Janesville Teachers Picket For Support

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Teachers are asking for positive support

I’ve been writing about the oppressive power and arrogance of the local newspapers and cloaked political organizations in Janesville for over a year and a half now, and some folks just... don’t.... get....it. Sure, perhaps a close family member or friend works for the Gazette or is a member of Forward Janesville and they want to go along just to get along, but your livelihood and dignity are on the line. In their eyes, picketing teachers are just a smidgen away from being another one of those “extreme fringe groups” looking for change. Remember, they like things just the way they are. My heart and mind are with the teachers, but I think they're picketing the wrong institution.

On The Side Of Education

In the face of declining state aid, looming debt, higher costs and an unsettled teachers contract, the Janeville School District returned $1.5 million to the district taxpayers in the form of a deduction on their property taxes. With that said, the teachers feel the tax rebate was the wrong thing to do for education at this time. The superintendent disagrees.

JG Excerpt Excerpt:
The school board believed taxpayers deserved credit for their strong support of the district, Evert said.

This is very slick, once again pitting the taxpayers not against the interests of education, but against the interests of anyone who disagrees. No politics in Janesville, huh?

This was taken from a previous article in the Gazette.

Excerpt:
But other board members thought that was dipping too far into the fund balance, so Cullen backed off to a level that the board adopted unanimously, $1.5 million total.

JG Excerpt Excerpt:
Evert corrected misinformation that has been going around: $1 million of the tax-relief money came from the district’s reserve fund. The other $500,000 was from interest earnings on money borrowed for the high school expansion projects.

The superintendent clarifies the information printed previously in the Gazette. Not genuine misinformation in the proper sense, but more a slap at the newspaper's lack of providing pertinent and detailed information in their articles for the readers. But not that any of this really makes a difference. The school district has $1.5 million less, any way you slice it.