Greenfield teachers get through to Ryan

Forty-five minutes was enough time for special education teacher Nancy Koeckenberg and her colleagues at Greenfield High School to open Congressman Paul Ryan's eyes to some of the challenges WEAC members confront every day in Wisconsin's public schools.

During his brief visit to the school, Ryan seemed somewhat taken aback to learn that the cognitive abilities of the students in her special education class range from those of most 1-year-olds to those of a 1st grader, Koekenberg said. She said Ryan also seemed surprised that it requires a full-time staff of five to work with only 11 students and that some of her special education students live in districts outside of Greenfield. Students are bused in from outside the district because Greenfield's program is exemplary and other districts lack the resources or facilities to provide for some special needs students.

"The congressman was surprised that we can have students in our classroom who are 19 years old who are still diapered," Koeckenberg said.

Ryan's April 11 visit was prompted by Koeckenberg's calls to his congressional office to express concerns about the federal government's failure to fully fund its commitment to special education. Koeckenberg has been a special education teacher at Greenfield High School for 25 years.

Act now against bill to raise retirement age

WEAC President Stan Johnson urged members to go to the OnWEAC Cyberlobby in the Members Only section and send an e-mail to their state legislators opposing AB 361, a bill that would increase the state's retirement age from 55 years old to 59.5.

The bill is "another slap in the face" to teachers, education support professionals and other dedicated public employees, Johnson said.

"This is a thinly veiled attack on the very workers who educate our children in our great public schools," Johnson said.

Since 1993, the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) law has driven down teacher salaries in Wisconsin, taking them from 15th to 23rd in the nation. This bill would further extend that decline into the retirement years.

New SAGE information available on OnWEAC

The Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program is a proven success in Wisconsin, but it is under threat in the Wisconsin Legislature. Legislators have threatened to remove some of the funding Governor Jim Doyle set aside for SAGE in his state budget proposal and have proposed a SAGE "flexibility" bill - Senate Bill 68 and Assembly Bill 123 - that could undermine the program.

OnWEAC's state budget resource page has new budget briefs addressing SAGE and SAGE flexibility.

SAGE began during the 1996-97 school year with 30 schools in 21 school districts throughout the state. In 2000-01, the program had a dramatic expansion that resulted in 578 schools participating.