Posted on 02/17/2011 8:55:46 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Protesters unhappy about proposed budget cuts march at the State Capitol building on Wednesday in Madison, Wisconsin.
(CNN) -- This week's growing controversy about funding public education in Wisconsin is hardly an isolated incident, as 40 states are coping with budget shortfalls totaling $140 billion, which will threaten America's 14,000 school districts for the next five years, one analyst said Thursday.
Concerns about funding kindergarten through 12th-grade systems were evident this week in Denver when big education's stakeholders -- the nation's two largest teachers unions, a superintendents group, a school boards group and federal education officials -- met to discuss labor-management cooperation, one participant said.
The summit was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.
"What is becoming very clear is that state legislatures and governors are struggling with huge budget shortfalls," said Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association, who attended the gathering.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I don’t know how much my kids’ teachers make, but they do get free tuition for their kids if they attend the school. What I do know is that last year, they were not given a pay raise due to the budget shortfall the school had. Not one teacher left or complained (we have several teachers who have been there for 25+ years, including Sr. Mary, the librarian). That told me everything I needed to know about the dedication they had to their students.
Unions have been mobilized.
I have always said that 0bama’s reign is eerily similar to the of Chile’s Salvador Allende.
- Marxist comes to power in a Democratic Country (check)
- Nationalizes major parts of the free market economy, including Health Care
Government Spending Skyrockets (check)
- Chile re-establishes relationships with Cuba (in work)
- Wide-scale National Strikes (here we go)
- Inflation at 140% (yet to come?)
- Chile defaults to its creditors (yet to come?)
- he is deposed by a Military Coup (lets hope not, but who knows - 2012 will see him kicked out of office IMO)
At my kids’ school a few years ago, they did away with teacher’s kids getting a tuition break. They couldn’t afford it. They haven’t had raises for a few years.
Its not a funding problem, its a misappropriation of funds problem.
Schools get plenty of money.
I say let the schools be taught electronicaly through the internet and fire all these idiots.
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It’s already being done. There is a great online program called K12. If you read some of the testimonials from parents that are using it now, there are many who had no option but to pull their kids from public schools that were failing. Now many of these kids are doing well and enjoy learning nwo that they have the ability to get the hell out of the zoos that were the schools they were attending.
If we shut public schools, and return the tax savings to the people — there would be PLENTY of money to send your kid to a private school or to homeschool. Many parents work just to pay the taxes ...
I’ve sent my kids to several scruffy, ragged Catholic schools that were running on shoestring budgets, yet managed to educate my kids to the level that they attended top tier colleges. I’m sorry — it DOES NOT take all the money that is spent on public schools to provide a child a decent education.
Sorry for my long winded posts ...I’ve just LIVED this issue my entire life as a parent.
I say let the schools be taught electronicaly through the internet and fire all these idiots.
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It’s already being done. There is a great online program called K12. If you read some of the testimonials from parents that are using it now, there are many who had no option but to pull their kids from public schools that were failing. Now many of these kids are doing well and enjoy learning now that they have the ability to get the hell out of the zoos that were the schools they were attending.
If we shut public schools, and return the tax savings to the people — there would be PLENTY of money to send your kid to a private school or to homeschool. Many parents work just to pay the taxes ...
I’ve sent my kids to several scruffy, ragged Catholic schools that were running on shoestring budgets, yet managed to educate my kids to the level that they attended top tier colleges. I’m sorry — it DOES NOT take all the money that is spent on public schools to provide a child a decent education.
Sorry for my long winded posts ...I’ve just LIVED this issue my entire life as a parent. And my husband and I have sacrified THOUSANDS of dollars out of pocket to do it. SCREW thse ridiculous teachers who can’t even fork out 7% for benefits or whatever it is. I pay for THEIR benefits AND my kids education because they do such a LOUSY job!!!!!!!!!
Here’s a link to the K12 virtual academy.
http://zsem.k12.com/tpages/index2c_ca.html?se=Google&campaign=CA_Local_SN_Job_K120928&adgroup=CA_LO_Virtual&kw=virtual academy&gclid=CL276Zz_kacCFQUDbAod0nuApw
I looked into it when we started having problems in public school with my special needs daughter. I know parents that have done the program. Some like it, and other don’t. The ones that don’t like it want more flexibility.
It’s a free charter school in California. They provide the computer and the curriculum. They have access to teachers.
I think it’s a great option.
“Mark Steyn made a comment last week on Rush that really struck me, he said that the Greatest Generation had an average education of eight grade and did the most for this country. What does that say about today?”
The “greatest generation” did very well for themselves. The also ignored the communist takeover of numerous parts of our society.
People seem to want to blame the kids for being uneducated. The children are a product of everything they are taught.
Yep. Let this play out on it's own. The longer the kids are without teachers, the more outraged the public will get at the teachers for not being at work. The Governor can even suggest raising consumer taxes if the union doesn't sacrifice like everyone else. Consumer tax affects everyone - even the welfare slugs.
Compared to this union rally, the Tea Partiers look like saints - Clean, neat, polite. The unions are shaking their fists and spitting all over everything. This makes the Tea Parties look really, really, good.
...no free school lunches-starving children for 3 days.
I agree, my parents were of this demographic and did well for themselves with not much education. But his point was regarding education and the fact that we are throwing more money than ever at education, and the results are not so good.
it's the same in most states... This should come as no surprise. The government and many citizens think the private sector is 'evil'. Greedy, selfish and whatever. The problem is the private sector creates new businesses, creates new jobs, and pays taxes.
The government creates nothing. It is a parasite and lives off the private sectors profits. The very sector it is, along with many envious and jealous citizens, trying its very best to destroy. And when it does, all but those few in power and control, will live in misery. That should make everyone happy. Especially the politicians. (this is what Wisconsin is all about)
** Despite budget cuts and layoff warnings, California still hiring and workforce still growing **
http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/2094403.html
The Sacramento Bee Aug. 9, 2009 State job number on upswing despite recession By George Avalos California’s state government has managed to add thousands of jobs during this past year, defying a mammoth budget deficit and a brutal recession. The job growth for state workers contrasts with the loss of 759,000 jobs in California’s private industry in the past 12 months
http://www.mercurynews.com/topstories/ci_12984385?nclick_check=1&forced=true
not to mention gubermint employees and their pensions... Reform advocates are spotlighting those with extravagant pensions — $100,000 or more — as a way to get the public’s attention and emphasize that the current system is unsustainable.
http://www.modbee.com/editorials/story/803636.html
Perhaps the real reason why public-sector pension costs have not been tackled is that the full bill has never been revealed to taxpayers.
** The great public-sector pension rip-off **
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13988606
From The Economist print edition July 9, 2009
JOIN a private-sector company these days and you will be very lucky if you get a pension linked to your final salary. In Britain almost three out of four companies that retain such schemes have closed them to new employees. The cost of paying such benefits, which are partly linked to inflation and offer payouts to surviving spouses, is simply too high now that many retirees are surviving into their 80s. Yet most new public-sector employees in Britain and America continue to benefit from pensions linked to their salaries. The pension costs facing the public sector are roughly the same as those facing the private sector; their employees are likely to live just as long. But because of the presumed largesse of future taxpayers, governments seem under much less pressure to reduce their pension costs. In 2005 a reform package in Britain raised the retirement age for new state employees, but still left existing employees able to retire at 60.
The economy stinks and may continue to stagnate for a while. And the financial picture stinks even more for local and state governments who are not only continuing to experience shortfalls in revenue, but are finally beginning to pay the tab for irresponsible and not easily changeable spending commitments. The pensions of public employees, including teachers, may bankrupt a number of states and localities even if the economy picks up soon. The huge and unfunded liabilities from healthcare reform will also begin to hit state budgets hard. I’m not sure why public employee unions, including teacher unions, backed the bill so enthusiastically because it will inevitably come at the expense of state spending in other areas. Since health and education are the two biggest state budget items, a big increase in state health spending without rapid economic growth driving up public revenues will result in enormous pressure on education budgets. Thing are going to be very tough for education spending going forward. But there is a silver lining to this very dire situation: tight budgets improve the odds for serious education reform. Traditionally, education reform has been “purchased” with big spending increases for traditional education interests. The DC voucher program was won only after promising to pour even more millions into the traditional public schools than were poured into vouchers. Merit pay in Denver was only won after a huge increase in education spending and salaries.
Unfortunately, the price of reform has almost always been too high. Public schools could almost always get a ton more money without having to make any concessions to reform, so it would take truck-loads of money to get public schools to grudgingly tolerate even the weakest reform.
Those days are over and the price of reform has just come down a lot. State and local politicians who have no interest in vouchers or charters, per se, will suddenly become very enthusiastic about any proposal that helps them figure out how to pay pension obligations without huge layoffs, giant tax increases, or bankruptcy.
http://jaypgreene.com/2010/07/18/education-in-an-era-of-austerity/
The economy stinks and may continue to stagnate for a while. And the financial picture stinks even more for local and state governments who are not only continuing to experience shortfalls in revenue, but are finally beginning to pay the tab for irresponsible and not easily changeable spending commitments. The pensions of public employees, including teachers, may bankrupt a number of states and localities even if the economy picks up soon. The huge and unfunded liabilities from healthcare reform will also begin to hit state budgets hard. I’m not sure why public employee unions, including teacher unions, backed the bill so enthusiastically because it will inevitably come at the expense of state spending in other areas. Since health and education are the two biggest state budget items, a big increase in state health spending without rapid economic growth driving up public revenues will result in enormous pressure on education budgets. Thing are going to be very tough for education spending going forward. But there is a silver lining to this very dire situation: tight budgets improve the odds for serious education reform. Traditionally, education reform has been “purchased” with big spending increases for traditional education interests. The DC voucher program was won only after promising to pour even more millions into the traditional public schools than were poured into vouchers. Merit pay in Denver was only won after a huge increase in education spending and salaries.
Unfortunately, the price of reform has almost always been too high. Public schools could almost always get a ton more money without having to make any concessions to reform, so it would take truck-loads of money to get public schools to grudgingly tolerate even the weakest reform.
Those days are over and the price of reform has just come down a lot. State and local politicians who have no interest in vouchers or charters, per se, will suddenly become very enthusiastic about any proposal that helps them figure out how to pay pension obligations without huge layoffs, giant tax increases, or bankruptcy.
http://jaypgreene.com/2010/07/18/education-in-an-era-of-austerity/
“see the teachers in red with Wisconsin embazoned on it they are a UW Madison graduate.” UW Madison? The MacIver Institute, Wisconsin’s new think-tank, released a report today by yours truly comparing the NAEP scores of Wisconsin and Florida. Let’s just say that UW-Madison would have probably fared better against the national champion Florida Gators in football. Florida spends considerably less per student than Wisconsin and has a student profile considerably more challenging. Despite that fact, Florida surpassed Wisconsin overall on 4th grade reading (although within the margin of error) on 4th Grade Reading scores in 2007.
Most impressively, this gain was driven by much larger gains among traditionally underperforming student groups. The figure above shows the progress among Free and Reduced lunch kids in Florida and Wisconsin. In 1998, Florida’s low-income students were an average of 13 points behind their peers in Wisconsin. In 2007 however they had raced 8 points ahead.
Among African American students, Florida and Wisconsin once shared space near the bottom in reading achievement. Wisconsin is still there. Florida’s African Americans students now outscore their peers in Wisconsin by 17 points.
http://jaypgreene.com/2009/04/29/forward-our-motto/
Wisconsin related: - The Fordham Foundation found that Wisconsin had the lowest NCLB standards in the country. This study examines the No Child Left Behind Act system and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) rules for 28 states. http://www.edexcellence.net/publications-issues/publications/the-accountability-illusion.html This should be a statewide scandal in Wisconsin.
When those federal bureaucrats required us to test students in return for federal dollars, you figured out how to how to drop your academic standards lower than anyone. Beating out Arizona…that’s really impressive. They said it couldn’t be done, but you did it!
When you’ve got schools making AYP in Wisconsin that don’t make it anywhere else, you deserve the satisfaction of a hard day’s work! We want everyone to feel good about their schools after all, whether the students learn anything or not.
http://jaypgreene.com/2009/02/19/real-men-of-accountability-illusion-genius/
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