Colfax school board debates whether college credits should be limited
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Should the Colfax school district limit the number of college classes high school students can take at Chippewa Valley Technical College or at area universities?
Last year, the Colfax school district spent $120,000 on college tuition for Colfax High School students, said William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator, at the Colfax Board of Education’s July 10 meeting.
The money to pay for the college tuition comes out of the general fund and is paid by the taxpayers of the district, he said.
The state of Wisconsin offers two programs that allow high school students to earn post secondary credits while they are still in high school, with the students’ public school districts paying the tuition.
The Early College Credit Program allows high school students to earn credits at a Wisconsin university.
The Start College Now program allows high school students to earn credits at a Wisconsin technical college.
The Colfax school district offers classes that amount to 37 college credits.
One student recently earned a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) using the college credit program, and one student completed the Welding Academy, Yingst noted.
Since the cost for both programs has now reached $120,000, or the equivalent of two classroom teachers for the school district, Yingst said he wanted the Board of Education to have an opportunity to discuss whether board members might want to limit the number of credits students can take.
About half of the school districts in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference limit the number of credits high school students can take to 18, and the other half have no limitations, he said.
In response to a question from the Board of Education, Yingst said he believed the reason the other school districts limit the credits to 18 is because that is number of credits full-time college students typically earn in a semester.
Property taxes
Readers should note that universities receive state funding that has been approved by the state Legislature and the governor, who are all officials that are elected by the public, while technical colleges receive funding directly from the taxpayers.
That is, there is a line item on each property tax bill for an amount that goes directly to the technical college district in which the taxpayer lives because the technical college district board is a taxing authority.
Members of the technical college district’s Board of Directors are appointed and not elected.
If the majority of the taxpayers in a school district are unhappy with the way their local school board has spent money, they can vote for a different school board.
If the majority of the taxpayers in a technical college district are unhappy with the way the board has spent money, there is no recourse.
One of the “problems” is that CVTC is contacting students and parents over the summer directly to market the classes and to encourage the students to sign up, Yingst said.
The Colfax school district has no control over the amount of money that goes toward the college credits, and the district only finds out what the total cost will be when the school district receives an invoice “to pay this amount,” he said.
Share the cost?
Would it be possible to share the cost between the school district and the students/parents? asked Todd Kragness, president of the Board of Education.
State law allows the school districts to limit the number of credits but does not allow school districts to ask families to cover a portion of the cost, said John Dachel, principal at Colfax High School.
Colfax has three areas in which students can take credits for college classes in classes that Colfax does not offer: distance learning, Start College Now and Early College Credit, he said.
Colfax can only charge for students outside of the school district who are coming to the district for a particular class that is being taught by a Colfax teacher, Yingst said.
Earlier in the meeting, Yingst had pointed out a line item in the bill register that was nearly $5,000 to CESA 10 for access to the distance learning courses, which is in addition to any tuition that might be charged.
“It’s a great deal for students, but it has become a large dollar amount … It’s a great program, but it’s not free,” Yingst said.
Juniors and seniors
Jaclyn Ackerlund, school board member, asked how limiting the number of credits would work for juniors and seniors who would be starting the school year with a limit.
Freshmen and sophomores generally do not take any classes to earn college credit, Yingst said.
There are prerequisites for the classes, and freshmen and sophomores generally have not yet taken the classes that are required as prerequisites to take the classes for college credit, Dachel said.
The Board of Education could set a “start date” for the limit so there would be no impact on the students who will be juniors and seniors in the 2023-2024 school year, Yingst said.
Why?
“I don’t get it. What am I missing?” said Jodi Kiekhafer, school board member.
Kiekhafer went on to say that she did not mean to advocate for limiting educational opportunities, but rather, that high school should be about “the high school experience” and not about getting as many college credits as possible — that students should be participating in band and choir and the drama club and other programs offered at the school district.
The college credits are weighted on the high school Grade Point Average, and students use it to boost their high school GPA so they can be valedictorian of their class, Ackerlund said.
Because the college classes are weighted, other students who have had perfect grades and have earned all of the credits possible through high school classes and have participated in other activities, stand no chance at being valedictorian, she said, adding that she had only learned about this aspect of the college classes a few months ago.
“It is highly competitive,” Ackerlund said.
The students also use it to save money and to get into the workforce sooner, Yingst said.
No limit
Ken Neuburg, school board member, said there probably are not many students who have earned over 18 credits and that the school district should “keep an eye on it” and monitor the situation.
“I am not in favor of cutting the credits now,” he said.
Amy Bowe, Colfax High School guidance counselor, recently reported that three or four students who will be seniors may exceed the 18 credits, Yingst said.
The school district is being circumvented by CVTC directly contacting the students and parents, and the school is only “the pay agent,” he said.
Because of all the college credits available, Yingst said he wondered if high school might become three years instead of four at some point in the not-too-distance future.
The early college credit programs represent a financial reward for the technical colleges and the universities, he said.
GPA
By limiting the college credits to 18, the Colfax school district would still be helping to weight the GPA, said Ken Bjork, school board member.
The school board should consider the validity of taking college classes over taking the classes offered at Colfax High School, he said.
The students end up taking the weighted classes instead of high school band, Kragness said.
Eliminating the possibility of earning a CDL or completing the Welding Academy is not going to help the overall situation because those seem like a “one off,” Neuburg said.
The school district should go back over the records for the past four years to analyze the usage of the college credits programs, said Kyle Knutson, school board member.
The school board would not be capping a CDL or welding, but instead, would be limiting the total number of credits, Bjork said.
“The kids are over-achievers and should enjoy more of high school and have more of a balance between high school and college,” he said.
Yingst said that his goal was to “open the door” on the subject so that the school board would know the total cost to taxpayers and could discuss whether to limit the number of credits.
“It was a good discussion,” Kragness said.
Some students are graduating from high school with more than 30 college credits and are starting at a university in their sophomore year, Yingst noted.
The subject can be reviewed again at a later date but the Colfax school board must be aware of the cost, he said.
If Board of Education members want more information, they should ask Yingst so that the information can be available for the next meeting, Kragness said.
Student fees
In additional business, the Colfax school board approved increases in student fees for 2023-2024 of $2 for baseball socks, going from $6 to $8; an increase of $2 for a boy’s basketball jersey, from $28 to $30; and a $2 increase for boys’ basketball shorts, from $15 to $17.
Some of the bigger schools charge $300 just for a student to participate in a sport, and that is not counting the cost for uniforms or jerseys, Kragness said.
A family with three students participating in sports would be paying $1,000, he said.
The amount charged by some of the bigger schools is exorbitant, just for students participating, Bjork said.
Ackerlund sought assurance that no student at Colfax would be unable to play a sport because the family could not afford the fees for jerseys and uniforms.
Colfax has a student assistance fund, and no student ever has to forego playing sports if the families cannot afford uniforms or any other fees, Yingst said.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Board of Education:
• Received another reminder of the school district’s annual meeting on August 21 at 5 p.m.
• Learned that the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) rate will be an employer contribution and an employee contribution of 6.9 percent. Last year, the rate was 6.8 percent.
• Approved transferring $30,000 into Fund 46, capital improvements, for the 2022-2023 school year.
• Approved the Board of Education’s Operation Principles brochure, with no changes.
• Approved authorizing the administration to spend money from available funds as needed to cover immediate expenses of operating and maintaining public instruction in the school district. This is necessary so the school district does not have to short-term borrow to cover expenses before the next state aid check arrives, Yingst explained.
• Approved academic standards for the school district pursuant to state statutes 120.12(13) and 118.30 (1g)(a)1.
• Approved The Standard as the insurance carrier for short-term and long-term disability. The school has used The Standard for several years, and the company is good to work with, Yingst said, noting that the rates have not changed.
• Reviewed the school district’s athletic code and approved it with no changes. The wording aligns with other school districts and with state statute, Yingst said. The terminology is broad enough that it covers certain changes, such as “electronic devices” instead of listing individual devices, and “drug paraphernalia” instead of listing individual items, he said.
• Approved the school safety plan. Don Knutson, director of the Colfax Rescue Squad, recently coordinated active shooter training held at Colfax, Yingst said. The list of those invited included a number of area departments and agencies, including the Boyceville Police Department, he said. “You pray it never happens, but if it does, you need a plan to help maximize the seconds,” Yingst said.
• Discussed adding an addendum to the school board policy pertaining to graduation. The graduation ceremony is a solemn occasion, Yingst said. Ackerlund said the policy should include “no alteration of the graduation gowns.” Neuburg said the addendum should be included both in the school board policy and in the student handbook.
