cur-mud-geon:
anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
This is very dry but is, unfortunately, a required base of knowledge.
MATC has four locations: downtown Milwaukee (2 Million + square feet), Mequon (200,000 square feet), Oak Creek (318,500 square feet), and West Allis (177,000 square feet). It is one of the 16 state technical colleges in Wisconsin. It offers some 200 degree, diploma, certificate and apprentice programs, and is the largest technical school in the Wisconsin system.
MATC has a board of directors consisting of nine appointed members. That board, coupled with the MATC administration, is responsible for preparing/approving the annual budget and negotiating the several union agreements under which it operates. There are three unions representing full-time and part-time employees.
The study by CRG and GTG (which we’re using for this series) cited a total of 1,484 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees in the 1998/1999 school year with 1,412 FTEs in the 2006/2007 school year. The number of employees has gone down; a good thing. There were, in the 2006/2007 school year, 81 administrators, 723 other staff, and 608 teachers/specialists on staff. For every teacher there are 1.3 administrators and other staff; not such a good thing.
From the 1991/1992 to the 2006/2007 school year, the consumer price index (CPI) rose 55% while the MATC property tax levy increased 151%, nearly three times as much as the CPI. Had the MATC budget increased only at the pace of the CPI, the taxing district would have saved some $800 Million in revenue from all sources including property tax.
This runaway spending has occurred in the face of a declining number of FTEs with only a slight increase in student enrollment (only 2% over the past ten years). Spending has outpaced the CPI by about a 3 to 1 margin.
How is this possible?
It is quite simple. An unelected board with no taxpayer accountability appears to have catered to the whims of the special interests on campus; the educational literati and the unions.
