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Mary Bell elected WEAC president


Delegates approve four
New Business Items

'I'll always think of all
of you as my family,'
Johnson says in
his final RA address

We must all work
together as partners,
Burkhalter says

Delegates approve
three additions to
WEAC Resolutions

WEAC Awards Banquet

Notice:

With the election of Mary Bell as WEAC president, the office of WEAC secretary-treasurer becomes vacant. Bell had two years left on her three-year term as secretary-treasurer. Any WEAC member interested in running to fill the final two years of that term must submit his or her name to WEAC Executive Director Dan Burkhalter by June 10. For necessary paperwork, contact Ann Caruso at carusoa@weac.org or at 800-362-8034, extension 219. In July, the WEAC Board – in a weighted vote – will elect a member from among the nominees to fill out that term.

Wisconsin Rapids library media specialist Mary Bell, who has served as WEAC secretary-treasurer since 2003, was elected to a three-year term as WEAC president Saturday (April 21, 2007) at a WEAC Representative Assembly that also included touching tributes to out-going President Stan Johnson.

Bell outpolled two other longtime WEAC activists – WEAC Vice President Terry Meyer of Kewaunee and NEA Director Paul Hambleton of Baldwin. She will take over as president in August.

In another contested election, South Milwaukee teacher Guy Costello was elected to a three-year term as WEAC vice president. He outpolled Beloit teacher and NEA Director Bob Fitzsimmons.

In other elections, Laura Vernon and Hedy Eischeid (each unopposed) were elected to NEA director seats, and Britt Hall (also unopposed) was elected as an alternate NEA director.

A tribute to Stan Johnson

Throughout the RA, held in Madison, Johnson was honored for his six years of service as president. The WEAC Constitution and Bylaws limits a president’s tenure to two three-year terms.

Governor Doyle was among those thanking and honoring Johnson.

“Stan Johnson has been there every step of the way,” Doyle said. “Through every battle we fought he has been a stalwart. ...

"Stan has been a great, great champion for the schools of this state and the children of this state."

Mary Bell's priorities

In her campaign address to the RA, Bell said one of her top priorities would be to work with our friends and allies "to completely rework a broken health care system."

Second, she said, she will work to change the Qualified Economic Offer law and school district revenue caps. "And if we can't get politicians to change their minds we will change their bodies, and I'm not proposing a new wellness program."

Third, she said, she will make sure the WEAC budget reflects the right priorities - "priorities that you set."

"And finally," she said, "we have to take back our profession."

In a world built around the state's new PI 34 licensing law, she said, professional development cannot be top-down, and we must move beyond educational philosophies "that only serve to support testing, pre-testing, and re-testing that robs our children of time and our country of its soul."

Governor Doyle thanks members

In his address, Doyle thanked WEAC members for their support over the years and repeated that his number one priority has always been and always will be "this state's commitment to education."

Republicans went too far when they proposed to cut $400 million in education funding, he said, and the result was that Wisconsin voters turned control of the Senate over to Democrats and reduced the Republican majority in the Assembly by eight seats. "Wisconsin is still a public education state," Doyle said.

Doyle said his 2007-09 state budget plan, which is now in the hands of the Legislature, is "a pro-education budget." It provides additional funding for the SAGE class-size reduction program, special education and school transportation aids and funds the Wisconsin Covenant which ensures that students who make a commitment and do the work will be guaranteed admission to college in Wisconsin. It also provides more exemptions from school district revenue caps, maintains two-thirds state funding of schools, and repeals the Qualified Economic Offer law, he said.

Although the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee have removed the QEO item from the budget for now, the governor said that with a Democratic-controlled State Senate there is "a ray of hope" that his proposal to repeal the QEO will pass.

Ultimately, it will likely come down to conference committee negotiations after the Senate and Assembly pass their versions of the budget bill. If it doesn't happen this year, he said, "we only need three more seats in the State Assembly (in the 2008 elections), and we don't have to worry about any of this."

Doyle said Wisconsin does not want to be lagging behind neighboring states in teacher salaries, or our best and brightest educators will leave for other places.

In addition to quality public education, he said, what is most important for this state is that citizens have access to good jobs, that we have a growing economy, and that everyone has affordable health care.

"Every child in your schools should have health insurance," the governor said.

Posted April 21, 2007; Updated April 22-23, 2007

Education News