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By Ryan Whisner Union regional editor
School District of Fort Atkinson Superintendent James Fitzpatrick says the upcoming discussion of the proposed state education budget is a battle for appropriate funding for public schools. He addressed Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal Wednesday during he third of four forums addressing education issues, sponsored by the Fort Atkinson Branch of the American Association of University Women. Fitzpatrick’s presentation Wednesday framed some of the major education issues facing lawmakers as they reshape Walker’s budget proposal. That 2013-14 budget proposal would increase state aid to schools by $111.4 million for 2013-15, but caps overall state and local tax spending on schools at this year’s level. Thus, the additional money he proposes in the budget effectively would lower property taxes rather than fund school programs unless voters approve additional property taxes through a referendum. “It does nothing to add anything to the classrooms or teaching,” Fitzpatrick, who is retiring in June after 14 years as district administrator, said. Upcoming needs for the district include adding a third-grade teacher at Purdy Elementary School or facing up to 29 or 30 students per class; a math teacher at the high school to accommodate growing math needs and growing computer science classes; interventionists for math in each building, a half-time technology education teacher and an additional occupational therapist. “We have almost $200,000 in needs,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’ve started out with that kind of need before and we try and work some (Continued on page 9)
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By Pam Chickering Wilson Union staff writer
(Editor’s note: This is part of a periodic series of columns by Daily Union reporter Pam Chickering Wilson, who is sharing her own experiences in getting the most out of life without going broke. Living “richer” in this instance means living a fuller, more meaningful life without living a “spendier” one.) In recent years, I’ve longed for the winters of my youth. Amidst months of gray days and rain, matted-down fields and bare trees without any softening coating of white, I fondly recalled the 12-inch snowfalls of my childhood and the towering drifts of snow. Coming upon a photo of my preschool face popping up over chest-high snow, I wondered if my children would
LIVING R ICH ON LESS By Pam Chickering Wilson Daily Union Staff Writer ever experience that delight. Well, this year delivered. It delivered snow. It delivered ice. It delivered hoarfrost and a snow-fog that rose in visible clouds off the fields. Visually, it delivered enchantment. Barely a day went by when the world wasn’t remade in another shade of white, as snow fell, melted partly, fell again, and re-
LAKE MILLS (AP) — A Lake Mills man who says he stayed in prison more than a year longer than he should have is suing state corrections officials. Robin Gavinski filed a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court Wednesday alleging that state Department of Corrections’ officials were negligent in miscalculating his sentence. The 51-year-old man man was sentenced in three cases, including burglary, possessing a firearm as a felon, fleeing from officers and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent. His lawsuit says the sentence on one count was computed as being consecutive, rather than concurrent, to another. He alleges that kept him in prison 417 days longer than his correct release date. The Wisconsin State Journal reported that the lawsuit seeks a jury trial and does not specify damages. State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jackie Guthrie said the state will “let the legal process work and see what becomes of it.” The state Department of Justice had not yet seen the lawsuit, said spokeswoman Dana Brueck. Last August, officials at the Thompson Correctional Center near Cambridge unexpectedly summoned Gavinski and told him he was being released the next day, ending his fifth prison stay, the State Journal reported. That is when he learned he had been kept in prison for 417 days longer than he should have been. “I kind of broke down,” Gavinski told the State Journal. He filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Dane County Circuit Court against Wisconsin Department of Corrections officials, claiming they were negligent in miscalculating the length of his sentence. His attorney, Tim Kiefer, declined to comment beyond what
shaped, billowed into improbable drifts by the wind. It also delivered delays, snow days, driving difficulties and multiple cancelled trips out of the county. As of this writing, we’re nearly into April, and it is again snowing, huge feathery flakes that make the old meltback look fresh and new. Despite the challenges of the winter weather, we were thrilled to have it, and tried to go outside just about every day. My son, Michael, who turned 5 in January and attends half-day “4K,” had plenty of freetime to enjoy the snow. However, we had to set aside time for my daughter, Colleen, 8, to get outside after school. On multiple days this winter, Colleen’s school moved recess inside because it was A) snowing, B) icy, C) raining, or D) some combination of the above. So why require (Continued on page 7)
is stated in the lawsuit. According to his lawsuit, as reported in the State Journal, Gavinksi was sentenced in three cases, dating from 1996 to 2004, in which he was convicted of burglary, possessing a firearm as a felon, fleeing an officer and operating a vehicle without owner consent. He should have been released on June 18, 2011, but in (Continued on page 12)
$0-*21(-, -, !-,#0 #3 ,"$0 By Lydia Statz Union staff writer
JEFFERSON — The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors will vote next month on a resolution supporting maintaining the current tax-exempt status of municipal bonds, a vital fundraising tool for local governments. Municipal bonds are just one way municipalities can raise money for projects that aren’t in the budget. Local or state governments can sell bonds “backed by the full faith and credit” of the issuing government to public investors. They are then paid back through taxation or revenue raised from the completed project. These bonds currently are tax exempt, making them attractive investments and a very effective funding tool, but President Barack Obama and some members of Congress have proposed lowering the tax-exempt rate of municipal bonds as a way to increase national revenues. The Wisconsin Counties Association has said this would lead to higher borrowing costs for municipal governments, and possibly the delay of many infrastructure improvement projects, many of which are financed through municipal bonds. Recently, the City of Jefferson voted to take on $1.2 million in bond financing to fund a series of downtown improvement projects. The WCA drafted a resolution for Jefferson and other counties to consider in support of maintaining the tax-exempt status of these bonds. “This is a huge issue for us, and for every county,” board Chairman John Molinaro said during a meeting Wednesday of the Administration and Rules Committee. “You are looking at the cost of bonding for counties going up (Continued on page 3)
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By Randall Dullum
By Randall Dullum
By Randall Dullum
Union news editor
Union news editor
Union news editor
Incumbent Bob Chady says he is running for re-election to the School District of Fort Atkinson Board of Education to provide a voice of experience and continuity during a time of transition for the district. Chady, seeking his third threeyear term, is one of three candidates vying for two vacant seats on the board in the April 2 elec(Continued on page 3)
Kent Koebke says he is seeking a seat on the School District of Fort Atkinson Board of Education once again because the district will be going through some difficult times during which his leadership and fiscal experience will prove invaluable. He said the board will need a member who will “be able to look back and say ‘Where were we?’ (Continued on page 7)
Bob Vincent says is seeking a seat on the School District of Fort Atkinson Board of Education due to his interest in and concerns for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as career education. Incumbent Bob Chady’s seat is vacant, and board Vice President Carrie Chisholm is not running for a new term. Challenging (Continued on page 3)
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(Continued from page 1) children to bring their snowsuits, snowpants, boots, mittens and hats in the first place? And while relegated to inside recess, the children still didn’t get any exercise, usually being limited to quiet reading-and-writing activities inside their classroom. Thus, by the time she arrived home from school, Colleen was bounding with energy and eager to get outside whatever the weather. So we postponed the homework and piano practice and sent her and her brother right outside, where they usually could spend a couple of hours tromping and sliding through drifts, building snowy hideouts and playing creative games. If possible, my husband, Kevin, or I would take some time to get out there with the kids, shoveling or loading wood, watching for birds and other wildlife, exploring the snowy trails and taking photos. Because every time we took the time to go outside, we saw something beautiful. We don’t own much winter recreation equipment — no costly snowmobiles or even skis — but we do have sleds. Earlier this month, the children and I walked to Riverside Park, carrying a sled on our heads. We had the small sledding hill all to ourselves, and the sleds skimmed almost all the way to the river. A previous rider who had come and gone before us apparently had become separated from his sled partway down the hill. Without the child’s weight to slow it down, the sled had sailed all of the way onto the frozen river. An intrepid adult friend of ours ventured onto the ice to retrieve it.
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Voila! Now we had one sled per child instead of having to share. (I don’t know that I would have stepped out onto the river ice myself for anything short of a stranded child. I have walked on several-foot-thick lake ice plenty of times, but it’s hard to say whether river ice is secure even close to the banks.) With this season bounding from one type of winter weather to another, we had to be flexible. At one point, almost all of the snow melted and emptied into the lowest level of our terraced
backyard. With the ground still frozen, it was unable to soak into the soil and created a miniature pond we dubbed Lake Wilson. On the first day, my son took a child-sized boat and floated it on Lake Wilson, framed by big crags of melting snow. By the next day, new snow had fallen and the boat was locked into the ice like Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton’s doomed ship. Successive melts have recreated the lake, though the boat has yet to come loose of the ice. In the
meantime, Lake Wilson has served as a snow-covered ice drawing board and hosted improvised hockey games with broken branches serving as hockey sticks. On another particularly warm day the kids transformed the “lake” into a “waterpark,” sliding down a toddler slide into the icy water. You can see how on an open day, the kids can go through three full sets of winter clothes as wet snow soaks through snowsuits, mittens and boots. Thank goodness for hand-me-ups, hand-
me-downs and hand-me-overs. We have plenty of extra winter gear. By the end of the day, 10 pairs of wet boots might be lined up by the front door, and the basement drying rack is full of dripping snowpants. After all that outdoor activity, it’s time for hot chocolate, hot cider or hot spiced tea and another evening by the fire. Whatever the day brings, we try to come together for the last hour of the day for quiet time in front of the fire.
At this time last year, we’d long since abandoned the fireplace in favor of sunny skies and balmy evenings. But this year, it’s still in use every night — junk wood and pallets and downed branches turned into warmth and a hypnotizing display of red-gold coals and sparks. The world has changed and keeps changing, but the fire we stare into tonight is the same one our ancestors stared into hundreds and thousands of years ago. It slows down our world and lets us just be.
-# )# .-',10 1- . 01 1#,2/# 0 .-0'1'3# $-/ - /" ', $212/# (Continued from page 1) and ‘Where do we want to be?’” Koebke, who was elected to the board in 2005 and served two terms, is one of three candidates whose names are on the ballot in the April 2 election. Also seeking one of the two open seats are Bob Vincent and incumbent Bob Chady. Koebke said his past tenure will benefit the board as it moves into the future. “Now they (board members) have got the five-year strategic plan and I’ve read that (document) all over, and I agree with what’s in it,” Koebke said. “But that’s a broad-based thing. “So from the strategic plan we then have to say, ‘OK, now what can we afford?’” he added. “And you’ve got to look at it from the standpoint of what will the taxpayers be able to afford.” He noted that two years ago when the district went to referendum seeking permission to exceed revenue caps by $640,000, voters were told that amount would sunset in three years. “So unless things changed dramatically in the economy so there was either more money coming from the state or more money coming not off the individual property taxpayer, but (from there being) more growth, then we would have to go back and ask
for another referendum,” Koebke said. Were the district to do so, he said, it probably would be in April of 2014. And no one ever will be 100-percent satisfied with any of the referendums, he pointed out. “But what you have got to do is sit down and say, ‘OK, with the education that we have, what do the people want,’ and then ‘what’s the best we can do to provide that education system for them at the cost that they’re willing to expend?’” School board members have got to be realistic, he said, because if voters reject a referendum one year from now, they then will be forced to make some pretty significant cuts to programming, services and staff. “And what you want to do is get everything so that hopefully it’s acceptable for the taxpayers at that point,” Koebke said, calling himself a fiscal conservative. “There are people out there who are much more fiscally conservative than I am, and there are some that aren’t nearly as fiscally conservative. “But the bottom line with it is I recognize, and the school board recognizes, they are going to go back (to a referendum),” he added. “So that has to be our No. 1 priority is preparing everything so we can get to passing that ref-
erendum.” The district referendum that failed seven years ago cost taxpayers a lot more the second time around, he pointed out. He added that everyone is better off when a school district does not have to go to a referendum a second or third time in a row. “But when it failed, we (board) knew we had to reduce (expenses) ’cause we didn’t get it the first time,” Koebke continued. “So we made those reductions.” And while those cuts changed the school system somewhat, Koebke said, he doesn’t think the educational level has dropped. “In fact, I would tell you that over the past 10 years, I think, our education as a total district has improved,” Koebke said, saying some might argue with that assessment based on all types of tests. “But, overall, I don’t think that with those reductions we’ve made we’ve killed anything.” He reiterated that a referendum should attempt to get the best “bang for the buck” for students, staff and taxpayers so the type of school system that is desired can continue within the money available. Another way the school board has saved taxpayers money, the candidate said, was by paying off the district employees’ retirement debt.
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“That saved roughly $200,000 a year,” Koebke stressed. “That’s $200,000 that didn’t have to be reduced, and it had no effect, whatsoever (on taxes) — it was just a banking thing. We just paid it off early (using the fund balance).” And implementing four-yearold kindergarten also was a prudent move on the board’s part, he said, both for educational and budgetary reasons. “It certainly will help students,” Koebke said. “I don’t think anybody would say that having a child go to a structured four-year-old kindergarten is not going to help them in some way. “But what it also did was it helped the funds for the schools because that was money that then the state gave us (district) that we could then use,” he added. Regarding Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed biennium budget that would freeze revenue limits for funding public education and funnel more money to private, charter and voucher schools, the candidate said “the devil is in the details. “First off, that’s the governor’s proposed budget — and that’s a major word, ‘proposed,’” Koebke said. “There are at least two Republican senators that, per the news, have said they want to look at the (revenue) caps themselves.” And for the Fort Atkinson school district, he said, that could yield substantial revenue. “Because if you raise the caps, as an example, by $100 per student for the year, and you’ve got 3,000 students, that’s $300,000,” Koebke indicated. “So I don’t think we’re settled yet on where that’s going to be.” Those caps also will factor in with a possible operations referendum, he added. “Because we’re really talking about the (revenue) caps going up,” Koebke said. “With the caps going up, you wouldn’t have to increase the caps that we (district) would want to increase as much. But, it will be interesting to see how that plays out.” The other side of the coin, he said, involves school vouchers. “But here’s the kicker — with the voucher schools in Milwaukee now, they don’t make them go through the same testing rigor — and they should, for the parents’ case,” Koebke said. “Because a parent needs to know, OK, 85 percent of the students hit grade level, or 40 percent of the students hit grade level.” But parents and teachers also need to consider both the improvements made and the number of students meeting the standard when those students are below average. “Right now, we’re not testing the (voucher) students,” Koebke said. “And even the people who believe strongly that we should open up everything to voucher, the answer should be, well then, we should test them the same as we do the public schools. “If for no other reason than for
transparency for the parents, so that they can go back and say ‘this is the (voucher) school I want to send them to and why,’” he added. “Otherwise, the parents are just picking it (voucher school) in the blind. And that’s not a good thing.” He said Fort Atkinson is a good school district with abundant opportunities in many different areas. “We’ve got an exceptional reading program,” Koebke said. “And if you can’t read in today’s world, you’re not going to make it in school, you’re not going to make it in a position — It’s just that simple. “So the better we can get students at reading and comprehending, the better off we’re going to be,” he added. “That’s a program that we should protect; that’s a program where if we can find some enhancements we should look at doing.” Fort Atkinson, he said, is one of the few districts that offers a reading program at the middle school and high school levels. “If you can’t read and you’re in tenth grade, you need to have somebody help you with developmental classes so you can come up to speed,” Koebke said. “To me, that’s something we’ve done very well and we should continue to do.” Another thing the district approved recently is a new math program. “It’s a much more practical math program,” Koebke said, noting he is an advisor at Madison College in Fort Atkinson and is into the practical side of education. “When preparing people for jobs, 80 percent of the jobs out there, you have to be able to do math. “And I always contend that the 20 percent (of jobs) that you don’t have to do math — I see a lot of people coming through my office, and they don’t like working where they’re working, and they don’t have many options,” he added. “So we need to keep the reading because that’s very, very important, and we need to continue looking at the restructured math program to see what we can do to improve it.” The candidate also said the district must endeavor to incorporate math, science and English in all disciplines across the board. “That’s something we’ve just got to integrate things in because when you get out into the ‘real world,’ nobody says, ‘well here’s a math problem and here’s another problem,’” he added. “No, it’s all together, and you’ve got to put it together.” Lastly, the candidate emphasized that the district needs to improve upon its technical training. “We, a lot of times, look at technical training and we think about Industrial arts — when we went to school you went back into the woodworking shop, and that was the technical training,” Koebke said. “That’s technical training still, and I’ve got a son who is a
toolroom machinist.” But the world has changed, he emphasized, noting that Madison College offers 144 programs, of which 143 are technical programs. “Only about 20 of them are cabinetmaking and carpentry, and machine tooling,” Koebke said, adding that 110 to 120 of them are technical in other areas — in the medical field, in the Information Technologies field, the radiographers, the licensed practical nurses. They can be in the hospitality field. “And the best thing we can do for those students is help try to guide them to a career or at least a cluster of careers they want to look at,” he added, saying the other thing is to ensure they are up to speed on math and reading. So while the Fort Atkinson school district should improve its technical training programs, the candidate said, it really must stress the basics by giving students the reading, writing and math skills they need to achieve in today’s world. “If we give them (students) the right math and English and science, they can succeed, so that whatever program they want to get into, they can,” he said. He pointed out that 80 percent of MATC graduates remain in the district. “They don’t leave,” Koebke said. “So your worker bees are going to stay here. Your four-year college students move quite a bit. Two-year technical people pretty much stay in an area once they get there.” Probably 60 percent of MATC graduates, he continued, are going to be employed as technical workers. “And the better we can help them, the better off we are,” Koebke stressed. The candidate emphasized that Fort Atkinson has a great academic program. “If you want to go to a four-year college, and you take the right classes and you do the work, you’re very, very competitive,” Koebke said. Meanwhile, the candidate concluded by saying that, unless the economy turns around, the school district will have to be “very frugal, very thrifty about how we do business.” Koebke graduated from Fort Atkinson High School in 1970, then attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he obtained a degree in political science with a minor in religion. He served in the U.S. Marines for 27 years with the Marines. After his hitch, Koebke returned to Fort Atkinson, where he worked as a mid-manager at Riverwood. He also worked at St. John’s Military Academy in Delafield, where he was vice president of Student Services for one semester. He then assumed his current position at Madison Area Technical College, serving nine years at the Watertown campus and this year moving to the Fort Atkinson campus.