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From the MTEA
Eight Milwaukee educators, led by MTEA President Dennis Oulahan, testified before the Senate Education Committee Thursday (November 15, 2007) in favor of major changes in the way the state finances schools.
The State Capitol hearing room was packed with supporters of a resolution to reform the state’s school finance law before the next state budget cycle begins on July 1, 2009. This measure is known as Senate Joint Resolution 27 (SJR-27).
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The eight MTEA members were released by the school district to go to Madison for the hearing, and were joined by Milwaukee School Board members Charlene Hardin and Jennifer Morales.
The 10-member delegation conveyed the urgency of changing the funding formula to meet the needs of students.
MTEA President Dennis Oulahan cited a study showing that 3-year-old children from middle-class, professional households have vocabularies of 1,100 words, while children from families living in poverty have 500-word vocabularies. “It takes more to teach the child who knows 500 words than it does to teach the child who knows 1,100," he said.
He described the extraordinary challenges Milwaukee educators face, partly because 76% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch (a measure of poverty), and 20% of MPS high school students have special education needs.
Oulahan stressed, “The school finance formula we use in Wisconsin doesn’t work for us or for many other districts – urban, rural, and suburban.”
Tommie Glenn, president of the Milwaukee Educational Assistants Association (MEAA), cited the successes in Milwaukee Public Schools including an increase in graduation rates from 65% to 68%, and a 5% increase in 4th- and 8th-grade reading and math scores in the Milwaukee schools participating in the NEA Focus program.
“We need to stop the cycle of decreasing enrollment, unrealistic calculations of property value per student, and diminishing resources if we are to sustain and grow the gains we have made," Glenn said, adding that another two-year budget cycle may be too long to wait.
Mary Ulander, president of the MTEA’s substitute teacher unit (MSTA), reacted to a word that was being used frequently during the hearing. “Many years ago when my children were young, I sent them to Whitefish Bay schools, because of the reputation of the education system there. In Whitefish Bay, you never heard the word 'adequate' when people talked about education, and it shouldn’t be used for any child,” she said. “Every child deserves a 'high-quality' public education.”
Special education teacher Josh Resnick spoke highly of South Division High School. “We have a great school, with a committed staff and hard-working students.” He spoke of how many of his students excel in areas like auto mechanics, and while his school has outstanding facilities for teaching auto or wood shop it doesn’t have the resources to hire teachers who specialize in those areas.
“We can invest in education now, or we will pay for it later when many of my students go to prison,” he said.
Laura Vernon, a paraeducator in Milwaukee schools, past president of MEAA and a member of the NEA Board of Directors, lamented about the lack of books, supplies, equipment and even desks for students. She said we’re sending them into a “spiral of accepting less.”
She reminded the senators that, “Our children matter. They are not invisible.”
Three other MTEA members spoke:
These educators spoke of the need for resources to keep our students safe in school and mentally healthy; to assist our large population of English language-learners; to staff the schools appropriately; and to alleviate overcrowded classrooms so students don’t have to fight for textbooks, desks and other materials.
The testimony was well-received. Senator John Lehman and Senator Dave Hansen thanked the MTEA members for taking the time to travel to Madison and share their concerns. The proposal is sponsored by 59 members of the Senate and Assembly, 58 of them Democrats. It does not specify how a new school funding system should work but calls for providing "funding levels based on the actual cost of what is needed to provide children with a sound education."
In addition to the MPS delegation, representatives of the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools, and the School Finance Network testified in favor of the resolution.
Resource page on school funding
Posted November 16, 2007
