Lobby against the Republican plan for record education cuts

WEAC President Stan Johnson urged WEAC members to attend the June 16 Lobby Day in Madison and use the OnWEAC Cyberlobby to tell legislators not to slash the state's commitment to public education.

School districts throughout the state would have to immediately cut millions of dollars from their 2005-06 budgets if the state budget approved June 10 by the Joint Finance Committee became law, Johnson said.

The budget plan approved by the legislative Republican leadership that controls the Joint Finance Committee falls nearly $400 million short of what Governor Doyle proposed in education funding for the next two years and would be the largest cut for public education in recent memory.

"Tell your legislators in Madison to make Wisconsin's great schools their first priority," Johnson said. "It is not too late to make this a good budget for public education."

School districts have set local budgets under current revenue cap law, which allows an increase of $248 per pupil in 2005-06 and $252 in 2006-07. The Republican plan approved early Friday by the Joint Finance Committee allows increases of only $120 per pupil for 2005-06 and $100 in 2006-07.

"That would force immediate and massive cuts as children come back in September to schools with fewer teachers and support staff, larger class sizes, and far fewer curriculum opportunities," Johnson said.

http://www.weac.org/News/update/2004-05/6_13/1.htm

WEAC committee nominations due

By constitutional mandate, the WEAC president must appoint members to WEAC Standing Committees from a list of nominees submitted by local presidents, UniServ presidents, Class III Affiliate presidents (Wisconsin Technical College System/Vocational Technical Adult Education and Education Support Professional), Student WEA president, WEAC-Retired president and active minority caucuses.

If you know of individuals within your unit who would be willing to serve on WEAC committees, please submit their names to your local president or UniServ president for consideration. Your help is also asked in seeking and identifying minority group members in your unit who would be willing to serve.

WEAC will be well represented at NEA RA

More than 300 WEAC members will travel to Los Angeles next month for the 84th annual NEA Representative Assembly. They will join NEA members from other states and U.S. territories to debate education issues and set policy for the 2.7 million-member organization.

NEA RA delegates will focus on improving student achievement, boosting outreach to minority communities and building stronger teacher-parent partnerships. Delegates will also consider ways to fix and fund the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and ways to attract and retain quality teachers and support staff.

Jason Kamras, 2005 Teacher of the Year, will address the delegates, as will Kathleen Lange, Education Support Professional of the Year; and Cheryl Brown Henderson, NEA's 2005 Friend of Education.

The event will kick off July 1 with the Red Carpet Read-In. Delegates will host children in a variety of activities, including art projects and reading.