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This Just In...
Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades.
Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “INTERchange,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Franklin.
Franklin School Board candidate interview: Dennis Butler
By Kevin Fischer
Sunday, Feb 17 2008, 06:50 PM
HERE IS JANET EVANS' SUMMARY OF HER INTERVIEW WITH FRANKLIN SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE DENNIS BUTLER
Dennis Butler, and his wife Wendy, have been residents of Franklin for six years. They have a son, a freshman at Franklin High School, and a daughter, an eighth grader at Forest Park Middle School.
Dennis has a Bachelors Degree in Accounting and an MBA, both from Marquette University. As a CPA with over 20 years of accounting experience, he has had extensive exposure in the financial decision-making process. In his current roll as a Comptroller for Marquette University, Dennis has accounting experience in higher education. Previously, he worked as an accountant for Aurora Health Care. Experience at these institutions provides Dennis with the financial insight that is beneficial for program evaluation.
During the time Dennis has lived in the Franklin area, and while pursuing his MBA, he volunteered as a parent on his children's Softball, Soccer and Basketball teams. Prior to that, Dennis Chaired the Financial committee at St. Veronica's Parish and has been the Financial Advisor for St. Veronica’s Child Care Center.
During our interview, I found Dennis to be a genuine person who takes a fact based approach to decision making. He believes his financial background, especially in the area of education, makes him an ideal candidate for School Board. A position on the Board would be an excellent opportunity to serve his community in matters affecting education related to goals, budgets, curriculum and expenditures.
As a School Board member, Dennis would hope to represent the community by participating in decision making that will continue to strengthen our education system. He would like to see the student ACT test scores increase. Over the past 10 years, Franklin scores have consistently been at about 22. Of our most recent high school graduating class, over 60% plan on attending a four-year college and almost 30% plan to attend a technical college. Since the result of this aptitude test is one of the main factors that college admission offices use to evaluate students, Dennis believes increasing Franklin student performance in this area would be beneficial.
The Board needs to address how the school district will continue to provide first-rate educational opportunities with limited resources, in light of an increasing population base. Dennis envisions the Franklin Public School District continually improving to serve the educational needs of our community. This can best be achieved through open and ongoing communication between community and Board members.
Dennis evaluates Student Achievement based on test results, involvement, attendance, and graduation rates. He would currently rate our district at about a B, or an 86%. The Wisconsin Information Network for Successful Schools provides statistics that are useful in evaluating these results. This reporting shows the overwhelming number of Franklin students that are considered advanced or proficient in the core competencies. Additionally, the results exhibit an upward trend over the past five years. Our district performed favorably when benchmarked against the results of neighboring school districts. Cumulatively, this information provides a favorable image of our school’s performance.
On taxes, Dennis believes, like most educational institutions, Franklin’s annual budget is committed to compensation and debt payments. As such, there is limited flexibility in the budgeting process. Yet, the School Board should attempt to limit the tax impact on our citizens. Guidelines such as capping tax increases at the rate of inflation, or prohibiting the addition of new debt until previously issued debt is repaid, should be considered. If the School Board adopted some specific financial goals such as these, it would exhibit to taxpayers how the school district is attempting to be good stewards of their tax dollars.
When considering how to reduce costs, Dennis does not feel he has enough knowledge of the details of individual programs to make specific recommendations, but rather, would suggest that a cost-benefit analysis be done on all non-core curriculum programs in order to make informed decisions. In addition, he would recommend that an ongoing financial evaluation of these programs be implemented because, oftentimes, program costs and effectiveness varies significantly from the cost-benefit information provided during the initial program proposal and approval period.
When questioned which curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities contribute to student achievement, and which he felt could be eliminated, Dennis said these activities are important to student achievement. Students who participate in these activities often perform better academically. Additionally, participants learn leadership and social skills from involvement in such activities. If needed, cost-benefit analysis should be used to justify the elimination of any programs. Factors such as the number of participants impacted, alternative activities offered, and ongoing operating costs should be considered.
When I asked Dennis whether it would be fair to charge parents of students who are participating in these types of activities extra fees to maintain these types of programs, if it became a necessity, he responded that it may be practical to charge fees to maintain programs, especially if the alternative would be to eliminate the program entirely.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a federal law aimed at improving the performance of U.S. schools by increasing the standards of accountability. Annual testing of student understanding of core curriculum is administered to evaluate school performance. Dennis conveyed that since its inception, both National and Franklin test results have shown an improvement in student performance. If he could change the NCLB, he would recommend that testing be expanded to cover other relevant topics such as technology. One might also consider developing a means of measuring student achievement throughout a given school year. These changes might be accomplished through State and National School Board organization, or through our Senators and Representatives.
Regarding accountability, Dennis believes the Superintendent is to the school district what the CEO is to a company. As such, he is responsible for the school’s operations, planning and performance. The Superintendent’s effectiveness should be measured by how the school system meets the needs of the community and is best determined by student achievement and the final performance of the school district.
I discussed community engagement with Dennis and asked what his opinion was of how the district currently communicates with the community. He thinks the district displayed a lack of communication with citizens through some of their actions in dealing with the most recent building referendum. This was highlighted by the lack of a design and specific location for the proposed new high school. Since then, the Board has made attempts to improve community engagement through efforts such as hosting community forums such as the Be Heard! initiative. But because of the limited attendance at these meetings, a more effective means of gathering community input is necessary.
To increase community engagement, the School Board must be more proactive in soliciting community input and feedback. Community engagement can be improved by utilizing various communication methods. This could involve having School Board members attend other community gatherings in an official capacity. Input could be gathered from citizens by having school district representatives speak to various Franklin organizations such as Senior Citizens, Area Junior Women’s Club, Lions Club, Library Foundation, or the South Suburban Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the School Board website is currently being used to disseminate information to the public. This resource could also be used to gather information and feedback about concerns or issues important to the public by using tools such as online surveys and opinion polls. Since the role of the School Board is to represent the community regarding educational decisions, community input is vital to the decision making process.
A question I asked Dennis, which I told him was optional, was, if elected, are you willing to be an independent thinker, and vocally express your opinion to other Board members? Dennis replied that he would represent the views of the Franklin community as best he can. He is willing to express to other School Board members his understanding of the community needs and wants.
When differing opinions arise on the Board, Dennis believes one should listen to both sides of the argument to better understand the issue. These differences should be discussed between the Board members and various options should be considered. Based upon this interaction, the group should be able to arrive at a solution to the issue. In instances where differing opinions cannot be resolved through this process, the Board should vote on a course of action with each member voting for the solution they believe best serves the community.
We may have differing ideas about how best to operate our schools. When all is said and done, Board members, the superintendent, principals, teachers, and community members must work together to maintain and improve the Franklin school system. Dennis believes a good school system is an important component of a good community and hopes that as a School Board member he can contribute to that outcome.
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