Members Spread Out, Testify at Capitol

WEAC President Terry Craney (center) was among about 40 people who testified in favor of a bill that would repeal the Qualified Economic Offer law. The hearing on Assembly Bill 681 was held by the Assembly Ways & Means Committee.

They opposed the Qualified Economic Offer and Indian mascots, they touted the value of vocational education, and they fought to preserve the safeguards in the current charter school law. Dozens of WEAC members, staff and leaders came to the Capitol January 28 and spread out to testify at hearings on several major education-related bills.

“This truly is democracy at work,” said WEAC President Terry Craney, who applauded the commitment of members who took the time to make sure their voices were heard.

QEO repeal bill

Craney was among about 40 people who testified before the Assembly Ways & Means Committee in favor of a bill that would repeal the QEO.

“The QEO is prohibiting teachers from receiving fair salaries,” Craney said. “In fact, they are not keeping up with inflation.

“Public schools work for Wisconsin because of our excellent educators. They deserve fair compensation for the work they do. That is all we are asking for.”

The committee did not immediately act on the bill — AB 681. A companion bill — SB 318 — has been amended and is on its way to the Joint Finance Committee. For more on the QEO, click here.

Indian mascot bill

This bill, which would prohibit schools from using American Indian names or images as logos or mascots, generated one of the more animated hearings.

Nearly 20 student council members from Menomonie High School made the three-hour trip to support the bill. Indian mascots and logos, they told the Senate Education Committee, are offensive to Native Americans.

The issue has bitterly divided Menomonie, where three school board members were recalled last spring after voting to change the school’s “Indians” nickname.

WEAC Media Relations Consultant Anne Egan-Waukau, a Menominee Indian, said the Menominees are a nation of proud people. “I ask you to respect my mother, my father, my daughter, my relatives and me,” she said. “Please take the initiative to end once and for all the use of Indian mascots and logos, which will always be offensive and continue to hurt us and everyone who shares our convictions.”

John-Carl Davis, director of Cedar Lake United Educators and a Native American, said: “We are tired of names; we are tired of funny caricatures; we are tired of stereotyping; we are tired of rationalization; we are tired of traditions which demean and malign our people.”

Vocational education

About 40 people testified in favor of a bill to allow people to count technical college attendance toward the work requirement in the Wisconsin Works welfare reform program.

“Granting W-2 recipients the opportunity to better themselves is the right thing to do,” Mary Cuene, an instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, told the Senate Education Committee.

Charter schools

Dr. Russell Allen, a WEAC researcher, spoke against a bill that would change the charter school laws and remove the requirement that charters be instrumentalities of a school district.

“The present charter school law works because of a strong commitment to maintaining accountability to the parents, educators, school boards, politicians, and the broad-based community that create them,” he told the Senate Education Committee.

He also said the current law allows charter schools the flexibility to be creative and innovative.

Posted January 30, 1998