Testimony by Mary Bell
Joint Finance Committee
April 11, 2001
Mary Bell
Wisconsin Rapids
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am a middle school library media specialist in Wisconsin
Rapids. With 23 years of teaching experience, I have learned to be many
things I had not believed were in my job description as a teacher when
I trained in the late 1970s. Changes in technology and in what we know
about how students learn create dynamic change in the learning environment
of schools. Social changes and increasing expectations of public schools
have added even more to the task of teaching than anyone might have
expected in 1981, when I became a school media specialist.
But most of these changes are in response to additional
understanding about how students learn, the needs with which they come
to school, and an expanding body of information it is necessary to command
in order to live safely and responsibly in the 21st century. As a teacher,
I make those changes to make life better for my students and my community,
and they are essential to the work I love to do.
I always expected that work in schools would demand
great energy. I received my master's degree at a time when massive changes
in technology were just beginning, and I expected that the definition
of information services would change with it. I eagerly anticipated
the research that helped define how learning takes place, and have been
working with the staff at my school to implement those changes that
help students learn better.
What I did not expect was that in addition to being
a content expert, a professional with specific knowledge about the growth
and learning behaviors of students and an effective manager of new technologies,
I would need to develop a specialty in public relations and running
public referenda in order to fund the very tools I need to teach my
students effectively. There is a new commercial on TV that portrays
a business meeting its postage bills by running a bake sale. Its humor
value comes from the conflict with our sense that some things need to
be built in as the costs of operation, and they should not be subject
to something as unpredictable as the proceeds of a bake sale. And yet
we ask many districts in the state to rely on referenda campaigns to
fund their basic expenses.
Wisconsin Rapids has been very fortunate that we have
not, until this year, experienced student enrollment declines, and that
several years ago, we ran a successful referendum that provided resources
for building maintenance and technology acquisition. Our enrollment
decline, combined with the lack of inflationary adjustment in the governor's
budget, is of great concern to those who care about quality schools
in Wisconsin Rapids. Our successful referendum did not provide for all
that was needed, only basic repairs and additions, and an additional
question that would have provided for the ongoing costs of maintaining
these facilities and technology failed - twice. The successful referendum
and the two that failed both demanded tremendous amounts of time away
from the work that we need do with our students. The governor's budget
would require that we schedule all referenda not when the need may be
greatest nor when the schedule of time would allow us to provide quality
information to the public while not distracting from the work we do
each day in the classroom, but during spring and general election times,
when in addition, we must compete with candidate messages for public
attention.
Revenue controls damage our ability as teachers
to provide students with classroom environments that work for them.
- Class sizes are up and materials budgets restricted when the cost
of those materials consistently increases.
- At the middle level, where I work, the teaming programs that integrate
content material to increase student application and transfer of learning
are struggling to maintain their content-licensed staff and the strength
of that diverse knowledge base.
- Allied arts classes like Technology Education, Art, and Family and
Consumer Education struggle with how to teach hands-on lab courses
with class sizes that make safe experimentation impossible and materials
budgets inadequate.
- Labs for science are becoming overcrowded and therefore restrict
what can safely be included in the curriculum.
- Foreign language classes with increasing numbers are concerned about
the interaction necessary for quality learning of a new language.
- Courses for students to reinforce writing and reading skills are
loaded with too many students to allow for the kind of attention the
teaching of these skills require, frustrating our students, parents,
and teachers.
- Our efforts to intervene for those who need extra attention are
hampered by restricted budgets that cannot provide adequate staff
and space for the learning resource center where students can get
additional assistance with their learning.
- Lowering the percentage of summer school students who can be counted
for revenue calculations at the same time we will increasingly rely
on these as additional alternatives to help students succeed with
the high standards expected of them is counterproductive at best.
Revenue controls jeopardize the attraction and
retention of quality staff.
Over the last five years, we have had unusually large
staff changes each year. Some staff are leaving for retirement - many
earlier than they thought they would retire, with skills and knowledge
that we still need. But their economic reality is that after a career
of dedicated service to their communities and children, they will lose
significant dollars from their retirement for each year they remain
in the classroom. Mid-career professionals are leaving to ensure their
families' financial security. The skills they take with them are very
difficult to replace in a competitive job market. Staff assigned overloads
to cover for unfilled positions do quality work with the students they
see, but their energy and their attention are spread beyond the workload
we know makes for the best preparation and follow-up with students.
Teaching out-of-field is stressful and a short-term solution at best,
and it places extra pressure on staff who are already working hard to
implement high-quality standards for student learning. Salaries that
do not keep pace with inflation cannot keep experienced staff in our
schools.
When we replace these departing staff, we find new
and talented young teachers who are starting their careers. They come
with great skills, heart, and enthusiasm for the profession, but these
new teachers need mentoring programs to increase the likelihood they
will stay in the classroom as their skills and enthusiasm meet reality.
The mentoring efforts we have begun will need continual funding that
may no longer be available as our district enrollments decline. Even
with successful mentoring, the reality is that many new staff will not
stay, finding that their skills and knowledge can command better salaries
in less stressful occupations outside public education.
And revenue controls add to their doubts about staying
in the profession in other ways as well. This spring several new staff
were issued non-renewal notices because of budget restrictions that
eliminate their positions. At a point where they are working to establish
their careers, seeing college classmates with higher incomes in more
stable work environments is a strong incentive to choose another path.
And even if they stay in teaching, we lose the continuity and increasing
skills that come with a stable teaching force.
In these and many other ways, revenue controls
endanger our ability as a district to provide the kind of education
programs that keep our community attractive to our graduates when
they are looking for a place to raise their own families. We have had
great community pride in our schools, and many graduates return to the
area when they have completed their post high-school education and training.
The economic strength of our community has depended
upon high quality education from kindergarten through technical college
to attract industry and professional businesses to the area. We serve
a great diversity of students with needs that cannot be restricted to
yesterday's curriculum, and who rely on you to advocate for them in
your budget deliberations. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of children
and public education.
Article
on April 11, 2001, budget hearing
Resource page on 2001-2003
state budget