Gov. keeps promise, vetoes tax gimmick

Governor Jim Doyle kept his word last week and vetoed a tax gimmick rushed through the Legislature this winter.

The governor had planned to veto the so-called property tax "freeze" scheme earlier, but Republican legislative leaders chose to withhold the bill at the last minute. They finally sent the bill to him on March 11, and he vetoed it immediately, saying it failed to protect public schools and local governments.

"Governor Doyle is fighting for great schools at every opportunity," WEAC President Stan Johnson said. "This plan would have inflicted immediate and massive harm on Wisconsin's great schools and staff. It represents reckless fiscal policy that would seriously impair school district and local government operations and damage the ability of technical colleges to train the workforce of the future."

Johnson said Governor Doyle has introduced a budget that offers a solid, balanced plan to use taxpayer resources wisely, and offers realistic solutions, not gimmicks.

WEAC members speak for great schools

Education has been in the spotlight of hearings on the state budget, and WEAC members are to thank, according to WEAC President Stan Johnson.

The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee is holding public hearings in a few selected communities this month, and WEAC members are showing up in large numbers to talk about the importance of public education.

Palmyra-Eagle special education teacher Richard Helmick told a March 9 hearing in Watertown that his district is serving an ever-increasing number of special education students with fewer resources.

"With fixed expenses continually increasing, coupled with higher enrollments, we continue to lose staffing positions," Helmick told legislators. "This is immediately reflected in the reduced quality of service we can provide."

Helmick told the committee he is now the only certified teacher providing services to emotionally and behaviorally handicapped students in the district's two K-6 elementary schools and middle school. The district formerly had two teachers for those schools. His district has also reduced the number of school psychologists.

"This presents a number of extremely difficult obstacles for me to deliver appropriate services to the children," he said. "Because of the distances involved between the schools and the increased number of evaluations I must do, I can only spend about half of my time in direct contact with the students. Unfortunately, the needs of these children cannot be addressed in a scheduled, orderly manner... If I am unable to create and teach effective adaptations and accommodations to these children when they are in the early grades, they will prove to be much more costly when they are older."

Airline discounts available for NEA RA delegates

Midwest Airlines is offering discounts for WEAC members traveling to the NEA Representative Assembly in Los Angeles this summer. Delegates can purchase tickets online at www.midwestairlines.com, by telephone at 800-452-2022, or through a travel agent.