WEAC Board Approves Great School Initiative

Targets revenue controls, QEO

Praising it as a visionary plan that will bring schools and communities together for kids, the WEAC Board of Directors in January overwhelmingly approved what has come to be called the WEAC Great Schools Initiative.

Guy Costello

“This plan challenges all of our members to enter the struggle to maintain and promote quality public education,” said board member Bob Lehmann of Milwaukee. “Through this plan, beginning with our members, we can educate the entire public on the real state of public education and draw from the public a commitment to public education.”

Guy Costello, of South Milwaukee, said the plan is designed to organize members and citizens to work together for public schools.

“It starts with member involvement and a real member-to-member discussion about what are great schools,” Costello said. “It sees parents and communities as allies and stresses coalition building.”

Bob Lehmann

The initiative was developed over the last eight months by the UniServ Advisory Council. The council, made up primarily of UniServ presidents from throughout the state, was created by the WEAC Representative Assembly last April. The council was asked to develop an action plan to address issues related to the Qualified Economic Offer law and revenue controls on school districts.

The Great Schools Initiative is a major undertaking that will require a new commitment from members and a major reshuffling of WEAC organizational priorities, said WEAC President Terry Craney.

“If approved by the Representative Assembly in April, this plan will create a major change in how this organization operates,” he said.

The strength of the WEAC Great Schools Initiative is that it provides a framework for associations and citizens to decide at the local level how to best promote public education in their community, according to advocates.

“This plan begins with a thorough member education process and recognizes that community involvement is essential,” said Lehmann, who teaches in Milwaukee.

A key element of the initiative is the creation of Great Schools Committees in every school. These committees would be made up of community representatives and school staff. They would develop recommendations for further improving their schools.

These committees would address issues related to the Qualified Economic Offer law and school district revenue controls, but also myriad other issues that affect education in their communities.

Eventually, these Great Schools Committees would forward recommendations to their school boards and to legislators.

“Imagine having hundreds or thousands of concerned citizens working with educators in every community in the state to develop school improvement plans,” said WEAC President Terry Craney. “I can’t think of another time this many citizens have come together in such an organized fashion to help develop public policy. These committees could have a powerful impact on education policy in this state.”

Other elements of the plan include:

Additional resources to support lobbying and collective bargaining activities.
Increased WEAC public relations activities, including a substantial television advertising campaign.
A member-to-member discussion network and widespread distribution of print and video materials to members.
Accelerated coalition-building activities.
A program in each UniServ to train members to carry out the far-reaching initiative.
Advanced internal and external communications regarding activities related to the Great Schools Initiative.

“This plan challenges our members to enter the struggle to preserve quality public education,” Lehmann said. “There is a cost in dollars, but this pales in comparison to what we already lost and will never recover and, more importantly, what we stand to lose in the future by not committing to this plan of action.”

Funding of the initiative will be discussed by the Representative Assembly, which is the annual meeting of about 900 WEAC delegates elected from throughout the state. These delegates annually determine major WEAC policy issues, develop the organization’s over-arching budget and set dues.

If the Great Schools Initiative is approved by the RA, Craney said, the RA and the WEAC Board will build the budget around the goals and objectives of the plan.

Guy Costello, a WEAC Board member from South Milwaukee, said there are five reasons he strongly supports the Great Schools Initiative.

“First, and this is crucial,” he said, “it starts with member involvement and real member-to-member discussion about what are great schools.

“Second, it identifies parents and communities as allies and stresses coalition building.

“Third, for the first time in a long time it provides an opportunity for consensus in our own union. I see everyone in their own way joining in and participating in this plan with unequivocal support.

“Fourth, it takes us beyond rhetoric about the QEO and revenue controls, which a lot of people don’t understand. This takes us into a discussion about great schools and how important it is to save public education, which is the cornerstone of our democracy.

“Finally, it gets our union to start shifting our focus and resources back to organizing our members and the communities in which we live. We need to double, triple, quadruple the number of members who are active and take our message beyond our membership.”

Lehmann said the initiative also commits the organization and members to waging a more visible campaign.

“This plan acknowledges we need to take on the opponents of public education, not utilizing their tactics of sound bites of misinformation but, with the Great Schools concept, focusing on the public’s concerns and ideas through substance, not fluff.”