Take a Walk on the Child's Side

Walk supporting fair and adequate school funding

Retired Phillips teacher Etola Foytek (center); her daugher, a Phillips High School student (left); and Pardeeville speech therapist Bev Bartels leave Portage on the 16th day of the Walk on the Child's Side.

Day 16 (June 22): Portage to Arlington

The Walk on the Child's Side advanced within 22 miles of the State Capitol Tuesday (June 22, 2004) with four dedicated supporters of public education leading the way.

"We want to make sure that people are aware that we aren't happy and we aren't going away," said Bev Bartels a speech therapist in Pardeeville, who walked the Portage-to-Arlington route on the 16th day of the journey.

Bartels, who is participating in her first Walk On the Child's Side, said Pardeeville schools are losing qualified teachers while enrollment is going up and are "constantly losing ground."

She was joined by Etola Foytek, a retired teacher from Phillips; Foytek's daughter, a junior at Phillips High School; and Teri Hanson, from Phillips, the lead organizer of the 252-mile Walk.

"We keep getting older and more tired, but we're not going to lose our voice," said Foytek. She said she would continue to do what she can to further the quality of education even when her daughter graduates. "Education is a cycle, and someone helped me when I was in school so I need to continue helping children who deserve a quality education."

The Walk on the Child Side began June 7 in Butternut and concludes Thursday with a rally at the State Capitol in Madison. The number of participants has varied each day, but the link has never been broken since 150 people began the walk from Butternut. Teachers, education support professionals, superintendents, school board members, students, parents, and citizens have all participated in the walk, which is drawing attention to the negative effects that revenue caps are having on Wisconsin public schools.

Anyone is invited to join the walk at any point and walk for as long as they like. A shuttle takes walkers back to starting points. Wednesday's walk begins at 8 a.m. at Arlington Grade School on the west side of Arlington and continues 14 miles to the Madison Travel rest stop at Highway 51 and I-90/94 just north of Madison.

The Walk will conclude Thursday with an 8-mile journey from Madison Travel to the State Capitol, where a rally will be held at noon to make sure legislators hear the walkers' message.

Supporters of public education can join the Madison leg of the Walk at any of three designated points. They are:

1. The Highway 51 exit off of I 90-94, at Madison Travel. The walk will begin at 8:00 am.
2. Madison East High School on East Washington Ave. Be there at 10:00 or maybe a little before. When the walkers arrive, the whole group will walk the last two miles to the Capitol together.
3. The State Capitol. If you aren’t able to walk, just come to the State Street side of the Capitol before the noon rally start time.

Water and Walk on the Child Side T-shirts will be available at all three locations. T-shirts are free, but donations are accepted to help defray the expense. Shuttle service will be available to get people back to their cars after the rally.

Day 11 (June 17): Wisconsin Rapids to Rome

More than 30 people participated in the rally held in Wisconsin Rapids Thursday (June 17, 2004), and more than 20 were from the Wisconsin Rapids School District. Wisconsin Rapids was the 11th leg of the 18-day, 252-mile walk from Butternut to Madison in opposition of inadequate school funding.

"If politicians would look at the positive product that Wisconsin schools have produced – instead of looking at the negative side – and rally behind them, then people would support public education and wouldn't mind paying for it," said Bob Johannes, a teacher in the Wisconsin Rapids School District and three-year participant in the "Walk On the Child's Side."

Wisconsin Rapids teachers and students, like the majority of Wisconsin public schools, have felt the impact of revenue controls. The elementary school eliminated its keyboard instructor, which will force classroom teachers to take over the course. Staff hours for the librarians will be cut and libraries will close early, the fee for enrollment will be raised, and a teacher layoff has merged classes that result in less one-on-one time for the teachers and students.

"Some take education for granted," Johannes said, adding he hopes people won't wait until schools are closing to take notice and get involved. Looking at revenue caps from a teacher's point of view can be very depressing, Johannes said. But instead of getting depressed about it, he gets active. Something has to be done, he said, "We can't continue down this road."

Day 8 (June 14): Spencer to Marshfield

“We can see the writing on the walls,” said Julie Jarrel, president of the Marshfield Teachers Association, “inadequate funding for schools is getting worse.”

Jarrel joined more than 20 walkers Monday (June 14, 2004) for the eighth day of "Walk on the Child's Side," an 18-day, 252-mile walk from Butternut to the State Capitol to support fair and adequate funding of public education. Jarrel and the walkers made the 14-mile leg from Spencer through Marshfield.

Jarrel said she is concerned about how state-imposed revenue controls will affect her district, students, and community. The Marshfield school board will trim the district's budget by $1.3 million next year, half of which will be achieved through reductions in staff. Most of the teachers that are retiring won’t be replaced, she said.

Revenue controls are greatly impacting smaller districts, like the Butternut School District, which may soon be forced to consolidate with its neighbor, the Park Falls School District. Jarrel said it is just a matter of time before all Wisconsin school districts, regardless of size, reach funding crises.

That's why it is important to bring attention to the damage being caused by the state's current system of funding public education. “We are all in this together,” Jarrel said.

Day 1 (June 6): Butternut to Fifield - Off to a good start

Wearing white T-shirts and shorts, fueled by cool water and energy bars, and armed with determination, about 150 people participated in the first leg Monday (June 7, 2004) of "Walk on the Child's Side."

"With each step you take, it is a message of hope," State Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) said at a kickoff rally outside Butternut School, a K-12 school with such severe budget problems that it may be closed within two years.

Butternut School District Superintendent Bruce La Rose raised a flag over his head, declaring it represents that he and the other walkers are "carrying the torch" for public education. The flag was to be passed along to other superintendents along the route.

"School funding reform needs to begin with our first steps here today and end in Madison in a few days," he said. "We're here to say 'No more; it's time for a change.' "

Jauch, La Rose and others pointed to the uncertain fate of the 200-student K-12 Butternut School as representative of either what is happening or what may lie ahead for schools throughout the state as a result of state-imposed revenue controls on school districts. Although they support and love their school, a growing budget crisis has forced district residents to vote to consolidate with the Park Falls School District. The Park Falls School Board is now considering the issue.

La Rose said state-imposed revenue caps are to blame for the potential demise of Butternut School, a potentiality that would strip Butternut of one of the anchors that make it a community, disrupt the lives of students and families and result in longer bus rides for students.

"The effect of revenue caps is to limit the ability of local government to spend the money necessary to maintain quality education in the schools," La Rose said. "A lesser education is the consequence, and an unequal education results."

Teri Hanson, an education support professional in the Phillips school system and an organizer of the Walk, said the Day 1 turnout was triple the number of people who ever participated in a segment of the Walk on the Child's Side.

"We know the time is now for funding change, and we can be the instruments of change in Wisconsin," she said, "because the future of public education in Wisconsin is at stake."

Rep. Gary Sherman (D-Port Wing) said the revenue caps law inherently discriminates against small schools and is forcing a number of district to consider consolidation after cutting everything there is to cut from their budgets.

"The future looks bleak unless something changes," he said. "We're not talking about improving schools anymore; we're talking about having them at all."

Yet, Sherman said, there are "more hopeful signs than ever before" as more and more politicians recognize that the state's school funding system is not working.

"Everybody knows something has to happen this year, or two years from now we're going to have far fewer school districts in northern Wisconsin," he said.

Jauch said he was on a committee that ultimately developed the revenue control law but he refused to sign the committee's report. "I would not put my name on an execution order for public education," he said.

Jauch said Butternut School is a great school with wide support from parents and members of the community. "They deserve to have the State of Wisconsin on their side, not on their back destroying everything they have done," he said.

Jauch said northern Wisconsin school districts suffer under revenue controls because their costs have always been low. "But this is a statewide issue," he said, "because students in Milwaukee are just as threatened as children in Butternut."

Milwaukee School Board member Jennifer Morales said she brought "a message of solidarity from the big city," whose schools and children also are suffering under the impact of revenue controls. "We are all in this together," she said. "No one wins if one of us loses."

Morales said Walk participants represent "a moral force and a political force for change."

"We are starting to scare the pants off people who thought they could ignore this issue," she said.

Butternut School sophomore Samantha Powell said her school, which has been in the community since 1915, is much more than a building. "This school is a second home to many," she said, and is filled with the hopes, cheers and memories of thousands of people. ..." We need to save this school."

Phillips teacher Randy Kunsch said revenue controls are forcing people to fight each other for the scraps left over after budget cuts. The Walk on the Child's Side is designed to draw attention to the inequities of the school funding system and the need to meet the needs of all children, he said.

"The Walk has always been for the kids and their future," he said.

Return to this page for periodic updates of the Walk on the Child's Side. Also see daily reports at www.nocaps.org.

A message from CARE

It has been almost three years since CARE (Committee on Alternative Revenue for Education) last hit the road to bring the message of inadequate school funding to the public in an event known as "A Walk on the Child's Side." Since then, there has been a groundswell of public outcry as school programs have been cut and school districts face closure. Not surprisingly, there has been a growing consensus among policymakers that the system is broken and needs fixing.

In the interest of maintaining public pressure, we are marching ... again. The power of this action has been its visibility. By marching, we place this issue in the public spotlight for a full two-and-a-half weeks and increase the awareness level for the voting and taxpaying public. Below is the daily schedule. We need people to take a day out of their busy summer schedules and walk, if only for a few symbolic miles.

To participate, simply choose one of the days on the schedule, recruit people in your community to join you, and then contact either Kelly Meredith or Teri Hanson, listed in the adjacent box. Note: you are not expected to walk the entire segment for that day. A CARE member will shuttle you back to your car at your convenience.

We have a long, hard fight ahead. But the voices of ordinary citizens and the realities of ordinary school systems cannot be denied indefinitely. If we have achieved any success at all, it has come largely from our unwillingness to give up and go home. Come and join us. Take this opportunity to take a walk on the child's side.

Updated June 22, 2004