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Sunday, April 29, 2007

Democratic Solution To A Republican Problem

In what could portend an open and forward Janesville School Board, proceedings came to a halt during a meeting when one of its newly elected members, the politically seasoned Tim Cullen objected to a secret ballot in the election of a new school board president. Whether or not a “secret” ballot is permitted, it's good to know that an experienced politico like Cullen had the fortitude to speak up when common sense told him something may be wrong. This is exactly the kind of critical thinking Janesville desperately needs in nearly all of its leadership positions.

In another matter regarding the school budget, Cullen also came up with an idea he coined as the 50-25-25 plan in which he would like to spread the burden of school budget shortfalls across various state taxing jurisdictions. Unfortunately, 50+25+25 still adds up to 100 percent of a tax increase on local and state taxpayers. But I have to give Cullen and Rashkin high marks for the brainstorm.
JG Editorial Excerpt:
Wisconsin’s school system is broken. That has been clear for years, but every attempt to fix the problem has fallen short. The result is the school districts are cutting teachers and services, and education suffers.
When you read our local newspapers it's easy to fall under the impression that Wisconsin alone has a broken school funding system and that is simply not the case. When in fact nearly every state in the union has multiple districts that just can’t afford to keep pace with cost of living wage increases, benefits, infrastructure maintenance and inflation. Who is to blame? The common denominator here is the Federal government and Republicans are directly to blame, but the Democrats are too because they have failed to shut down the tax shift agenda of the Republicans. Every time a Democrat seeks a local tax increase to keep the system operational, a Republican in Washington comes up with another scheme to hack away at school funding under the pretense of balancing the Federal budget.

And what do local state Republicans do? Well they're the ones who would rather make cuts, in personnel or programs than raise taxes, and when combined with the local democratic efforts, they all end up going in circles down the road with higher local taxes, teacher and program cuts, more vouchers and smaller enrollment all the while our population and local taxes are exploding.

Raising local taxes or cutting teachers and programs is a democratic solution to a Republican problem. I can hear it now – oh, there he goes again blaming Republicans or Bush for our schools. But yes, its absolutely true. The Public School system is controlled by the Federal government led none other than by the president. And in case you haven’t noticed for the past twenty-five years there is a huge drive by Republicans to privatize the most precious assets of our Federal government. Schools happen to be one them. Every time I hear a politician promoting private school vouchers under the guise of choice, I want to vomit.

Every single taxpayer dollar paid towards private schools in the form of a voucher is another dollar taken away from public schools. I can’t imagine any business in the private sector who would be willing to pay its “customers” to go elsewhere looking for a better product. It is suicidal and responsible for the spiraling down condition of our schools. But it’s much worse than I’m describing, because our entire federal system is under attack resulting in the tax atmosphere we have today. We will have higher local taxes, point of use fee’s, tolls and sales taxes – I guarantee it, all while the Republicans in Congress push to cut non-security discretionary spending in its efforts to balance a budget built on tax cuts to the wealthiest among us. This is the most basic reason I have to vote Republicans out of government. Abortion, gun control, gay rights and religion are merely divisive hot button issues that pale by comparison.

Personally I believe the State of Wisconsin school funding system is not broken, and as witnessed by its large bite out of property taxes it pays more than its fair share into our schools. I firmly believe that nationwide school funding shortfalls and other school revenue problems lies at the Federal level. This is where people like Rep. Paul Ryan need to step up to the plate and write emergency school funding into appropriations bills. Just one billion dollars annually is enough to take care of 500 $2 million school district shortfalls, that's an average of ten in each state. And to think what I’m asking for is so wrong and terrible or impossible to accomplish.

7 comments:

Robert Godfrey said...

If you believe the state school funding system is not broken you must back that up with proof; QEO/budget cap anyone. As someone who has worked hard over these past five years to raise awareness of this mess, it is troubling to read someone from the left dismiss a dysfunctional public policy as a "we're paying too much in taxes already" response. On that level alone, start with the fact that 63% of the corporations in this state pay no state tax at all, as in 0%. Tonight our school board in Madison will probably vote to close a school and lay off over 80 teachers, and get rid of SAGE in a number of schools with high poverty rates in order to increase class sizes. Pardon me if I'm not a little bit pissed off with such "analysis." Go to our blog http://www.madisonamps.org for some good analysis of our state school funding crisis. And it is a crisis. Make no mistake about it. Tonight, Madison will face gale force winds, in next years budget we will be looking at a Category 5 hurricane.

Robert Godfrey

Lou Kaye said...

My "analysis" is in the same broad strokes a newspaper editorial is written. It is a rebuttal to those who rant that our school funding system is broke without offering any proof other than a district deficit.

If Wisconsin ranks in the top six consistently in the highest accumulative taxes (local, state income and property taxes), one can assume its residents pay their share regardless of where the money is spent. The collection of corporate taxes are a different problem and I have written strongly about the failure of the state to pursue nearly $800 million annually in unpaid taxes.

The Republican agenda has each state looking for more money locally (part of the responsibility brainwashing) in Madison OR make cuts when the shortfalls in education and other domestic programs have been the direct result of policies written in the oval office and Congress.

From your comment, it sounds as if more money will not fix the problem - and if that's the case, you are free to offer your idea what will fix the problem. But if you need more money or must cut teachers to solve the crisis in Madison, then my "analysis" about why things are the way they are is not too far out.

Robert Godfrey said...

When you can show me that you understand the QEO/budget cap issue and how it's affecting school systems around the state, big and small, all your justifications for saying the system is not broken, is just empty words. In Madison and in most districts around the state, we have been forced to cut 2% from our budget for 14 years straight. And that doesn't even address the fact that the state only paid their full obligation for the special education/ESL mandates for the first year in 1993. If you don't address this issue honestly in a follow up post, I see no difference between your "analysis" and the rhetoric coming out of some anti-public education Republicans in our legislature.

Robert Godfrey

Lou Kaye said...

Janesville has had the same problem with shortfalls in funding and I WILL do some research of my own on the QEO/budget cap issue.

But again, I assume the SYSTEM is comprised of the legislative and organizational means to distribute revenue to fund the public schools. By insisting the system is broken implies that the money is there, its just being mismanaged. If that is the case then those anti-public education Republicans have the advantage.

Unfunded state mandates to me does not imply a broken system - it means the money is being shifted to something else OR its just not there.

Lou Kaye said...

It only figures that a Republican governor, Tommy Thompson limited district budget increases to about 2 percent and public school teacher salary to 3.8 percent beginning in 1993 under the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO). Doyle wants to terminate the QEO and as governor it will be his responsibility alone to find more revenue. I've known of these state imposed limitations, I just never gave them a name. I see how the QEO issue walks in lockstep with the same Republican agenda that I feel has been defunding schools since Ronald Reagan. To me the QEO has done as much damage to Wisconsin public education as the voucher system, so I don’t see how you can think I’m anti-public education. I believe the federal government is the great equalizer and locals seem to either ignore or fear the Fed. Again, I believe my “analysis” is consistent irrespective of the QEO issue.

I’m afraid that if the states don’t see a HUGE increase in Federal funding for education which they deserve, local taxes will skyrocket. This is probably why you disagree with my analysis because it then fits the Republican mantra that our taxes are too high now and they would rather make teacher cuts. I’m going in circles here, but I think we are on the same page except I want the Fed to pay and you want the state to pay.

Robert Godfrey said...

"I’m going in circles here, but I think we are on the same page except I want the Fed to pay and you want the state to pay."

Como? You've missed most of the issues I've tried to convey surrounding our dysfunctional school financing system. I've just realized that my earlier words appear to have been written in too much short hand for people who've not explored this issue in any great detail.

I'm done. For you and your readers, please go to http://www.excellentschools.org/, learn about this critical issue for the future of our state. One of the biggest unexpected challenges I never thought I would face when I became a public school advocate, was that one of the most difficult groups to gain some attention and understanding from would be my fellow compatriots on the left. Surprising, but it shows me what a long road we have ahead of us.

Robert Godfrey

Lou Kaye said...

I feel we would not be having this conversation if district budgets balanced for any reason. Excuse me for not understanding your shorthand.

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