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Sample Letters
Letter 1: Letter from the Council of School Governance
Milwaukee, February 26, 2008
To the Milwaukee Board of School Directors and the MPS
Superintendent:
We, the undersigned members of the School Governance Council of
MilwaukeeGerman Immersion School (MGIS) hereby notify you that we
have not signed the budgetfor the fiscal year 2008/09. We are
refusing to sign the budget document because we arevery upset with
the negative impact on our childrens education that all choices to
balancethe budget imply. We write this letter to voice our concern
and dismay about the lack offunds for one of the districts most
successful programs.
As you know, MGIS receives only the Board allocation of $ 4,634
per student anda transitional grant of $45,000. We are one of only
two K-5 schools in the system whichdo not get any Title I funds
because the percentage of our students who receivefree/reduced
lunch is 33%. We are also one of only six MPS elementary schools
whichdo not receive SAGE funds.
While we realize that many elementary schools in MPS have faced
difficultbudget decisions in an era of flat revenues with
increasing expenditures, we believe thatdescribing the
budget-related decisions that our schools has made in the past few
yearsprovides a meaningful backdrop for the Board to better
understand the difficult decisionswe currently face to balance our
schools budget. Specifically, budget constraints in
recent prior years have required us to make the following
difficult decisions:
1. FY 05: Assistant Principal position eliminated (although with
593 students,MGIS is considered a large elementary school). This
results in increased timespent by classroom teachers, as well as
the principal, in resolving disciplinaryissues, taking away from
critical teaching time.
2. FY 03: Art teacher reduced from 1.0 FTE to 0.1 FTE3. FY 06:
Art teacher position eliminated completely. Classroom teachers must
now
incorporate art education within the classroom curriculum with
little or notraining in art instruction.
4. FY 02: Technology teacher eliminated, though technology
aptitude in the digitalage should be fundamental for our
students.
To fund every position and every line item at the current FY 08
level, we wouldneed $ 3,842,208 for FY 09. Even after adjusting the
projected number of enrolledstudents to 594 (the same number we had
in FY 08) we were short by over $ 270,000. Byusing PLAN money, we
were able to reduce the anticipated deficit to about $180,000.These
budget constraints were forcing us to make decisions that will
severely limit theeducational opportunities of our students. More
specifically, we were required to
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8/14/2019 MGIS Sample Parent Letter 2
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eliminate two teacher positions. The School Governance Council
considered two equallydistressing alternatives:
1. Eliminating two classroom teachers at K5 and first grade --
increasing classsizes to between 32 to 35 students per teacher in
each of our three K5 and
three first grades,or
2. Eliminating our two remaining specialist positions (music and
physicaleducation). The music and physical education program that
MGIS offers hasfigured prominently in many parents decision to
enroll their children atMGIS, since the teachers provide many
enhancement activities extendingbeyond classroom instruction.
The Council reluctantly recommended to our principal to
eliminate music andphysical education completely.
MGIS has been one of the highest performing elementary schools
in MPS formany years. We find it ironic that one of the
Administrations proclaimed core beliefs isthat the classroom is the
most important place in the district, while at the same
timeproviding insufficient funds to maintain the classroom quality
education which MGIS isknown for.
We also have to question the Administrations and School Boards
credibility withrespect to its recently publicizedAction Plan to
Improve Milwaukee Public Schools2007-2012. For example,
underStrategies for Goal 1 (5), it is stated that
additionalresources are allocated to schools as funding becomes
available to create classroomconditions that enable students and
teachers to consistently perform at high levels. It isfurther
stated that the district intends to provide equitable learning
opportunities in areaswhich include the fine arts and physical
education instruction.
In our 30 year history of success as an outstanding MPS
elementary school, thefaculty, staff, and parents of the Milwaukee
German Immersion School have createdconditions that enable our
students and teachers to consistently perform at high levels.Why is
the Board and the Administration forcing us to make budget
decisions whichimperil our ability to continue to perform at these
high levels?
We ask the Board members and the Administration to revisit the
allocation offunds provided to MGIS, and provide us with the means
to continue our proud traditionof providing a quality, well-rounded
education to Milwaukees children.
Thank you for your consideration. We appreciate the courtesy of
a response.
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