Exemption Would Improve School Safety

If our goal is to improve school safety from within, "we are heading inexorably in the wrong direction," Sun Prairie teacher Glenn Schmidt told a special legislative committee Tuesday (July 22, 2008).

Schmidt encouraged the Legislative Council Special Committee on School Safety to support legislation that would exempt school safety costs from school district revenue controls. Such a policy would allow school districts to fund school safety measures without having to take away from other education budgets.

"The current budgetary structure that forces districts to choose between school safety and other priorities even if they want to spend their own district money is too inflexible and doesn’t meet the needs of today’s schools," Schmidt said.

Schmidt noted that school districts throughout the state are either cutting back on school safety measures such as school safety officers or raiding education funds in an attempt to provide safety.

"Sun Prairie, my home district, lost all five of its popular police liaisons three years ago," Schmidt said. "This year our district had three meetings on escalating gang behavior, each attended by 100 citizens. Would we be at this level of concern if those officers were still there?"

Districts are scraping for funds to install alarm systems and security cameras or to remodel school entrances, increase lighting, provide training and much more, he said.

The Madison school district "has raided education and other budgets to pay for safety improvements. Repair and cleaning budgets have also been shortchanged, causing floors and bathrooms to remain uncleaned, carpets not vacuumed, trash cans not emptied and regular cleaning cycles disrupted. Cuts in the custodial staff have resulted in a generally unhealthy environment."

Keeping schools safe is more challenging, and more expensive, than in the past, he said. He noted that before Sun Prairie hired him in 1977, he spent four years working at the La Crosse Home for Children, a residential facility for young children who were deemed too difficult, dangerous or disruptive for public schools. "Few such places exist today and children who would have been treated there are now being educated in public schools. That is essentially what the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal special education law, mandates."

Also, statistics show that bullying is on the rise. "Left unaddressed, these situations can lead to extreme violence.  The goal is to address this on the front end.  Prevention is key.

"We need teachers with small enough classes to have a personal relationship with each student in class," Schmidt said. "We need more counselors to address serious emotional issues. We need more staff development opportunities for teachers and support personnel to be trained in keeping our schools safe. And we need police liaisons and other connections with the community that don’t leave us isolated and afraid."

And, he said, schools need the flexibility to provide those critical services without having to fund them by taking scarce resources away from basic education programs.

Posted July 24, 2008