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Department of Public Instruction spokesman Patrick Gasper may have hit the nail right on the head when he commented on the impact of proposed cuts with Governor Scott Walker's budget proposal.

"The schools that we see today will not be the same schools in the future. We're talking course offerings, we're talking extra-curriculars. I mean this is going to have a major impact on schools across the state."

Two years ago the Democrat controlled Legislature cut school aid by less than 3%. Nearly a quarter of the schools in Wisconsin then saw their state aid decline by 15%. Walker's cut in state aid is proposed at 8% for the first year.

Along with the cuts are restrictions on how much districts can collect from state aid and property taxes. That could end up shocking a good share of Wisconsin communities.

Walker's 5.5% revenue cap reduction will have a huge impact on the amount that will be lost per student. This will send districts scrambling to stay in business.

Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel compared school districts in a four county area around Milwaukee and found projected losses of $550.00 to $850.00 per student. In a school district of 1500 students it does not take a calculator to project the state of devastation a district will be faced with.

The budget still has to pass and a rule of thumb is, a Governor gets about 85% of what he wants.

At any rate, we hope the Legislature studies this long and hard. With the students and the taxpayers the losers here, I think they will.