WREA's Position on Education and the Budget

WREA was invited along with other education groups such as SAA and DPI to be part of an Education Roundtable meeting to share their concerns about K-12 public education in Wisconsin.  Participants expressed their concerns about all of the funding cuts and policy items in the budget.  The group concentrated on how to make realistic changes to the budget, given how late we are in the budget process.  The following eight issues were the topmost of concern to the groups in attendance: 

1.    Retain adequate standards for teacher licensure – The Republican budget proposal would remove the requirements of needing a Bachelor’s degree to teach in specific subject areas and completing sufficient hours of pedagogical training.

2.    Stop Voucher Expansion – Voucher expansion will bleed funding away from public schools to pay for unaccountable private education.  Almost 90 percent of our school kids attend public schools and we should fund them adequately before attempting to fund a second school system.  According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the proposed voucher expansion could cost up to $800 million over the next 10 years.

3.    Remove Special Needs Voucher program – Special needs vouchers are opposed by nearly every disability rights group and would create a voucher for these students to attend private schools.  These vouchers cost taxpayers $12,000 per student.  Children attending these schools could face discrimination and would not have legal protections or rights that would typically be afforded to them by federal law.

4.    Maintain school district and local control by discontinuing expansion of (2r) charter school program – The expansion of authority to create independent or (2r) charter schools will create more schools that utilize state funding but aren’t under the control of local school boards.

5.    Maintain local control for Milwaukee schools and remove Milwaukee take-over proposal – This provision would allow for schools with the lowest ratings in the Milwaukee Public School district to be taken over by the county executive and converted to a charter or private school that is not subject to local control.  This provision also provides possibilities for future take overs of larger, more urban districts. All of these changes would occur without ANY evidence that charter or public schools perform any better than public schools

6.    Use one statewide exam for student testing to ensure consistent comparisons – All schools receiving public funds should be held to the same testing standards.  Testing parity would ensure a level playing field for all schools and prevent unfair and biased comparisons between school systems and districts.

7.    Index Revenue to inflation according to Consumer Price Index (CPI) – Revenue indexing would be a big step toward adequate funding for public schools. Schools cannot continue to operate with limited, stagnant funds while costs of services, supplies and personnel continue to rise. Inadequate funding also makes it difficult to attract and retain talented teachers who aren’t currently afforded a cost of living pay increase.

8.   Raise the Special Education Reimbursement Rate – State aid that reimburses costs involved in teaching special education students remains frozen in the current budget proposal.  The current reimbursement rate is 26.8 percent.  The target rate for this reimbursement should be a minimum of 33 percent.

In addition--Support the University of Wisconsin System through

• Keeping Tenure for university professors
• Restoring the $300 million cut to the university system
• Promoting the Wisconsin Idea

The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) is working on the budget.  When the JFC finishes with the budget it will be sent to both houses for approval.  Wisconsin public schools and educators are an integral part of Wisconsin's long history of being a leader in education, it will take everyone contacting their legislators to let them know you are opposed to the cuts to education.

If you have not contacted your legislators now is the time to make that phone call, write a letter.  Message:   WREA is opposed to the cuts in the Governor's Budget for public education including K-12, technical colleges and the university system. Talking points are available on the WREA website for K-12, Technical Colleges, and University systems.

In addition, here is a link for individuals who are not familiar with the intertwined nature of various groups (see page 4 graphic).

You may also be interested in reading the 2013 Annual Report of the Bradley Foundation.  

These links above are provided for information and reference.  

Helpful Links

Find my Legislators

Wisconsin State Senate Home Page (directories and contact information for Wisconsin State Senators)

Wisconsin State Assembly Home page (directories and contact information for Wisconsin State Assembly Members)

Sincerely,

Linda Wilkens, WREA Legislative Chair
David L. Bennett, WREA Executive Director
John Forester, Director of Government Relations School Administrators Alliance (SAA)

Wisconsin Retired Educators' Association
6405 Century Avenue, Suite 201
Middleton, WI  53562
608-831-5115
www.wrea.net
wrea@wrea.net