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Teachers from the Eagle River and Phillips areas praised Governor Doyle's state budget plan Wednesday (April 11, 2007) at a Joint Finance Committee hearing in Rhinelander, but one said emphatically that even more needs to be done for public education in Wisconsin.
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"The support this budget gives to public education is only a Band-Aid and will not correct the problem in the long run," Phillips teacher Randy Kunsch said in prepared testimony. "Therefore, I am challenging the Joint Finance Committee not only to support Governor Doyle’s budget, I want each of you to run back to Madison and get to work on finding a better, more equitable way to fund public schools."
Kunsch said the Phillips School District has cut down to two principals for three schools, closed an outlying school ("and alienated a lot of those community members"), is down to two guidance counselors for all students from kindergarten through 12th grade, and charges user fees to all students going out for athletics.
Kunsch said he has seven special education students in one 8th-grade history section, and each of those students has a different Individualized Education Plan.
When parents are upset by these conditions, he said, they call the school, not their legislators.
"Then when I go to my elected representatives serving in Madison, they have the gall and audacity to say, 'We don’t hear from the public, only from schools and educators.' That is a cop-out and everyone in this room knows it. Every day the public complains about funding but it is usually to the school itself. So, listen to the schools," he said.
"If you think the present system works, get down in the trenches of each and every school district in Wisconsin and you will find the truth," Kunsch said. "Help make me proud to teach, but more importantly make me proud to send my granddaughter to a Wisconsin public school."
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Josh Skubal, a middle school teacher in the Northland Pines School District, said the governor's budget has a variety of provisions that will help school districts survive "the devastating effects of revenue caps."
"Districts like Northland Pines with declining enrollment would be allowed to maintain the revenue limit allowed the prior year in order to maintain programming and needed staff instead of what seems like a long range plan for a going-out-of-business sale," Skubal said in prepared testimony.
Skubal also praised a variety of other provisions in the governor's plan, including:
"The governor’s proposed budget would provide schools, teachers, administrators and the boards who govern them a bit more needed assistance with placing students in classrooms that work," Skubal concluded. "Repealing the flawed and discriminatory Qualified Economic Offering law in addition to the unrealistic revenue limits imposed on school boards would dramatically help attract and retain quality staff. Second to supportive, involved, and caring parents the most influential factor in creating a successful student is a highly qualified and educated teacher who is willing to stay and work in a district for a long period of time.
"The proposed budget along with the elimination of the QEO and revenue caps would benefit everyone in the community with a strong, sound, and thriving educational system."
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Gene Degner, executive director of the Northern Tier UniServ, spoke in favor of Governor Doyle's proposal to repeal the Qualified Economic Offer law. He said the QEO law has undermined teacher salaries in Wisconsin and locked into place what he called "an antiquated salary structure" that starts teachers out at half the pay of their more experienced colleagues.
"The QEO has more than served the purpose for which the Legislature intended, and it is now time to return collective bargaining to the teaching staff of this state," Degner said.
"The unintended consequences of continuing the restrictive rules engendered by the Qualified Economic Offer on teachers will ultimately lead to an inability by the state to attract the best and brightest qualified teachers," he said.
Posted April 11, 2007
