The Final Report - Malcolm Shabazz City High School, Madison WI

Decision Item #4: REDUCE NON-MANDATED ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM OFFERINGS (cont.)Background: (cont.)Mandated:9 Incarcerated youth9 Homeless students (transportation)9 School Age Parents (SAPAR)9 Madison Area Technical College for Credit9 Off Campus Instruction (for students engaged in the expulsionprocess)The District has several options relative to alternative programs:• Eliminate selected high cost discretionary programs.• Restrict the level of service in mandated programs to the levelrequired by law.• Refine requirements for a discretionary program – the off-campusprogramming,• Change the way the School Within a School Program isimplemented.Clearly, other discretionary alternative programs could be eliminated. Forpurposes of this analysis, we have highlighted four options. To ensureDistrict decision-makers have the information needed if anotherdiscretionary alternative program were selected for abandonment, weinclude Attachment 1, which summarizes all alternative programs, includingcost, cost per student, and available outcome data.Expenditures:Revenues:FTE:The District current spends over $5 million on discretionary alternativeprograms and $1 million on required alternative programs. It should benoted that, due to the fact that many alternative programs are stand-alone,these costs would not be eliminated if all alternative programs werediscontinued. Savings would be partially offset, as students would return totheir home schools, where additional teacher allocation would be requiredto support instruction.The District receives limited revenue and reimbursement for alternativeprograms (approximately $600,000 in 2001-2002).Including all alternative programs, over 85 FTE are dedicated to theseprograms.Options for abandonment and savings (NOTE: Options are not mutually exclusive; morethan one option could be implemented simultaneouslyOption A:Option B:Eliminate discretionary programs with a high per studentcost – assume Neon, Replay and Cluster $580,000 (8.4 FTE)(it should be noted, these are the only middle schoolalternative programs)Eliminate instances where required programs are beingprovided above the mandated level (SAPAR, homeless) -$195,000 SAPAR 6.8 FTE, $160,000 homeless transportationVirchow, Krause & Company, LLP Page 54March 11, 2002