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WEAC’s Great
Schools initiative has the potential to set the course for public
education in Wisconsin for years to come, WEAC President Terry Craney
told local association officers Friday (September 24, 1999).
“The plan is an effort to restore local communities’ authority over their schools,” Craney said in a speech at the All Officers Meeting in Green Bay. “It will give people incentive to speak up and take action, to feel they are part of their schools, that they have a stake in them.”
Much of the All Officers Meeting agenda was devoted to the Great Schools initiative.
Craney said the success of Great Schools is dependent on the active involvement of WEAC members and citizens in the state.
“The results will be ensuring quality in every school in every community, restoring community involvement in schools, gaining public and political support for education initiatives, and ultimately removing barriers to education, like revenue controls and the QEO,” Craney said.
WEAC Executive Director Michael Butera described Great Schools as "a new and fascinating journey in advocacy."
He said Great Schools will bring members together. "We must build solidarity within and demonstrate that solidarity outside," Butera said.
Together, he said, WEAC members will join together to generate support for Great Schools.
"This is a journey in leadership, a leap of faith in building our union in the 21st century," he said. "Our challenge is to make sure this journey is based on leading, not just on managing another project."
Great Schools will define WEAC for years to come, he said.
"We will never be the same as when we started this journey of Great Schools," Butera said.
On another subject, Craney urged leaders and other members to contact legislators and urge them to pass a pro-education state budget. The budget has been tied up in conference committee for three months as leaders wrangle over how to spend a projected $568 million surplus. WEAC is calling on the Legislature to use about one quarter of that surplus on various education programs.
Great Schools could have major national impact, NEA President Bob Chase says
Posted September 24, 1999