[media-credit name=’KATE BRENNER/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]The University of Wisconsin College Democrats took a broader look into the Madison community by inviting a school board member to speak at their event Wednesday.

The evening's keynote speaker, Johnny Winston Jr., a current member and past president of the Madison School Board, spoke on the budget crisis that has been plaguing the Madison Metropolitan School district for more than a decade.

"These issues date back to [Republican Gov. Tommy] Thompson's budget adjustments," College Democrats President Oliver Kiefer explained.

The school district allows for a 2.5 percent increase in funding every year, Winston said.

"But this 2.5 percent is far less than the percentage increase in the costs of health care, heat, salaries, everything needed to keep a school going. So the schools are either forced to make cuts or call for a referendum," Winston said.

Winston said he regrets he has been forced to cut around $32.4 million in the 3 1/2 years he has served on the board.

"This is a very difficult thing to do, to tell a parent that a program or service is no longer offered in their child's school," Winston said.

In desperate attempts for funding, the school district has resorted to placing advertisements in places like school gymnasiums. The first set were placed about three weeks ago.

While this was a controversial issue, Winston said, in a perfect world, this wouldn't happen.

"If we had money, we wouldn't do a thing like that — but we don't," Winston said.

The school budget is around $340 million per year, and Winston said he understands "it is hard for [the board] to cry broke, but that money only goes so far."

Winston also addressed the achievement gap.

State numbers recently released showed Wisconsin has some one the worst achievement gaps in the country.

Winston said one of the underlying issues is many poor white students are achieving at a higher rate than many affluent blacks.

"That is our gap," Winston said. "The fact is we don't know yet how to fix it."

A wealthier district in Waukesha is a prime example, Winston said. School officials were forced to tell the community the schools would shut their doors at 3:30 p.m. every day, eliminating sports and extra-curricular activities.

"[They] told the parents that if they want their children to play sports, they should go to open-enrollment, they won't stop them," Winston said.

In a final note, Winston reminded his audience to not forget where they came from.

"Having grown up in the Madison School District, I had felt the effects of the budget cuts — like last year they cut the freshman girl’s soccer team, but I had no idea it had gone this far," UW freshman Amy Follett said. "And the information about the achievement gaps really shocked me."