Tuesday, January 22, 2013

ACT 10 in Action!

 By Jeff Simpson

We all know the devastation that ACT 10 has wrought upon our state. Ok not everyone gets it, the Wall Street Journal for instance REALLY doesn't get it! 

For now, Mr. Walker and Wisconsin taxpayers can savor one more vindication.
Scott Fitzgerald really really doesn't get it!  


Today's court ruling on Act 10 is great news for WI taxpayers.

However the people that do get it are the ones who have to live it.   The perfect example is the Portage School District.   The Warriors can no longer fight the effects of ACT 10 and have started systematically destroying their schools!  

The Portage School Board, due to the statewide budget cuts, is forced to go to referendum for $2.6 Million dollars operational referendum!   

They  say that it will not cause taxes to go up as they are reducing the budget now, and BOY are they.    They not only closed 2 schools(including the 2nd ranked school in the state(according to the state's new 'accountability system')).   They also recently holed the teachers in their room on a Friday afternoon, then sent the Principle and Vice Principle to walk around in delivering the news or who would be non-renewed next year.   

In the National Football League, on cut down day,  they call it "the turk". From now on in Wisconsin, the date of renewal/non-renewal for teachers in Wisconsin will forever more be known as "The Scott".   

This day in Portage School District, , "The Scott" claimed the jobs(on top of the 2 school closings) of (at least)14 well respected veteran teachers in the Portage School District.  These positions were not fringe and they were not "fat".   Amongst the cuts were Drivers Ed, 2 English Teachers, A Social Studies teacher, a Home Ec teacher( if no one can afford to eat or own a house, why do we need to know home ec?).  

Here is a school district that used the ACT 10 paycut for teachers and still is cutting $3,000,000 from their operating budget!   Does anyone really think that a $3 million cut will NOT affect the children's learning experience?   Wasn't the end of the teacher's unions supposed to stop this?   Did you taxes really go down when your local schools get devastated?    Is that the education "reform" that you want for your children/grand children?  

By the way, for the "liberal media chicken littles", you will have a hard time finding this story anywhere in any media.  I guess the firing of 14 teachers is no longer news in Wisconsin.  


I am not sure I would call this a "win for the taxpayers"  but then again, I would be surprised if the editors of the Wall Street Journal could find Wisconsin on a map!     




“If you think education is expensive, try the cost of ignorance.”

— Derek Bok




 

13 comments:

  1. This crimminal administration is turning WI into the next "deep south LA, MS, TX, Al, KY, WV, SC toilet of crappy schools, polluted low income workers with no health insurance and dumb preggo teens where our fire departments will be 70% volunteer with us begging the federal government for $$$ like all the "red states" do when you pay no state tax and whatever tax you do pay goes into the pockets of the wealthy who hoard it and exploit labour and extract the state resources for their own selfish ends but leave nothing but devastation behind. WI will nothing but a toxic, mined, wrecked and ruined mess of trailer parks and toothless gun toting hillbillies dumber then a box of rocks with dmber then a box of rocks kids "eating crow". Get these loons OUT OF OFFICE ASAP!!!

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  2. Bet that $3,000,000 finds its way into the pockets of privateer, vulturistic voucher schools.

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  3. Former school board memberJanuary 22, 2013 at 3:17 PM

    As a former school board member I will tell you what will get "their" attention. At the first sign of budget restraints. Immediately CANCEL all sports in the district.

    Seriously that is like throwing 10 gallons of gas on a small campfire. Before you know it you will have a 10 alarm fire. You will have students, moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, alumni, 60-80 year old jocks and the sports reporters from every news source within 100 miles. Oh by the way the national news will be there as soon as they can dispatch the satellite trucks.

    Cut english, math, science and any other academic course and you will get a whimper. Cut a sport and you will get a mob with an ample supply of tar, feathers, rails and rope.

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  4. The article says they're closing due to low enrollment.

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    1. "The article says they're closing due to low enrollment."

      You might want to try reading the article again.

      "“We said it’s a very difficult process and decision to make, and part of it is because the many positive aspects of those rural schools and this is an example,” he said. “The decision to close those two rural schools was a financial decision ... it was never about, ‘We’re going to close those schools because they’re not achieving.”
      Caledonia is one of two rural schools, Fort Winnebago being the other, that district officials decided to close in 2013-2014 based on low student enrollment and financial straits.
      “Yes, Caledonia has a particularly high score on this, and I don’t want to downplay it,” Hibner said.
      District Administrator Charles Poches said the closing of rural schools remains a financial issue and a student numbers issue."

      Consider this as well, is the school's high achievement rating possibly related to its smaller class sizes?

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    2. Sure, the smaller class size could result in a higher score, and probably did. I'm all for keeping the school open, but would like to see empirical evidence of how Act 10 was the result of its closing. Just looking for some better reporting is all.

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    3. I provided it there if you read the whole thing. See ACT 10 is not WHY the schools are having such hardships. The republican budget that pulled $1.6 Billion from education is why the schools are in dire straights.

      The Governor and the republican party told us we needed ACT 10 to fill in the gaps, but ACT 10 is not even close to filling in the gaps.

      As the ruling the other day shows, ACT 10 was done strictly to punish the teachers unions for supporting democrats, there was not a lick of interest in "education reform" in the bill.

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  5. The tools of ACT 10 have now rusted.

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  6. maybe that is why luther olson is fighting for more school funding. his hometown ripon is next door.caledonia is a very small school in a remote area.kids will have 1 hour bus rides to school now.3 years from now it will be turned into a private voucher school.

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  7. PrinciPAL, please. Principal.

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  8. Apparently one of Walker's "tools" is some justification of handling cuts in a demeaning and unprofessional manner.

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  9. Please learn how to spell!!! Principal is a person. Principle is a moral. When your grammar is wrong, one looks less than informed.

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