SAVE Commission's findings - La Follette School of Public Affairs ...

For parents in need, the schools can serve
as a place to go without the baggage associated
with visiting social services, health care or legal
offices.
SCHOOL BUILDINGS
The system for managing school buildings
in 427 districts falls short of meeting health,
safety, regulatory, and teaching needs. As a step
toward standardizing operations in an equitable
way, a strategy should be devised, involving
business, government and educators to put
schools into system-wide management.
The strategy also will address other noneducational
matters, freeing local teachers, parents,
principals and school board members to
worry more about learning and less about leaky
roofs. This will leave local control of curriculum
and building use with local citizens.
This strategy will examine at least three
areas:
£ A review of how
school facilities,
referenda and
other noneducational
matters are being
addressed.
£ A study of ways to
shift infrastructure and facility management
issues to building experts.
£ A means to incorporate best practices in
school facility management, operation
and maintenance to meet health, safety,
energy efficiency, space and other needs.
“How are we going to use
[school] technology if we’re
strapped just to keep the
physical plant going?”
Bill Hogue, Eau Claire
PUBLIC LIBRARIES’ FUTURE
Libraries around the state represent a continuing
expense for taxpayers, but more importantly,
an asset with significant potential in the
knowledge society. In the long term, school libraries
might become the branch libraries connected
to the information superhighway. Public
library service from the school fits into the
long term needs of the state in several ways:
£ The cost of technology is not duplicated
between the public library and school
library.
£ The Public Information Utility will be
attuned to serving school systems and
can serve merged libraries with little
difficulty.
£ Libraries will be more convenient to adults
utilizing community education, recreation
and service
functions in the
Community Learning
Center.
Library services
have had difficulty
breaking away from
their stereotypical image
as a reading room
surrounded by shelves
of books. As part of the Information Utility, public,
academic, special and research system libraries
will have an advocate to better meet the
21st Century needs of students, adults, educators
and businesses.
Actions
11.1
Transform schools into
Community Learning
Centers.
11.2
Manage school
buildings as a system
with local control.
Ed Huck, Wisconsin
Alliance of Cities
“The school is a part of
community. Take it away
and you lose community.”
George Kliminski,
Madison
“School buildings are
used 21 percent of
clock time.”
R E S U L T S
Community learning
centers will:
1 Provide an opportunity to
explore more cost effective
maintenance and operations
solutions to community school
building upkeep, renovation and
construction.
2 Change the process of
community school building
decision making to expand
scope and purpose of facility to
meet community wide needs.
3 Save taxpayers money with
more consolidated management
and multiple revenue
sources beyond local tax levies.
4 Increase citizen participation in
community activities and
refocus school as center of
community.
5 Connect schools and libraries
with information highway as
centers of distance learning.
6 Provide greater citizen access
to community centered facilities
and greater use of public
facilities.
CITIZEN • COMMUNITY • GOVERNMENT — WISCONSIN: THE 21 ST CENTURY 35