Educate, Not Incarcerate

Give schools highest priority, speakers urge

Wisconsin is shifting resources from schools to prisons, a trend that spells trouble for our young people and for the future of our state, speakers said at a conference exploring the impact of this shift in priorities.

It has become popular for politicians to support tough sanctions against criminals and to advocate property tax cuts, speakers said, leading to increased government spending on prisons at the expense of schools.

WEAC President Terry Craney addresses the Conference on Money, Education and Prison in Madison.

From 1990 to 1999, Wisconsin’s prison population increased from 6,800 to more than 18,000, despite the fact that crime decreased from 1991 to 1999, according to Department of Corrections figures. Meanwhile, the state has put severe restrictions on the amount of money schools can raise and spend and has used a law called the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) to limit teacher salary increases.

“The QEO and revenue controls are a one-two punch on public schools and our kids,” said WEAC President Terry Craney, who was a main speaker at the Conference on Money, Education and Prison, February 16 in Madison. The result has been that children have fewer classes to choose from, have inadequate computers and books, and are put into large classes, making it difficult for them to get individual attention from teachers.

Those likely to be hurt most by reduced educational resources are at-risk children and children in poverty, Craney said.

“Wisconsin students deserve better than they are getting (from state government policies) right now,” Craney said.

As a result of revenue controls, Craney said, the Beloit school district eliminated its Saturday program which was used to keep truancy down, eliminated night school at which students could take courses needed to graduate, and eliminated summer school.

Schools, he said, are suffering from a slow strangulation.

“Right now, it costs about $7,000 a year to educate a child and three or four times that to keep a person in prison,” Craney said. “Revenue controls are penny wise and pound foolish. We should spend money on education up front, so all are prepared for life, jobs of the future, and a satisfying life, instead of letting kids fall through the cracks.”

Craney called for repeal of revenue controls, which he said are not working and “are wreaking havoc on children, and most notably special needs kids.”

Short of repealing revenue controls, he said, the Legislature should increase revenue limit exemptions for such costs as schools safety measures, technology, and special assessments.

Stephen Braunginn, of the Urban League of Greater Madison, said government needs to shift the emphasis to education and prevention programs rather than incarceration.

“It is not OK to go on this (prison) spending binge and throw people away,” he said.

Extra Points

• In Wisconsin, it costs an average of $24,000 per year to incarcerate a prisoner, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau (1995).
• In Wisconsin, it costs an average of $7,206 per year to educate a student in public school, according to the Department of Public Instruction (1996-97).
• In the 1999-2000 biennium, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections is asking for $900 million a year, while taxpayer support for the entire University of Wisconsin System was $876 million in 1998, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
• Wisconsin has increased its spending on corrections nearly five fold since the middle 1980s.
• Prison costs are the most rapidly growing component of the state budget.
• While African Americans make up about 5% of the state’s population, they make up well over half of the state’s prison population.
• There are more African American males in prisons and jails than are enrolled in higher education, according to the National Urban League.
• Wisconsin’s prison population has increased from about 6,800 in 1990 to more than 18,000 in January 1999.
• From 1991 to 1999, crime decreased in Wisconsin.
• Wisconsin has the highest growth in incarceration in the nation. A
• bout 58% of Wisconsin’s prisoners are racial minorities, compared to about 10% of the population.

Posted February 18, 1999