There is ample evidence that Walker is putting in place plans for privatization of public education well beyond what is in the budget proposal or what he is caring to admit publicly yet.
The budget proposal covers semi-privatization of UW-Madison [and possibly UW-Milwaukee in the future]. The budget proposal plans to remove Charter school caps in MPS, which is likely to have a negative impact on MPS.
Also note that the budget proposal states that a teacher at a charter school doesn't have to be a teacher certified via DPI, just someone with a bachelors degree. While this may not be cataclysmic, it isn't necessarily great, either, as we should demand some sort of uniformity in our teachers capabilities, much like we test our children with standardized tests.
Have a look yourself at the following proposed legislation:
Senate Bill 20 allows parts of MPS to be sold for property tax relief
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/data/SB-20.pdf
However, Senate Bill 22 goes further.
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/data/SB-22.pdf
Senate Bill 22 includes unlimited Charter school creation, virtual and/or physical with no caps on attendance. When the budget proposal came out I privately suggested to my wife that this would likely reform public education into virtual private schools at a rapid pace. Horrifically, I may have been right.
Combined with Senate Bill 34, which recinds residency requirements for MPS
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/data/SB-34.pdf
It starts to become clear that Walker intends to create some of those 250,000 private sector jobs by eliminating part of public education in the state.
While the residency requirements may be benign, it opens up the possibility that your child's next teacher might not even live in the U.S. Think of all of the money we can save by offshoring education! God bless them, but if you've ever had to talk to off-shore tech support, let's just say there can be, at times, multiple barriers to effective communication.
Throughout all of this, what benchmarks are being done to ensure that the quality of the education system increases, not decreases? Oh that's right, none, because it's all about the money when you run the state like a business. It's all about savings. It's all about "creating an environment where the private sector can create 250,000 [sh***y] jobs". Note: I threw in that part in brackets.
Educating the next generation of Americans is NOT A BUSINESS.
Pass the word. Here are the legislators that introduced the bill. And if you care about the future of Wisconsin and our country, please consider getting involved in the recall processes so we can restore compromise and sanity back into Government.
February 23, 2011 - Introduced by Senators DARLING, OLSEN, LAZICH, VUKMIR,
KAPANKE and GALLOWAY, cosponsored by Representatives VOS, KESTELL,
MARKLEIN, VAN ROY, KLEEFISCH, PRIDEMORE, BIES, NASS, HONADEL, BALLWEG,
KNODL and MURSAU. Referred to Committee on Education.
/////////////////////////// ! BONUS ! ////////////////////////////////////////
Also today, as promised, the 8% [or more] cuts the teachers are facing are just the beginning. Today, Walker urges that "districts and locals can go above and beyond the health care and pension contributions now required of public employees to save money thanks to changes in collective bargaining." to maximize savings.
http://wispolitics.com/1006/110316_Walker_education.mp3
In 2010, the average starting teacher made $34,000 and spent 3% pension on pension and 6% healthcare. Assuming a 'single' healthcare plan, their takehome pay in 2010 was reduced $500 to $33,500. In 2011, under the legislation passed in Senate Bill 11 [50% pension, 12% healthcare] takehome pay is reduced to $31000, a 7.5% pay cut. If the starting teacher needed a family healthcare plan, the takehome pay would be $29500. I am using the cheapest healthcare plan available in these calculations.
Remember, this is average starting pay, not minimum. That works out to be ~$15/hr for a job that requires schooling BEYOND A BACHELORS degree and is directly responsible for preparing the next generation of Americans to be competitive in the private sector.
In 2000 I entered the professional computer field at a starting pay of $43k. I would rank the importance of teachers higher than my job, and ten years later, they make $10k less, not even adjusted for inflation? How do we expect to draw any interest to the noble profession of education like this? What sort of America do we expect to have in 2030?
In summary, in addition to some austerity, can we just tax the rich modestly already so that we don't have to make cuts as draconian as these?
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