Gov. Walker's Plan: Tooling Wisconsin Teachers
One of Betty's most popular routines was to call some guy out of the crowd, look directly into his eyes and sing a parody of the old Brenda Lee song, “Fool Number One.”
Betty's version went: “Am I tool number one or am I tool number two? How many other girls have been tooled by you?”
As the guy smugly beamed to his friends in the audience, Betty then would pivot to add the same twist to the lyrics of “A Little, Bitty Tear Let Me Down.”
When Gov. Scott Walker claims he has provided school districts throughout the state with the “tools” to deal with the massive state cuts to education, he is singing Betty's song.
Walker uses the word “tool” as a euphemism for laying off teachers and cutting their wages.
That is not a way for local school districts to maintain educational standards in the face of a billion-dollar cut in state education funds. It is simply passing along the worst devastation of public education in the nation.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), based in Washington, D.C., examined state budgets passed in 24 states so far this year (covering two-thirds of the nation's students). It found Wisconsin's slashing of student spending was the largest in the nation.
Wisconsin's reduction in per-pupil spending in real dollars from fiscal year 2011 to 2012 was $635 per student, the most in the country.
Wisconsin's percentage reduction in aid to education per student, 10%, was third in the nation among those major states, trailing only Illinois at 12.9% and Texas at 10.4%.
Oh, but the governor's right-wing supporters say, Walker was faced with a horrendous budget deficit leaving him no choice but to make drastic education cuts.
Wrong again.
It's true almost every state faced tough budget decisions because of the end of President Barack Obama's federal stimulus spending that prevented the country from plunging into a second Great Depression and the stalling of the economic recovery as congressional Republicans consistently vote against job creation.
However, Wisconsin's budget problems have been relatively modest compared with most other states.
According to CBPP statistics, Wisconsin faced a $1.6 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2012, which began in July.
Yet, its per-pupil spending reduction for 2012 topped that of second-place New York, which faced a $10 billion budget deficit, California with a $23 billion deficit, Ohio with a $3 billion deficit and Texas with a $9 billion deficit.
On the list of states with the biggest percentage reductions in education, Wisconsin stands out like a sore thumb, with its mild $1.6 billion budget deficit placing third behind Illinois and Texas ($5.3 billion and $9 billion shortfalls, respectively) and deeper education cuts than California, with its $23 billion budget deficit.
A Vicious Decision
Walker, almost alone among the nation's governors, made a conscious—and vicious—decision to balance most of his state's deficit on the backs of children and teachers.
Cullen Werwie, Walker's spokesman, responded to CBPP's damning statistics by saying: “Unlike other states, Gov. Walker reduced spending and gave school districts the tools to help manage their budgets.”
There's that word again, “tools.”
What that really means is as a result of rolling back decades of collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin teachers, local school districts without contracts are free to fire as many teachers as they want and cut the wages of those they still employ to absorb the drastic cuts.
That damages local economies throughout Wisconsin as teachers and other school employees lose jobs and income.
The mainstream media is complicit every time it quotes the governor and his spokesman about the tools provided to local school districts without explaining exactly who is getting tooled.
That has also been true of the national media during the current economic crisis. To an alarming extent, much of the media seems to have implicitly adopted the tea party philosophy that cuts in public spending, while perhaps painful, are both necessary and good.
That is an economically ignorant across-the-board position during an unemployment crisis.
At a time when the private sector is not creating enough jobs to keep up with population growth, cutting public spending eliminates even more jobs, causing the economy to continue spiraling downward.
This is especially true when the jobs we are destroying are those of teachers, since they are the ones who give all our children the education and skills necessary to get hired and succeed in family-supporting jobs.
The only people we are tooling are ourselves.
Perhaps each school system could have there own lottery and sell lottery tickets to help fund schools. Maybe the teachers union could build a casino to compete with the indians and hire unemployed teachers as dealers and servers. Think outside the box!!! Stop bribing politicians. That was a waste. Invest the cash in something that will benefit teachers.
Your statement implies that teachers do not deserve to be in the Middle Class. Of course, to a part of the state that historically "made it" without a college-degree, education is not important, school is just a free public funded daycare to watch your kids while hubby and wifey work and/or play. No need to pay a teacher much at all, just another service worker like a bartender or pizza delivery boy.
I have no problems with teachers being in the middle class but certainly not via a half time public school teachers salary. Now if they want to take on a second job at night or in the summer to earn more and get into the middle class, thats find and dandy with me. When I was in school we didn't pay our teachers squat. They waited tables at night and worked farms, construction, and highway repair in the summer. They owned small businesses like the car, wash, laundry mat, or pizza parlor. When I came to Wisconsin I was shocked to learn many teachers were living in nice homes in the suburbs just on a teacher's salary. No wonder we have to have a state income tax up here!! When I talk to farmers and ask them if they hired teachers during the summer, they looked at me like was nuts. I asked some of my contractor friends about hiring teachers in the summer and they said they got none. Really? W-T-F is going on in this state? Doesn't anyone want to work other than illegal immigrants? Gee I don't dare ask the county highway superintendent if he's got on teachers on the road crew. I did however find a few teachers that worked for the parks department but basically doing easy work, riding around in a golf cart pointing at stuff.
You, sir, are an idiot. I don't know of a single teacher in WI public education earning anything close to 100K. I have 32 years experience, a master's degree 30 more grade credits....and make about 2/3 of that figure. And what on earth makes you think I should also work farm work or road work in the summer to support myself and my son? BTW, teachers aren't paid for working 1/2 time....we have full time jobs for 10 months of the year....and for two months we do not receive pay unless we get another job. Time to join the 21 century, son. Oh, and since you have a computer, google salaries in the private sector for people with my experience and qualifications.....you'll be surprised.
Freshwater - ok you make 2/3 of $100k or $66k per year. Now add on top of that what the taxpapyers spend on your health care, pension, social security match and other benefits. Add back on what the taxpayers will spend on your pension until you are dead. I'm pretty sure you are topping out at $100k. plus What would a self employed person need to make in order to get the cash and benefits you get? I'm sure $100k plus. Teachers like to say their take home pay is so rotten. Well after you take out taxes, child support, bad debt garnishments, yep you want to whine. I don't care what your damn take home is. I don't care if its only a dollar. The fact is these teachers are costing taxpayers about $100k per year. Private schools have this all figured out and know how to contain labor costs.
Wait, if you work 180-190 days a year, that is about half a year. Therefore you work half the time. A masters degree in education is not like a masters degree in other fields. Its a dummied down degree so everyone can pass. If they made it hard, we would not have any teachers. You can't compare a masters degree in education to an MBA, a law degree, Engineering, or those in other high income producing jobs. The more difficult the degree, the more people earn. I don't know of too many people who get a masters degree and would settle for less than $100k. Would be hind of humiliating I would think.
Calling anything a local issue instead of a state issue is called dividing up (segregating) the market! Businesses have always done this, serve the prorfitable regions, refuse to serve the unprofitable regions. Hard times are jumped on to make this politically possible.
What's next? Let each "neighborhood school" work financially independently of the other schools in town? Maybe that neighborhood that cannot tax itself to support its own school should not have any education at all!
Walker had better eliminate the law that mandates all students be in school until age 16. That will be the tool needed to finally do what some of you call necessary, surgical removal of that "useless appendix" or "troublesome tonsils", to be discarded as biohazard waste!
Be careful what you wish for!