Jennifer Chadli, who has a daughter enrolled at Shabazz High School and another who just graduated from there, has been upset to watch the school’s budget shrink in recent years.
Shabazz, an alternative school that emphasizes hands-on, experiential learning, is the smallest of Madison’s five high schools, with fewer than 150 students.
“Shabazz is such a great opportunity for so many kids who are looking for something different than the traditional high school,” says Chadli. “Because Shabazz is a smaller school, we’re not able to have the PTAs and PTOs, but there is a group of parents that are really interested in doing whatever we can to fill in the gaps.”
When Chadli saw a fundraising appeal for the school on Facebook, she began calling other parents, trying to rally their support.
The Facebook plea reads: “Please consider sending Shabazz $10… As a result of reductions at the state level, the Madison school district made cuts to individual school’s formula budgets (the budgets used to fund subs, supplies, and other operating costs). At Shabazz, our formula budget was reduced by $20,000, over 1/3 of our formula budget. As a result, our ability to support our usual activities, like getting students out of the building on field trips and improving our facility, will be limited.”
Of course, Shabazz isn’t the only school feeling the strain of budget cuts. At the beginning of the budget process, the district was slated to lose 66 full-time positions, forcing the school board to get creative in making cuts, explains Mike Barry, assistant superintendent for business services for Madison schools.
The board reduced by $750,000 money for “supply-type accounts” across all 50 schools. “What you’re seeing at Shabazz is their proportional impact due to that budget measure,” Barry says.
Whether more traditional high schools are making similar funding pleas like Shabazz is unclear. “We always have PTOs and PTAs doing fundraising for the schools,” says Barry. “I’m not aware of any specific action taken by any outside group to upgrade the fundraising efforts directly in relation to the school budget for this upcoming year.”
Cuts in funding may have a larger impact on smaller, alternative schools, like Shabazz. “It feels like that might be true, but I imagine the other high school principals might have a different opinion,” says Shabazz principal Aric Soderbloom.
The budget cuts hinder Shabazz’s ability to have the out-of-school experiences that are central to its approach.
“We pride ourselves on providing an authentic educational experience at Shabazz and this often means leaving the confines of the school,” Soderbloom says. “This type of learning can cost more than a traditional approach based in the classroom, but we feel it is worth both the effort and the expense.”
With a smaller formula budget, Soderbloom won’t be able to provide substitutes for his teachers, meaning fewer field trips.
“There’s a connection between what’s happening on the state level and how that impacts a small, alternative school that’s trying to be innovative,” says Soderbloom. “You look at the history of the cuts Madison has endured over the last 10 years and there’s an impact. It makes it harder for us to do our jobs and provide a quality education.”
In hopes to improve funding for future budgets, the school board voted unanimously to place a November referendum on the ballot that, if approved, would allow the district to exceed state-imposed revenue limits.
“If it’s successful it simply changes the parameters for the next budget so hopefully we won’t be making this many difficult and distracting budget cuts,” says Barry. “The referendum scheduled for November is about the future. It’s about getting ourselves ready for the next state budget.”
