Parents, Teachers, and School Board Members,


Please read the message below and be sure to look at page 11 of the linked report. http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lab/reports/11-openenrollment_ltr.pdf  If you have time, I would review the entire report. While we have made substantial progess in reducing our net loss in open enrollment, in 2010-2011 we still had the 6th highest percentage net loss in the entire state. This is very concerning as the state legislature is considering changing the aid levels. The attached report demonstrates the five options they are putting forward, two of which would be very costly for our district. It is for this reason, we must stay focused on our reform initiatives, work together to overcome any obstacles, and share with the public the many positives that are taking place. By doing this we can reverse this trend and get Place Wheatland at the top of area schools, where we belong!

 Wisconsin Act 32, the 2011-13 Biennial Budget Act, contained a requirement for the LAB to report to the legislature on:

--the history of the open enrollment transfer amount;

-- alternatives for increasing the transfer amount based on the costs to the receiving districts of educating transfer pupils and the amount of funding that sending districts retain for their fixed costs;

--alternatives for transferring sending districts’ revenue limit amounts or state aid to the receiving districts; and

--the effects of these alternatives on districts that either gain or lose a relatively large proportion of their pupils under the program.

The LAB’s report was released today, December 14, 2011.   From the LAB cover letter:

“To illustrate a range of options, our report identifies five transfer amount alternatives that the Legislature could consider. To describe the potential financial effects of the five alternatives, we determined the amount of open enrollment funding each district would have gained or lost if any one of the alternatives had been in effect for the 2010-11 school year and compared the results to the amounts each district actually received in that school year.”