Rep. Peter Barca is the Wisconsin Assembly Democrats Leader
Gov. Walker went to yesterday's Education Summit in New York City with the hope that he would be able to continue to paint a rosy picture about public education in Wisconsin. Thanks to the efforts of concerned Wisconsin bloggers like Sun Prairie resident Heather DuBois Bourenane and others on Twitter, NBC's Brian Williams was forced to ask Gov. Walker tough questions about why his rhetoric doesn't match the reality of education in Wisconsin.
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As pointed out by Heather's open letter, the facts show that Gov. Walker's budget is balanced on the backs of schoolchildren with $1.6 billion in public education reductions. In fact, his cuts are so large, Wisconsin now leads the nation in state cuts to education, according to a non-partisan group's study of 24 states that track education funding budget data.
Gov. Walker responded by saying that when Wisconsin's schoolchildren returned to the classroom on September 1st, "schools were the same or better."
That simply isn't true. Thanks to Gov. Walker's deep cuts, school districts across the state are laying off staff, cutting programs and activities, increasing class sizes and even raising local property taxes.
According to a Capital Times survey, 65% of respondents said their districts will have less staff, 27% of respondents will have fewer programs or activities, and 32% of the respondents reported that class sizes will be larger.
Teacher retirements are also skyrocketing thanks to Gov. Walker's budget filled with massive tax giveaways to special interests, including taxpayer-supported private voucher schools, at the expense of public education. According to the Associated Press, 4,935 Wisconsin school district employees have retired, up from 2,527 teacher retirements in all of 2010 and 2,417 in 2009.
And earlier this month, I held a conference call with superintendents from Eau Claire, Superior and Sturgeon Bay to discuss the negative impact Gov. Walker's budget has had on schoolchildren in their districts. Here is what Eau Claire Area School District Superintendent Ron Heilmann, Jr. had to say about the "tools" Gov. Walker has given local districts:
Governor Walker's tools will dismantle public education, not build up our schools. His education cuts will negatively impact the dreams of Eau Claire's public schoolchildren and those across the state. Experienced educators will be forced to make difficult decisions regarding remaining in public education in Wisconsin. Quality programming has been cut at a time when post-secondary readiness is the goal for every Eau Claire student. Gov. Walker's tools are not providing students and families with the building blocks for careers that will last a lifetime.
One of Wisconsin's greatest economic development resources has always been our well-educated workforce. Thanks to our investment in teachers, classrooms and schoolchildren, our state has consistently been a national education leader in many areas, including graduation rates and ACT scores.
With Walker's dramatic cuts to education and a huge cut to technical colleges and their job training programs, employers will be less likely to relocate to Wisconsin because they will know that potential employees are receiving fewer opportunities to learn vital skills and prepare themselves to enter the workforce.
Yet Gov. Walker has the nerve to go on NBC and call this "reform" giving the false implication that his cuts will produce better results.
Wisconsin bloggers and activists once again helped hold Gov. Walker accountable for his misplaced priorities that have reduced public school funding by $1.6 billion while giving $40 million in additional funding to unaccountable, unproven, private voucher schools. In the coming weeks and months we will continue to need the assistance of bloggers to take Wisconsin back so that we can restore much-needed funding to public schools.
Wisconsin's schoolchildren deserve a public education system as good as their parents had with quality teachers who inspire students to take on challenges and succeed. Unfortunately, Gov. Walker and Republican legislators continue to ignore the reality of his budget choices and the devastating effect they are having on districts around the state.
With your continued help and support, we will return Wisconsin to a national leader in education for the right reasons – and not be held up as an example of what not to do when it comes to schools.