WEAC President Testifies

WEAC President Terry Craney testified April 15, 1999, before the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, which is reworking the governor's proposed state budget for 1999-2001. In his presentation, Craney:

• Called for the expansion of the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) class size reduction program.
• Urged the removal of proposals to allow school districts statewide to contract out for education services.
• Called for repeal of school district revenue controls and the Qualified Economic Offer law.

Craney was the last of several WEAC members who testified before the committee as it considers the upcoming two-year state budget.

Following is the text of Craney's testimony:

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Thank you Co-chairpersons Burke and Gard and members of the Joint Finance Committee for holding this public hearing on the 1999-2001 biennial budget bill. My name is Terry Craney, I am President of the Wisconsin Education Association Council.

"The Hortonville strike highlighted the unfairness of the laws in the 1970s and led to the Legislature adopting a bargaining system that worked well until the QEO was imposed in 1993. Now we need a new legislative solution to correct this unjust situation of the 1990s." WEAC President Terry Craney

The biennial budget bill has grown in complexity and size over the years. It contains many issues of interest to educators throughout the state. I would like to provide some brief comments from the perspective of educators in Wisconsin.

We are enthused by the governor's support for lowering class sizes. The governor's proposed expansion of the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) class size reduction program is a welcome addition to the budget. Research has established that lowering class sizes improves student performance, especially among the most needy students in low-income districts.

The SAGE program is a proven success. Now let's expand the program to all eligible schools in the state and make sure as many children as possible benefit from the program. We also encourage the Legislature to keep the 50% low-income eligibility rate for SAGE schools.

In addition, we applaud the governor's continued commitment to investments in educational telecommunications and technology through the TEACH program. We are pleased to see that a solution has been offered to continue the BadgerLink program. We also support funding levels in the budget for standards and testing as requested by the DPI and favor the efforts to get more teachers certified through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

There are, however, some other issues in the budget bill that cause concern for educators in Wisconsin:

Removal of non-fiscal policy:

We would like to commend efforts made by the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau to compile a list of non-fiscal policy items in the budget. We would also like to thank the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee for agreeing to remove items that relate to bargaining over the creation of charter schools, approving alternative waivers for teacher licenses, starting school after September 1st and the closing of schools.

A few of the Fiscal Bureau items remain in the budget. We call upon legislators to do the right thing and remove these items from the budget so that they may receive a full and fair public review by the education committees of the Legislature. Specifically, we request the following items be removed from the budget bill. (Note the pages listed correspond with the LFB summary of the governor's budget bill):

WEAC supports removal of these remaining non-fiscal policy items in the budget bill:

• Charter Schools -- Instrumentality of the School District (pp. 499, item #8). This item repeals the requirement that for-profit charter school established by the Common Council in Milwaukee be instrumentalities of the school district. WEAC opposes this policy.
• Charter Schools -- Petition Process Modifications (pp. 499, item #9). This item allows those denied a petition to create a charter school to appeal that decision to the Department of Public Instruction. WEAC opposes this policy.
• School District Referendum Scheduling (pp. 503, item #1). This item requires school districts to limit referendum elections to spring and fall. WEAC opposes this policy.
• School Contracting Authority (pp. 505, item #3), (pp. 215, item #7 (in part)). This item allows school boards to contract out for education services and the impact of such a decision on wages, hours and conditions of employment would be a prohibited subject of bargaining. WEAC opposes this policy.

Relief from revenue caps:

While we applaud the governor for extending temporary relief from the revenue caps for declining enrollment school districts, we believe the time has come for the Legislature to repeal state imposed revenue caps. Legislative proposals are now pending before both houses of the Legislature to provide much needed relief from revenue caps. Short of absolute repeal, WEAC supports revenue cap relief measures dealing with issues such as school security measures, debt service costs, special assessments, technology, 4-year-old kindergarten and summer school pupil counts, just to name a few. These are all examples showing that revenue caps are not working and are harming the quality of our public schools.

Funding special education:

The revenue caps force school districts to pit programs that support the most needy students against other educational programs. Districts are forced to make the choice between funding special needs children or cutting back on other general education programs or extracurricular activities. The governor's decision to freeze special education aid and to repeal the state's commitment to fund 63% of those costs will only make matters worse. WEAC calls upon the Legislature to live up to its commitment to fund special education programs. We also ask that you allow school districts to raise revenue outside of the revenue caps to bridge the gaps caused by increasing costs in special education.

WTCS funding:

WEAC believes that the Wisconsin Technical College system (WTCS) works effectively to train Wisconsin's work force. WEAC also believes that the Wisconsin Technical College system ensures that Wisconsin's businesses have highly skilled workers. The Wisconsin Technical College system has a long, although largely untold, history of being a strong, stable system that helps maintain Wisconsin's strong and stable economy.

WEAC urges you to support the general state aid increase requested by the WTCS agency, for a 4.4% and a 4.8% increase. This request represents approximately a $5 million and a $6 million increase in each year of the biennium, and reflects what the technical colleges need to meet the requests for training and re-training coming to them from Wisconsin businesses and workers. Under current funding conditions, the WTCS is forced to meet its funding needs by "taxing to the max." Many WTCS districts are close to reaching the maximum 1.5 mill rate allowed by law. This will further erode the state's commitment to property tax relief.

One thing is absolutely certain. WTCS graduates, over a short period of time, return more state incomes tax dollars than the state invests in the Wisconsin Technical College System. Funding the Wisconsin Technical College System should not be considered an expense, but a wise investment in the health of Wisconsin's present and future economy.

Children's health and safety -- Prevention of smoking by minors:

The governor's budget shows improved commitment for early childhood excellence and Head Start programs. We also have a strong belief that an unhealthy child is a poor learner. WEAC is a participant in the Tobacco Free Coalition and the TRUST Campaign for the use of the tobacco settlement funds. The TRUST group, headed by the efforts of Senator Judy Robson and Representative Frank Urban, is calling for $50 million of the settlement funds to be used for comprehensive prevention and education programs.

Organizations participating in the TRUST campaign are working together in support of funding for statewide, comprehensive programs and services that will reduce the addiction, disease, disability, and premature death caused by the use of tobacco. It is time to prevent children from beginning a lifelong addiction to tobacco products.

Repeal of the Qualified Economic Offer Law:

Finally, let me end by appealing to the members of this committee, the Legislature and the governor to bring an end to the unfairness of the Qualified Economic Offer Law.

Between 1966 and 1977, Wisconsin Education Association Council and Wisconsin Federation of Teachers members went out on strike in 50 school districts throughout the state. The most famous was the 1974 Hortonville strike, where 84 teachers lost their jobs.

Twenty-five years ago this spring the Hortonville School Board fired almost all of the district's teachers after they went on strike because the board refused to reach a fair settlement. Twenty-five years ago, the schools in Hortonville reopened with replacement teachers. The strike and its aftermath threw the lives of the "Hortonville 84" into stress and turmoil.

The mass firings provided a dramatic example of how a flawed collective bargaining law led to an abuse of power by an unreasonable school board. The firings contributed to a political climate for change by showing the people of Wisconsin how much disruption a bad law can cause. The Hortonville experience so energized WEAC members that, over the next two years, they mobilized to win a new, fair law through intensive political action and lobbying efforts.

From 1978 to 1993, school employees and school boards in Wisconsin peacefully settled labor contract disputes by referring impasses to neutral third-party arbitrators.

Teachers' voices are once again ignored at the bargaining table. The QEO law unfairly singles out teachers and destroys their collective bargaining rights. When combined with the revenue caps, this law is forcing school districts to make painful decisions to cut or reduce programs that affect the quality of education in their schools. Employers are hiding behind the law rather than bargaining.

These laws need to be repealed. The Hortonville strike highlighted the unfairness of the laws in the 1970s and led to the Legislature adopting a bargaining system that worked well until the QEO was imposed in 1993. Now we need a new legislative solution to correct this unjust situation of the 1990s.

Therefore, the Wisconsin Education Association Council supports full repeal of the Qualified Economic Offer law.

The QEO is unfair

• The QEO singles out and penalizes one group of public employees, a majority of whom are women.
• The QEO penalizes employees who are planning to retire by giving them a life sentence of reduced pensions.

The QEO destroys collective bargaining

• Employers are allowed to unilaterally impose a QEO, forcing employees to "take-it or leave-it." The employees' only recourse for dispute resolution is to engage in job actions.
• The QEO blocks discussion of creative solutions to the challenges facing public schools (such as proposals dealing with class size and teacher preparation).
• The QEO discourages consensus bargaining.

QEO harms the quality of public education

• The QEO reduces collaboration between labor and management resulting in increased tension in the workplace which interferes with educational quality.
• The QEO discourages the best and the brightest from entering and staying in the education profession.
• The QEO contributes to lower employee morale.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today.

Posted April 16, 1999