aid.”

Shared cost in one year has a positive impact on a district’s equalization aid in the following year. If MPS does not spend to its shared cost target, the following year revenues will be more dependent on local tax levy.

Example: In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015-16, the district had unspent budget authority due to vacancy savings and deferred purchases and projects. If the administration took no action to spend to the shared cost target, the 2016-17 aid would have been based on a prior year spending figure of $36 million less, resulting in an aid reduction of $14.9 million for 2016-17.

Source: DPI “Simplified Percentage Method” aid worksheet.

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Staffing

Question 12: Are raises for staff included in the budget?

Answer: No, raises for staff were not included in the budget. $300,000 has been included for potential raises for prevailing wage regulations changes. Raises awarded to staff in the last couple years have been implemented as a priority of the Board and Superintendent.

Question 13: What does Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) mean?

Answer: When used in reference to the number of positions, 1.0 FTE equals 40 hours per week. When used in reference to student enrollment, 1 FTE is the equivalent of full-day enrollment for a full school year for a K5-12 student.

Question 14: Will MPS be laying off 200 school employees?

Answer: Current vacancies in both teacher and paraprofessional FTEs exceed the number of reductions resulting in no anticipated lay-offs at the school level. There has been a total of 187 school level positions eliminated. Of these FTEs 81 were teacher positions and 97 were paraprofessional positions.

Question 15: The budget indicates that there will be a minimal number of Central Services

layoffs. Can you provide more information?

Answer: We are engaging in a service delivery reorganization that ensures district resources are aligned to the mission and the needs of the intended stakeholder - students, parents, and community. Staff reductions were made in various offices to maintain as many resources as possible at the school level and to support the new service delivery model.

Question 16: Can you provide a summary of staffing position changes?

Answer: The summary of staffing position changes can be found on page 4B-23 of the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget for 2017-18 and also on page 1-26 in the 2017-18 Budget-in-Brief.

Question 17: What does the district do to recruit and retain personnel for hard to fill positions?

Answer: The district has several initiatives to provide instruction and services in all areas. This includes “Fill the Gaps” contracting for Art Music and Physical education, MPS University (reading, math, bilingual and special ed. license), a recruitment and retention partnership with Cardinal Stritch University, and efforts with UWM to begin student teaching earlier. Also, MPS has partnerships with historically black colleges to recruit teachers.

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The Office of Human Resources has attended (or will attend) the following events for recruitment purposes in the areas of bilingual, ESL and world languages:

Puerto Rico (recruitment at various universities) - 2/15 - 2/22 AMI Montessori Conference (recruitment for bilingual Montessori) - 2/17 - 2/20 National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) conference - 2/22 - 2/24 AMS Montessori Conference (recruitment for bilingual Montessori) - 3/9 - 3/12 Mexico (recruitment at local university) - 3/27 - 3/30 Illinois Resource Center (IRC) job fair - 4/8 Spain (recruitment effort with Spanish Embassy for bilingual, ESL and world language

teachers) - 4/24 - 4/30 Wisconsin Association for Bilingual Education (WIABE) Conference - 5/19 - 5/21

Question 18: Is there anything that addresses the issue of growing our own bilingual teachers?

Answer: MPS University is a grow-your-own program. The district encourages para professionals to become teachers. MPS has partnerships to develop academies and are focused on MPS’ teacher pipeline for hard-to-fill positions.

In addition to attending recruitment events mentioned in Question 17, the Office of Human Resources has done the following:

Representatives from the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Academics, BME team have gone to Cardinal Stritch University and University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and met with students graduating with a world language certification.

Representatives from the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Academics, BME team are scheduled to go to Mt. Mary and Marian College to meet student graduating with a world language certification.

The Office of Human Resources is currently working to establish a partnership with the Italian consulate to recruit world language teachers and has plans to expand that partnership to include the German and French consulates.

Question 19: How are school support teachers (SSTs) and parent coordinators allocations

determined?

Answer: The school support teacher and parent coordinator FTEs were allocated based on Title I enrollment counts and if a school served grades K-12 or 3-12. Please refer to the budget on pages 3A-38 through 3A-43 to find Title I enrollment and funding allocation by school.

The following is the formula that was used to distribute SSTs from Title I funds:

Schools with over 800 Title I enrollment and K-12 schools receive 1.5 FTE school support teacher in the amount of $146,896 average salary and fringe (the school budget provides the other 0.5 FTE to make up 2.0 FTE SST); otherwise a school received a 1.0 FTE allocation ($97,930).

The following is the formula that was used to distribute parent coordinators using Title I funds:

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Schools with over 800 Title I enrollment and K-12 schools receive a 1.0 FTE parent coordinator ($39,331 average salary, fringe and $1,000 for family engagement activities) otherwise schools receive a 0.75 FTE parent coordinator and the family engagement activity funds ($29,748).

Question 20: What is the cost of providing healthcare benefits to substitute teachers?

Answer: Full benefits, for an estimated 712 substitute teachers, would cost approximately $8,170,342.

Question 21: What will MPS do if the Governor’s proposal is adopted to have aid increases

contingent on the level of employee contributions for healthcare?

Answer: The MPS administration will review the details of how the state would measure contributions vs cost and the timing of the implementation. MPS healthcare enrollment is on a calendar year basis, so any contribution level changes that occur would be effective January 1, 2018 at the earliest. Based on the current sliding scale of employee health insurance contributions, MPS employees would need to contribute over three million additional dollars to their healthcare costs to reach the 12 percent level proposed by the governor. While three million is less than one percent of MPS’s salary budget, the implementation would be carefully calibrated to minimize detrimental impacts for employees.

Demographics and Enrollment

Question 22: Can you provide information on the district’s student demographics?

Answer: The students of MPS are racially and ethnically diverse. In 2016–17 the district will serve 76,856 students in 159 schools. The majority of the students are African-American or Hispanic. Nearly 10 percent of students are English language learners (ELL) who speak over 60 languages. Of all students enrolled in MPS, approximately 19.8 percent are students with special needs and 79 percent come from economically disadvantaged households. The current number of homeless students as of 4/28/17 is 4,272 which is 5.6% of students enrolled.

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Question 23: When is a student considered Homeless?

Answer: A student is considered “homeless” when they lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence as defined by the McKinney-Vento Act. This definition includes children and youth whose family has lost housing due to economic difficulties and is sharing the housing of others (doubled-up); who are living in motels, hotels, transitional or emergency shelters; or, whose nighttime residence is a place not normally used for housing. Unaccompanied youth and migratory children, who qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances described above, have the same rights.

Question 24: What is the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP)?

Answer: This program began in the 1990-91 school year and provides for City of Milwaukee students, under specific circumstances, to attend private sectarian and nonsectarian schools at no charge.

Question 25: How are school enrollment projections calculated?

Answer: School budget preparations begin with the projection of future year enrollments and district-wide revenue.

Projecting enrollment, which provides information for decision making and budget planning, is a constantly evolving and dynamic process. Many factors affect enrollment projections. Changes to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), including expansion of the number of schools and an increase in the eligibility of City of Milwaukee students to receive vouchers to attend private schools, may have a greater affect than anticipated on MPS enrollment.

The Administration uses demographic data and enrollment trends to develop a system-wide projection of pupil counts. A grade-by-grade breakdown is determined, followed by expected enrollments in the Chapter 220 program, Open Enrollment program, alternative and partnership schools and non-instrumentality charter schools. The Administration consults with the Wisconsin DPI regarding projected enrollment of Milwaukee children in non-MPS schools as well as reviews census data.

The remaining portion of the projected enrollment is divided into estimates for MPS elementary, K-8, middle and high schools. The Administration reviews prior years’ enrollments for patterns and identifies proposed program changes that will affect school enrollments. State legislative changes, including changes to the MPCP, Open Enrollment and Chapter 220 programs, are also considered as an impact to district and individual school enrollment.

School leaders provide information for the school’s projections and are given the opportunity to request enrollment or project changes. Individual school enrollment calculations take all these factors into account. As the enrollment data for MPCP is not available until late in the fall of each

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school year, it is difficult for the Administration to predict which schools will be affected by non-MPS enrollment changes.

Question 26: What is happening with district enrollment?

Answer: Overall, MPS expects that this fall’s enrollment will be similar to the current year. Some schools are still experiencing significant losses which are de-stabilizing. In recent years financial losses have been mitigated by providing more base level funding. For some schools that means MPS is operating with significant overhead for the number of students served.

Looking forward, the district anticipates that gains in grades K- 8 -including the middle schools- will be partially offset by continued decline of enrollment for high schools. It is also expected that non-instrumentality charter enrollment will grow.

The Chapter 220 enrollment will decline because the legislature ended new enrollment in 2015-16. Open enrollment (whereby Milwaukee residents attend suburban schools) has been declining and the district expects it will continue to do so.

The chart below (from page 4B-3 of the proposed budget) shows that the district expects this fall to reflect the 3rd year in a row of stable enrollment.

Central Services

Question 27: What is MPS-U?

Answer: Milwaukee Public Schools University is a partnership with area universities that brings credit level certifications, licensures and programs to MPS staff (certified and classified) at a reduced cost. Courses are taught by MPS staff and held at MPS locations throughout the district.

School Type2013-14

Actual

2014-15

Actual

2015-16

Actual

2016-17

Actual

2017-18

Projected

2018-19

Projected

2019-20

Projected

2020-21

Projected

2021-22

Projected

Elementary/K-8 Schools 47,605 46,944 45,376 45,361 46,576 46,980 47,903 48,947 50,163

Middle Schools 4,559 4,098 3,971 3,874 4,247 4,402 4,711 5,006 5,275

High Schools 18,344 17,793 17,573 16,951 16,707 16,480 16,148 15,912 15,678

Sub-total 70,508 68,835 66,920 66,186 67,530 67,862 68,762 69,865 71,116

Alternative/Partnership/Contracted 1,552 1,657 1,524 1,687 1,800 1,800 1,800 1,800 1,800

Non-Instrumentality Charters 6,194 6,899 7,124 8,983 8,000 9,117 9,571 9,827 9,991

Subtotal 7,746 8,556 8,648 10,670 9,800 10,917 11,371 11,627 11,791

Chapter 220 (in suburban schools) 1,611 1,476 1,313 1,040 856 650 482 323 192

Open Enrollment/Waivers (in other districts) 6,906 5,578 6,434 5,865 5,326 4,794 4,337 3,867 3,430

Subtotal 8,517 7,054 7,747 6,905 6,182 5,444 4,819 4,190 3,622

Total 86,771 84,445 83,315 83,761 83,512 84,223 84,952 85,682 86,529

Enrollment by District School Type

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Question 28: How is MPS responding to water quality issues in the schools?

Answer: Milwaukee Public Schools released the results of water quality testing of drinking fountains in all district schools and buildings. The testing is strictly a proactive measure; federal and state regulations do not require schools to test drinking water.

The sampling began in June 2016 and two independent, state-certified firms conducted the analysis. The results found that water coming from virtually all MPS drinking fountains meets Environmental Protection Agency’s standards.

$1 million per year has been planned for new water fountain filters. These will be installed over the next few years. MPS will also continue the district’s water testing program.

Read more about the press release : http://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/News/Milwaukee-Public-Schools-releases-results-of-water-quality-testing.htm

Question 29: Can you provide a copy of the Office of Academics organizational chart?

The Office of Academics serves as an anchor office providing leadership and support for academic curriculum. This work is supported by content-area managers, curriculum specialists and teacher leaders through curriculum, instructional guides and professional development content development. In addition to supporting curriculum and instruction, staff in Academics support student achievement through college and career readiness, specialized services, student performance and improvement and strategic engagement. Academics staff work collaboratively toward the consistency of Common Core State Standards aligned to curriculum and assessment. Effective instructional practices and the improvement of equitable access for all students to quality educational instruction, resources and programs to ensure evidence‐based, developmentally appropriate practices is a priority.

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http://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/News/Milwaukee-Public-Schools-releases-results-of-water-quality-testing.htm

http://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/News/Milwaukee-Public-Schools-releases-results-of-water-quality-testing.htm


College & Career Readiness

The Department of College & Career Readiness helps students develop an understanding of different pathways and careers. The department coordinates resources from internal and external partners to support students acquiring academic and life skills needed to achieve their chosen pathways as well as leading MPS faculty and staff in fostering a postsecondary school culture.

Curriculum & Instruction

The Department of Curriculum & Instruction is devoted to continuously improving the student-centered curriculum offered in Milwaukee Public Schools and providing professional development to district and department staff. The departments work is focused on the district’s strategic priorities and built in collaboration with partners, other departments, school leaders and community members.

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GE & Strategic Engagement

The Department of GE and Strategic Engagement is shared between the Offices of Academics and Innovation & Information. This department will focus on improving academics in literacy and STEM, increasing internship opportunities, improving district-wide Systems Thinking implementation, and expanding Community Schools opportunities for schools.

Specialized Services

The Department of Specialized Services is committed to supporting the individual needs of all students. The focus of the departments work is supporting students with disabilities as they participate in learning in their least restrictive environment. This includes a provision of behavioral and academic supports while allowing students to participate in the general curriculum with their non-disabled peers based on their goals in the Individual Education Program (IEP). The department also provides social workers, psychologists, speech and language teachers and nursing services in schools.

Student Performance & Improvement

The Department of Student Performance & Improvement ensures support to the district in the areas of Response to Intervention, Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports, district and school improvement, assessment, Infinite Campus associated with the Office of Academics, and the data dashboard. The department also monitor the fidelity and quality of data.

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2017–18 superintendent’s proposed budgetmps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/mps-english/cfo/budget...the...

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