Plenty of people have called Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin a tool. A tool of the elite, a tool of the Koch brothers, or just a plain tool. Google it and you'll get thousands of hits.
Maybe that's what gave him the idea - hearing that word so often - he decided to make it the centerpiece of his efforts to recuperate the dreadful shame that is his budget. Around March of this year, in speech after speech, and continuing to this day, he refers the "tools" he has given schools to ensure that, despite operating with $900 million less in state aid over the next two years, there will be no change to the quality of education. (See DPI Summary (pdf) and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Article)
Tools are specific things: devices used to carry out specific functions. So one could reasonably expect that even if Walker didn't want to get into the ins-and-outs of his education "tools," he could at least describe the functions that we will see, beginning this fall, in our public schools.
In his remarks last week at Fox Valley Metal-Tech, in Green Bay, Walker put the "tools" in the hand of a school board member:
A school board member recently emailed me that our reforms "gave the district the tools to be able to continue to provide a high quality education, to not layoff staff, and to save taxes." That was our goal.
Hmmm. So are the "tools" union stripping and handicapping counties by restricting property taxes? And how will that play out in the classroom?
If we look back to early March, we see Walker employing the tool metaphor:
Governor Walker argues savings from stripping collective bargaining rights in the budget repair bill will negate the nearly $900 million reduction in school aide. He stands by the cuts hoping down the road, other school districts will join in support.
Governor Walker says, "It's good for our students at schools, it's ultimately good for our teachers because we're going to allow the best and brightest to stay in the classroom and we're giving the schools the tools they need not only now, but in years to come, to make sure they can protect those jobs and keep them in the classroom."
The Governor says another big advantage is that these reforms give districts the ability to hire and fire based on merit. Walker says teachers won't be judged solely on seniority, making sure the best teachers are in the classroom.
But State Superintendent Tony Evers says, "the per pupil revenue limits put in place by Walker's proposed biennial budget presents a crushing challenge to public school districts."
So the "tools" are about giving districts the ability to hire and fire more easily, but also giving teachers the ability to protect their jobs? Doublespeak, anyone? The article, "Why Your Boss is Wrong About You" by management expert Samuel A. Culbert should give anyone pause about making it easier to fire teachers.
In March, the Progressive noted the excessive use of "tools":
Using the word "tools" over and over again, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker explained to the press how his budget cuts to public education--approximately $900 million: the biggest in state history--the end of collective bargaining for teachers, and other drastic changes will actually result in a net savings for schools in Wisconsin.
Now, anyone who has been following politics for more than a day knows that empty rhetoric is more a rule than an exception. But Walker's repeated, non-specific use of the word "tools" is maddening for several reasons:
1. Presumably the "tools" Walker has in mind are the end of collective bargaining and the expansion of the use of vouchers. But he is allowed to use the positive term "tools" without clarifying this, and also without explaining how these "tools" that may make budgeting easier are actually related to the classroom.
2. "Tool" is a word used, with much greater specificity, in education. And you don't give a teacher a teaching tool, or a student a thinking tool, without identifying the tool and explaining how it is used and its effects.
3. This empty rhetoric is high gloss on cuts and changes that are already having negative effects on our education system. The Milwaukee school district has already laid off 514 workers, 354 of whom are teachers. (I'm not sure if that includes library media specialists). Shorter Walker: Let me kick you and tell you that I love you.
As Representative Sondy Pope-Roberts of Middleton put it:
[Walker's] tools are all hatchets