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Joint Finance Committee
April 11, 2001
Mary Bell
Wisconsin Rapids
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am a middle school library media specialist in Wisconsin Rapids. With 23 years of teaching experience, I have learned to be many things I had not believed were in my job description as a teacher when I trained in the late 1970s. Changes in technology and in what we know about how students learn create dynamic change in the learning environment of schools. Social changes and increasing expectations of public schools have added even more to the task of teaching than anyone might have expected in 1981, when I became a school media specialist.
But most of these changes are in response to additional understanding about how students learn, the needs with which they come to school, and an expanding body of information it is necessary to command in order to live safely and responsibly in the 21st century. As a teacher, I make those changes to make life better for my students and my community, and they are essential to the work I love to do.
I always expected that work in schools would demand great energy. I received my master's degree at a time when massive changes in technology were just beginning, and I expected that the definition of information services would change with it. I eagerly anticipated the research that helped define how learning takes place, and have been working with the staff at my school to implement those changes that help students learn better.
What I did not expect was that in addition to being a content expert, a professional with specific knowledge about the growth and learning behaviors of students and an effective manager of new technologies, I would need to develop a specialty in public relations and running public referenda in order to fund the very tools I need to teach my students effectively. There is a new commercial on TV that portrays a business meeting its postage bills by running a bake sale. Its humor value comes from the conflict with our sense that some things need to be built in as the costs of operation, and they should not be subject to something as unpredictable as the proceeds of a bake sale. And yet we ask many districts in the state to rely on referenda campaigns to fund their basic expenses.
Wisconsin Rapids has been very fortunate that we have not, until this year, experienced student enrollment declines, and that several years ago, we ran a successful referendum that provided resources for building maintenance and technology acquisition. Our enrollment decline, combined with the lack of inflationary adjustment in the governor's budget, is of great concern to those who care about quality schools in Wisconsin Rapids. Our successful referendum did not provide for all that was needed, only basic repairs and additions, and an additional question that would have provided for the ongoing costs of maintaining these facilities and technology failed - twice. The successful referendum and the two that failed both demanded tremendous amounts of time away from the work that we need do with our students. The governor's budget would require that we schedule all referenda not when the need may be greatest nor when the schedule of time would allow us to provide quality information to the public while not distracting from the work we do each day in the classroom, but during spring and general election times, when in addition, we must compete with candidate messages for public attention.
Revenue controls damage our ability as teachers to provide students with classroom environments that work for them.
Revenue controls jeopardize the attraction and retention of quality staff.
Over the last five years, we have had unusually large staff changes each year. Some staff are leaving for retirement - many earlier than they thought they would retire, with skills and knowledge that we still need. But their economic reality is that after a career of dedicated service to their communities and children, they will lose significant dollars from their retirement for each year they remain in the classroom. Mid-career professionals are leaving to ensure their families' financial security. The skills they take with them are very difficult to replace in a competitive job market. Staff assigned overloads to cover for unfilled positions do quality work with the students they see, but their energy and their attention are spread beyond the workload we know makes for the best preparation and follow-up with students. Teaching out-of-field is stressful and a short-term solution at best, and it places extra pressure on staff who are already working hard to implement high-quality standards for student learning. Salaries that do not keep pace with inflation cannot keep experienced staff in our schools.
When we replace these departing staff, we find new and talented young teachers who are starting their careers. They come with great skills, heart, and enthusiasm for the profession, but these new teachers need mentoring programs to increase the likelihood they will stay in the classroom as their skills and enthusiasm meet reality. The mentoring efforts we have begun will need continual funding that may no longer be available as our district enrollments decline. Even with successful mentoring, the reality is that many new staff will not stay, finding that their skills and knowledge can command better salaries in less stressful occupations outside public education.
And revenue controls add to their doubts about staying in the profession in other ways as well. This spring several new staff were issued non-renewal notices because of budget restrictions that eliminate their positions. At a point where they are working to establish their careers, seeing college classmates with higher incomes in more stable work environments is a strong incentive to choose another path. And even if they stay in teaching, we lose the continuity and increasing skills that come with a stable teaching force.
In these and many other ways, revenue controls endanger our ability as a district to provide the kind of education programs that keep our community attractive to our graduates when they are looking for a place to raise their own families. We have had great community pride in our schools, and many graduates return to the area when they have completed their post high-school education and training.
The economic strength of our community has depended upon high quality education from kindergarten through technical college to attract industry and professional businesses to the area. We serve a great diversity of students with needs that cannot be restricted to yesterday's curriculum, and who rely on you to advocate for them in your budget deliberations. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of children and public education.
Article
on April 11, 2001, budget hearing
Resource page on 2001-2003
state budget