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WEAC members asked the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee Tuesday (March 27, 2007) in Chippewa Falls to revise and improve school funding in Wisconsin, repeal the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) law, and increase funding for technical colleges.
 Menomonie teacher Jacalyn Broughton (right) and Menomonie School Board President Margaret Breisch speak in favor of improved funding of schools. |
At one in a series of hearings on Governor Doyle's proposed state budget, Menomonie teacher Jacalyn Broughton told the committee that school district revenue caps and the QEO law are undermining school districts and harming educators.
"I see school budgets being balanced on the back of staff, as if they were personally responsible for the dilemma," she said.
Broughton said schools are hurting financially in many ways. As a special education teacher she sees a decline in services for special education students and has witnessed a battle developing between special education and regular education over very limited funds.
"I don't think that it is fair to take from regular education funds to pay for special education needs," she said. "The point being that all students have unique learning needs and those needs need to be addressed, but not at the expense of one group over another."
Broughton proposed three solutions:
Prescott teacher Bart Appleton told the committee the time has come to change the way Wisconsin funds its public schools and the process by which teachers bargain for fair compensation.
 Prescott teacher Bart Appleton speaks in support of the repeal of the Qualified Economic Offer law. |
"The QEO law undermines teacher compensation," he said. "Our state government is sending the message to the citizens of Wisconsin that public education is just not that important."
Appleton said the average teacher salary in Wisconsin has lost 11% to inflation since the QEO law went into effect in 1993. "Repealing the QEO law will begin the process of reversing this negative trend," he said.
The QEO law, he said, "is adversely affecting public education by discouraging superior teachers from staying in the profession."
"Retaining quality teachers needs to be the number one fiscal priority for Wisconsin's public schools," he said.
Cathy Peck, a communications instructor at Chippewa Valley Technical College, asked the committee to support funding of technical colleges, which "serve an important role as the state seeks to meet demand for skilled workers."
"Sixteen of the 25 fastest-growing occupations in Wisconsin require not a bachelor's degree but an associate degree or some other form of short-term technical training."
Peck asked the committee to support four items:
Posted April 3, 2007