Why The School Takeover Bill is Wrong for Wisconsin: Recap of the AB1 Hearing

For nearly 12 hours on Wed. Jan 14, 2015, I watched as the Assembly Education Committee hearing on AB-1, the Public School Takeover Bill, went from standing room only to empty.  During this time, many remarkable things happened.  Here's the shortest version I could distill of that harrowing timeline:
  • Around 9am, it was announced before the hearing even began that the provision of AB1 to establish a 13-member Academic Review Board would be dropped, and that a revised bill was in the works.  Neither a revised bill nor proposed amendments were available for public view or consideration.  It was announced that the revised bill would be produced by Friday, Jan. 16, and that there would be no additional public hearing on the revised bill (Click HERE to sign the petition calling for additional hearings).
  • By 10am (official start time of the hearing), the hearing room was packed to the gills with experts and citizens from all over the state who came to testify in opposition to AB1.  These people were now uncertain what they were testifying against, as the "new" bill has not yet been written.
  • Committee chair and the bill's only named author, Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, testified in favor of the bill for the first two hours of the hearing.  HE WAS THE **ONLY** PERSON IN WISCONSIN TO OFFICIALLY TESTIFY IN FAVOR OF THE BILL.  During his testimony, he refused to name the additional authors of the bill, admitted that the bill would open the doors to privatizing public schools, and suggested that the Academic Review Board which was the cornerstone of the 29-page bill was a publicity stunt.  He further promised that Common Core State Standards, which were not covered by the  original bill, would be "a big part" of the revised bill (which he said would not receive a public hearing).  Before his testimony even ended, many who'd been first in line to speak were forced to leave because of other obligations. 
  • Around noon, public testimony began. Jeff Pertl of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) was the first to speak.  He gave a compelling and excellent case for the disastrous implications of the bill. Then he was subjected to interrogation by the committee which revealed in short order the contempt of Assembly Republicans for public schools and the expertise of education professionals.
  • For the next 10 hours, citizen after citizen took the microphone and voiced fact-based, meticulously argued reasons why this ill-founded "accountability" scheme was an attempt to hijack public schools in Wisconsin without even attempting to establish accountability where it's needed most (ie for the private schools and independent charters receiving taxpayer funds without being held accountable to the public).  I watched with profound disappointment as so many people I knew had to leave, one by one, before they had the chance to speak - including Tim Slekar, Dean of the Edgewood College School of Education (who shared his thoughts on the hearing & testimony here), and many representatives of my own school district (educators, a principal, a school board member) - none of whom got to speak.
  • Groups representing students and schools were given priority placement on the agenda, and pretty much every education advocacy group in the state had sent a representative to speak out against this bill. (Click here for the excellent testimony from John Forester of the Wisconsin School Administrators' Alliance). Their collective testimony was devastating, and many common threads pointed toward:
    • the bill's unconscionable and illegal seizure of control from DPI and local, democratically-elected school boards
    • the inherent flaw in the bill's premise: the unfounded assumption that charter schools are a "magic bullet" to fix "failing" schools
    • the inequity and unconstitutionality of creating "two systems" and "two standards" of accountability for Wisconsin schools
    • the problematic nature of using multiple measures (so-called "value-added" assessments and multiple standardized tests) to rank and assess schools
    • the many follies of the A-F grading system and its potential impact on tax revenues and local economies
    • the fiscal impacts of the bill, all negative, especially for rural schools
    • the disproportionate negative impact of the bill on public schools, which serve 875,000 Wisconsin students
    • the lack of accountability for voucher schools and independent charters in the bill
    • the fact that the State of Wisconsin ALREADY HAS a rigorous accountability system in place for public schools
  • IN CONTRAST: While media reports tend to give "equal time" to the bill's "support," it should be emphasized as much as possible that the ONLY people to speak in favor of the bill were paid privatization lobbyists Scott Jensen (R, American Federation for Children) and Jim Bender (R, School Choice Wisconsin).  As Rebecca Kemble points out,
    "Only the bill's named author, Jeremy Thiesfeldt, testified in favor. Scott Jensen and Jim Bender spoke "for information purposes only" since neither they nor their organizations are legally registered lobbyists in the State of Wisconsin. Otherwise, it was an amazingly broad range of people from all over the state and all over the political spectrum who soundly rejected this not-ready-for-prime-time bill." 
    During their testimony, Jensen said he was "thrilled" with both the bill and the "collaboration" with Thiesfeldt in its crafting. [NOTE: Thiesfeldt claims to also have "consulted" with a school district administrator on the bill, but this is a highly dubious claim, and to record no education professionals had a hand in its drafting].
  •  A full seven hours into the testimony, and long after many present had to leave to meet other obligations, we heard from the first educator of the day, and the final hours of the testimony proved the most poignant as educators and citizens (conservatives and progressives alike) finally had opportunity to speak.
  • The hearing was adjourned just shy of the 12-hour mark, and now we wait anxiously for the revised version of the bill, which Thiesfeldt says he hopes will be passed next week, and the Senate version of the bill, which is tentatively slated for a public hearing on Jan. 27 (MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND PLAN TO ATTEND!)
"I am a parent and I don’t have a choice. My son has multiple disabilities,
and the school choice program isn’t required by law to take him.
My name is Peg Randall Gardner and I am here to register my dissent
to this bill and the negative effects it will have on children like mine.
This is my son Nikolai. He wanted to come and testify for himself,
but the eleven hours I’ve been sitting here would have done him in.
So I’ll just put his picture here. I wanted you to see his picture
because this bill is about more than numbers, test scores, data and the
arbitrary grades that determine if schools and school districts pass or fail.
It’s about people, real people, like Nikolai.
These policies are not just theories for him; they’re his life."
- Public school parent Peg Randall Gardner
Read the rest of her powerful testimony here: http://bit.ly/1DLEvII
Photo and caption: Joe Brusky,  MTEA
I'm terrified about what the "revised" bill will look like, and of the fact that that bill is likely to never see a public hearing. Hopefully the sham hearing we witnessed on Wednesday will rally an even larger turnout in opposition to the upcoming legislation promised to be even more regressive.  Stay tuned for details on that.

 As one of the people who testified and sat through nearly the entire day's proceedings, as expert after expert after expert testified to the horrors of the impacts of this bill on both public schools and the public trust, I can say that the two stand-out pieces of testimony came from retired Wisconsin educator Sheila Plotkin and current MPS teacher Amy Mizialko.  The testimony from our friends at Stop Special Needs Vouchers was also excellent.

If you do nothing else to inform yourself, take the time to listen to what they had to say (transcript of testimony follows clips - thanks to Rebecca Kemble for the video).  And prepare to take action.  The future of our schools depends on it: 
 





In my own testimony, I called on legislators to take seriously the considerations and concerns and expertise of all those who testified, and to let OUR voices ring louder than the paid lobbyists who would very likely be at their doors, if not their desks, as the bill is revised.  Rep. Kitchens called us "cynical" but I pointed out that our cynicism is firmly rooted in the 29-pages of the original bill.  And I'll add here that the real cynicism lies in the ultimate failure of this bill to make good on the promise of public education through an unwarranted distrust in public schools and educators.  It's a betrayal of the common good, and a cynical attempt to undermine the foundation of our communities: our beloved public schools.

We knew this fight was going to get ugly.  But what would really be cynical would be to say there's nothing we can do about it.

 Republicans have the majority and they've made their anti-education agenda clear. 

We know who's paying for it, and we know who will pay the price.

But they need to know this:  we're not giving up our schools without a fight. 

 Yesterday should've been the 86th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and I'll leave you with the reminder that guides my every action:  "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

This matters.  And silence is consent.

 Get ready to join this fight, Wisconsin. 

------------------- 

Transcript of the testimony of Sheila Plotkin (with many thanks for permission to post it here:

Article X SECTION 3 of the WI Constitution says: “The legislature shall provide by law for the establishment of district schools, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable; and such schools shall be free and without charge for tuition to all children
between the ages of 4 and 20 years; and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein.”  That’s education for all.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) issued a report on American education, posted by Americans for Prosperity. “The one-size-fits-all education system has not worked. States should… pass choice legislation like charter school bills and voucher systems ….”  That’s education by exclusion.  And, it’s most definitely partisan. It’s a different view of civic responsibility.

Rep. Thiesfeldt introduced AB1. He is a member of Americans for Prosperity, even using that sneering phrase “one size fits all” on his own website.  He’s a religious school teacher, and received $1800 in campaign contributions from private and religious schools.  Those who share his views have spent more than $30 million in the past decade to promote the privatization of education.

I retired from the Milwaukee Public Schools Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program after 28 years. From the inside, I saw daunting challenges overwhelm shrinking resources. I hold you accountable for that.  I am a passionate advocate of public education. It is not one-size-fits-all. It is open to all. “All” are the children that Amy spoke so movingly about, they are the “input” that Scott Jensen dismissed so contemptuously. They are children, not input. 
Last night, Gov. Walker said he trusts parents to choose their children’s schools. We’ve heard a lot about that today. Nearly all parents (96%) choose their public schools. You have already slashed their funding. Those chosen schools are dying by slow strangulation. You’ll now label them as failures. You’ll use the failures you engineered to justify an education-by-exclusion system at taxpayer expense. That is as transparent as it is dishonest.

I was going to talk about the Academic Review Board.  None of us knows what will replace it. I’m worried about that.  [AB1 usurps the constitutional authority of the Supt. of Public Instruction with an unelected Academic Review Board.  70% of its members will be either political appointees or employees of education-by-exclusion. The Board is empowered to establish or contract for independent schools.]  But, I’ll quote Republican Sen. Dale Schultz: “I don’t think that the average citizen of Wisconsin realizes what we’re talking about is really eliminating completely the authority of local school boards and making them subject to a political board in Madison.”  I want to say a word about DPI and the power that Rep. Knudson and others are chafing at. The Superintendent is an elected office, and that power comes from our Constitution and from the voters.
You want to give taxpayers’ money to schools where the many hundreds of deaf students I knew, now tax-payers themselves, would have been denied entry.  Education-by-exclusion will either reject children with special needs or even worse, accept them without competent staff to teach them. That borders on the criminal.
As we have seen in Milwaukee, you intend to invest public funds in fly-by-night education-by-exclusion or private religious schools. The former is immoral, the latter is un-democratic.

You talk about helping public schools to improve, but you vote to gut their funding, demoralize and demean their teachers, and threaten to shut them down. Your definition of helping needs a lot of work.

You promise freedom and choice, but you eviscerate school funding, restricting both freedom and choice for the vast majority of our children and their parents. Your promise is a lie.

Public schools include everyone. They have nurtured the American Dream and taught us how to exercise both our choices and our freedoms.  They are the heart of our communities and the foundation of our middle class. They symbolize our moral commitment to one another and to future generations.

AB1 is immoral. It shows contempt for local control. It betrays the parents who love their public schools and sent you here to represent them.

It is immoral to turn our children into cash cows for your campaign donors.  Morality lies in the full funding our public schools.  On behalf of the Constitution you swore to support, the parents who trusted you, and our vulnerable children who need your protection, I ask you to reject this bill and with it, reject public funding of education-by-exclusion. 

Thank you
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What the School Takeover Bill Means to Wisconsin & What You Can Do About It

Say goodbye to local control, Wisconsin.

As promised, Wisconsin Republicans put "school accountability" at the tip-top of their agenda for the 2015 session, and on the very first day in session, they introduced the very first Assembly bill of the year (the Assembly version of Senate Bill 22): 2015 Assembly Bill 1.

 Public schools are the heart of our communities.  This bill is nothing less than a heart transplant:  it takes control of local schools away from local communities and puts it in the hands of politicians and their appointees.

 This is big-government over-reach at its most blatant and hypocritical and it's really shocking that such a bill could come from the same Republicans who claim to oppose big government control of local decision-making.  And we know that this is just the first of many bills this session that plan to chip away at local control and equity in school funding, even with Wisconsin in the top five states cutting public school funding since the recession.  Sen. Alberta Darling has plans in the works to proposes a New-Orleans style "recovery zone" that would allow takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools. Despite continued failures and evidence that private voucher schools under-perform public schools, Republicans have also pledged to go forward with even more voucher expansion, major changes to state funding for public schools based on "performance," writing new "Wisconsin standards" to replace the Common Core State Standards, and perhaps most nefariously of all, reviving the highly contentious "Special Needs Voucher" plan that has been opposed by every advocacy group in the state representing our most vulnerable students.

Calling this an "accountability" bill is a very sneaky move. Accountability is great.  Any schools receiving public funds SHOULD be held accountable to taxpayers.  But this bill does not provide a coherent, effective plan to hold schools accountable.  It provides a way for politicians to put forward their agenda through an entirely un-accountable "advisory" board.  Let's call it what it is: a public school take-over bill.

This bill mandates cookie-cutter punishments for public schools statewide and takes away the power and authority of education experts at DPI and local, democratically-elected school boards.  Worse, instead of providing tools and support that allow local communities to address the unique needs of public school students in their local communities, it usurps control from local taxpayers and demands "failing schools" be converted to charters; a specious move that has no substantive basis in fact or performance, but is sure to line the pockets of the for-profit charter and "school choice" industry clamoring to support the bill through its many well-paid lobbyists.

 It's no surprise, then, that the bill is taking heat from all sides, with a long and growing list of opposition.  It's worth cataloging some of the loudest among these:
  • Former Republican Senator Dale Schultz calls the bill "a disaster." "I think they're playing with fire," Schultz said. "I don't think that the average citizen of Wisconsin realizes what we're talking about is really eliminating completely the authority of local school boards and making them subject to a political board in Madison."
  • The Wisconsin Association of School Boards warns  that "Not only would this be a state takeover of local schools, but it would reduce the amount of state aid to every public school district in the state."  
  • School officials all over the state oppose the bill. And the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance blasts the bill for relying on the disproven myth that punishment will "improve" schools, and for putting standards for "accountability" in the hands of a board which would not itself be held accountable.
  • The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, which has already implemented an elaborate "report card" accountability structure, exposes the list of struggling schools that face takeover (largely those underfunded and facing high percentages of low-income students).  “It is vital that any proposal to hold schools accountable results in improved outcomes for all children and is constitutionally viable in relation to the state superintendent’s authority to supervise schools,” DPI spokesperson Tom McCarthy said.
  • Betsy Kippers, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council says that the bill "sets public schools up for failure" by providing penalties without strategies or tools to improve performance.
  • Alan Borsuk cautions against labeling schools as "bad" and advises legislators to "Proceed with great attention to the human sides of all this — the kids, the teachers, the school leaders, the programs."
  • Tim Slekar, Dean of Edgewood College's School of Education, writes that the bill "stabs at the heart of our communities: our public schools"   and proposes that any "accountability" efforts begin by holding legislators themselves accountable to answering to the people of Wisconsin.
  • Conservative backlash has been abundant, and the conservative-leaning "Stop Common Core Wisconsin" group is vehemently opposed to the bill, calling the grading system it relies on a "sham" and pointing out the many ways the bill revokes local control of local schools.
  • Even the far-right Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty bristles at the idea that voucher schools be held "equally" accountable and calls out the folly and danger of establishing a board of political appointees to oversee public and private schools alike.
  • The only "interests" NOT taking aim at the bill, in fact, are those with direct links to the organizations lobbying for "reform" (read: privatization) of public schools.
More to come: voucher schools profit while students fail.
Photo: MTEA. 
The School Takeover bill is a 29-page document that rewrites the law to revoke local control of local schools by taking decision-making authority away from democratically elected school boards consisting of people from the community, and putting decision-making about local schools (including whether or not "failing" schools should remain open, and what measures should be taken to improve them) in the hands of a 13-member Advisory Panel that would consist mainly of hand-picked political appointees.

 Since the bill is in the wordy, confusing legal/political jargon of legislation and they're counting on the average parent/taxpayer/educator/whatever not to read it, I went through the bill carefully line by line and will highlight in this post what it means to local public schools.  I've divided the material into 3 sections:
  • What's in this bill?
  • Why is this bad for local control and my local schools?
  • What can I do about it?
What's in this bill, anyway?
  • AB-1 repeals the superintendent's authority to intervene to help "low-performing" schools, as well as the current statute that determines how those schools are funded, and it repeals and revises many of the provisions of the statutes related to "parental school choice" or "voucher" program that allows students to get a taxpayer-funded voucher (currently of $7,210 for grades K-8 and $7,856 for grades 9-12) to pay for tuition at a private school.
  • The bill replaces DPI's current accountability system with an ill-defined new "academic review system" that will be determined and authorized by a new Academic Review Board, which would start evaluating schools in the 2017-2018 school year. Unlike the current system, which is headed by the democratically-elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, the board will consist of 13 members with staggered four-year terms:

    • State schools superintendent Tony Evers and six members nominated by him—a public school principal, a charter school staffer, a private voucher administrator and schoolteacher, and one representative each from the state's technical colleges and University of Wisconsin-System.
    • One at-large member and one technical college representative nominated by Gov. Scott Walker.
    • One nominee from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) and Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse).
      Source: WASB
    Read that list again, closely.  It's entirely possible under this structure that only ONE member of the board (the Superintendent) is a democratically elected official.  It's further possible that only ONE member of the board (a principal) actually works in traditional public school. [The Assembly Minority Leader is directed to appoint a school teacher employed by a district (which could be a charter school teacher); all the other politicians can just appoint "an individual"].  This means it's entirely possible that voucher and charter schools have a louder voice (and vote) on the board than public schools, even though public schools serve the vast majority of Wisconsin children.  And it's possible that with six political appointees, special interest votes or even lobbyists could outnumber them all.
  • The bill also establishes a few key responsibilities of the Academic Review Board: establish rules for awarding "incentives" to high-performing schools and "consequences" for low-performing schools; collect and evaluate data and determine a system for assigning "scores" to each school; develop "improvement plans" (subject to sanctions); and approve three "alternate" tests to measure performance.

    A public school that fails to improve after being subjected to "Step I" sanctions will be automatically converted to an "independent charter school" by the board.  Independent charter school means operating independently from the school district, i.e. not subject to local control or under the authority of the taxpayers of the district.
  • Annual review of schools based on 4 criteria: test scores and growth in reading and math using controversial value-added measures, gap closure in these areas, and attendance & graduation rates.
  • "Educational Options" mandate. The bill requires local school boards to inform all parents and guardians of children 3-18 in the district of the public, private, and charter schools operating in the district. This is basically a mandate for taxpayer-funded free advertising for private and for-profit charter schools.
Why this is bad for local control and my local schools?

Currently, we can personally hold our schools accountable through local school boards.

If your local school board no longer makes the most important decisions about your local schools, YOU no longer have a say in those decisions either.  You cannot attend a board meeting and share your concerns.  You cannot influence the decisions that affect your kids.  Political appointees in Madison would be making the decisions about what's best for your kids.  

Public schools are the greatest and most successful example in America of how democracy works best: when local people have local control of their own schools. This bill calls for allowing political appointees to do the job that's usually done by democratically elected local leaders - who know our schools and our communities best.  This bill takes democracy out of the equation.  It takes YOU out of the equation.  But not your kids. Your kids will still be held "accountable."

It puts partisans and those with conflicting "interests" disproportionate power and authority over public schools.

And it puts the future of our schools in the hands of standardized testing structures which we know don't accurately reflect the "performance" or "potential" of students or schools.

Public schools are the schools of choice for the overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites. We love our public schools and we love that local control means we can make sure our community schools meet the needs of OUR communities.  Why should a voucher school principal have as much say in what happens to public schools than a public school teacher or principal? How can one teacher from, say, Wausau, represent ALL teachers at all public schools in Wisconsin? And why should anyone on the Academic Review Board have more say about what happens to OUR local schools than our local communities?  Cookie-cutter solutions cannot fit the unique character and concerns of our communities. 

Local decision should be made at the local level, by people invested in the results, not at the statehouse by people invested in making a profit.
Finally, there are a number of major concerns "under the surface" of this bill that general public is not likely to be aware of.  My friend Donna Pahuski has provided a great summary of these risks, and points us toward one thing we can do to avoid them:
I know that not everyone has the time or interest to follow what is happening with regard to education reform at the WI statehouse, so here is the latest heads up. The majority party is fast-tracking a bill to reduce public opposition to school vouchers -- SB 22-- otherwise known as "The School Accountability Bill."
For the first time in our state's over 20 year history of vouchers (tax-payer money following kids into private/charter schools, mostly in MILW), voucher proponent lawmakers think they finally have the thing that will help them overcome the tremendous resistance that our WI citizens have put up against expansion of the voucher program -- this bill.
What this new proposed bill misses is that accountability is only real accountability when controls are in place and variables are isolated. Here are some real factors and variables that this bill does not address and these lawmakers have "ants in their pants" to pass it before you notice all of these shortcomings.
1. Private/Voucher/Charter schools doors are NOT open to everyone. Conversely, public schools are REQUIRED to take all comers and cannot refuse anyone. This right of each child to a free and appropriate public education was established in our WI State Constitution, Article 10, Section 3, established 160 years ago. So if vouchers schools continue to be allowed (as they are now) to refuse anyone they want and cherry-pick students much like Ivy League colleges are free to do, would you expect that school's test scores to be above or below the state average?
2. Public schools are required by federal and state law to serve the needs of children with disabilities. Do you think there will be a differences in the test scores (part of the accountability bill package) of schools that educate a school population with 20% with special needs and one with 2% special needs? Further, those voucher schools that may have accepted 2% with lighter disabilities are not required to keep these students after collecting the tax-payer money, as we have seen with many choice schools. Hence, these students could be entered or exited to circumvent test windows. And when that happens, vulnerable children can lose skills and suffer social-emotional stress, which the public schools will once again have to address.
3. Private/Voucher/Charter staff are not required to pass the same background checks as their public school counterparts. The WI Department of Public Instruction maintains and audits a large clearinghouse of background check data on public school staff, whereas, private schools are allowed to simply comply with their faith organization or corporate requirements to prevent liability and get insurance. If lawmakers really do want true accountability for the people's money, all schools taking tax-payer money (including private schools that accept tax-payer dollars as vouchers) should submit their staff names to the DPI background check data base. True accountability not only means that children are learning, it also means using due diligence and keeping track of people who are teaching children to ensure their safety. Why have two separate systems when one is not only more efficient and accountable but cost-effective?
There is a hearing on this "Accountability Bill" on Weds, Jan 14th at 10AM in Room 417 North (Gar Hall). If you are able to attend, please do so. If you care to stand in the path of this ALEC- driven march toward a "dual school system" -- one for the poor and the disabled and one for every one else-- please contact your WI lawmakers and tell them we have to find more equitable ways to improve struggling schools. Oh yeah, and WI is #2 in ACT test scores in the country (we were #1 for 10 years) so how "failing" are our WI schools anyway?
What can I do about it?
While many are predicting that this bill will be passed despite the outrage from all corners (and Walker wants to sign it), the moral imperative to speak up has never been greater.  Fatalistic acceptance of the bill sends a message of consent - and the entire ethos of Monologues of Dissent is built on the necessity of voicing the will of the people, even when that will is openly disregarded, disparaged and dismissed by those in power.  Silence assures passage; dissent demands consideration of our concerns.  MTEA has some excellent suggestions for what you can do to fight this bill:

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The fight for Wisconsin public schools is about to get even uglier: here's what you can do to help in 5 minutes.

Dear Wisconsin,
I've been keeping a low-blogger-profile of late because I've been steeling myself for the legislative session ahead of us.  And also because who DIDN'T need an emotional hiatus after that trainwreck of an election and the incessant threats of the impending wage-theft bill, continued education-gutting, environment-pillaging agenda that will no doubt sail through the legislature as the gleeful supermajority pats itself on the back about their ability to git 'er done.
Rebecca Kemble captured this shot of former Assembly
Speakers & current school privatization lobbyists
Jensen, Gard & Fitzgerald at the Wisconsin Assembly
swearing-in on Jan. 5, 2015 that says everything you
need to know about Monday's inauguration of a
Republican majority in Wisconsin: 
The anti-education lobbyists stand guard over their charges.
"WE ARE WATCHING," they say with their menacing glares.
"SO ARE WE," say the rest of us.

Now that Walker has held his presidential campaign kickoff fundraiser Inauguration Ball, and members of the next session have been sworn in under the watchful eye of the lobbyists to whom they've sold their souls (and our children), I guess it's time to get my bloggy act back together.  

Because my job in this blog is TO KEEP YOU INFORMED of what's at stake for public schools and local communities as we learn the details of what will be passed by the tea-party led Republican majority as the Governor launches his non-stop Presidential fundraising campaign second term.  So if you've missed me, I've been here the whole time. Shaking my head and taking notes, and getting ready to leap once the curtain comes down and we see what they REALLY have planned.

 And get ready, folks.
The fight for public schools is about to get a lot uglier here in Wisconsin.

But my job is also to KEEP THE PEOPLE WHO WORK FOR US INFORMED of what we want and what we think of the job they're doing representing us and our collective interests (because that is their job after all).  And to that aim, I have a special request for all supporters of public education in Wisconsin: please take this survey.
both photos: Rebecca Kemble

The survey, from School Funding Reform for Wisconsin, takes about five minutes to complete and will help the group make a sound, well-supported case before the legislature of the need for fair and equitable funding for our public schools based on community input from around the state.  From the organizers:

We hope that you will take the survey and share it with others. Please note that the purpose of this survey is NOT to provide a statistically-significant sampling of respondents.  Instead, this survey's purpose is to reach out to public school supporters in order to:
1.  engage - get community members' attention with some thought-provoking facts.
2.  educate - provide facts - and links to additional facts - for community members to become better informed about vouchers and other efforts to privatize our public schools.
3.  empower - provide a means for those who are concerned to stay informed and take action against proposed legislation.

We will share the survey results with legislators and the public during the coming months. 
This is a very important pre-step to fighting the regressive legislation we know is in store for the 2015 session and the next biennial budget, so - again - please take this survey.  It's an easy way to start speaking out and let your voice be heard.  

We're going to have to speak up a lot over the next months.  I'm ready.  Hope you are, too.

Forward!
MoD


The Constitution speaks for itself: LOCALLY CONTROLLED district schools. As uniform as practicable. Free and without charge for tuition. No sectarian instruction allowed therein.
Every Wisconsin students deserves an equally excellent public school.

THEIR agenda for 2015: More anti-local control "reform" and phony "accountability" that bankrupts public schools while siphoning public funds into private ones.

  OUR agenda for 2015: Hold legislators accountable to fix our broken funding formula and stop penalizing teachers and schools for being underfunded while we throw money at dangerous for-profit charter ventures and private school "voucher" programs which consistently underperform traditional public schools and underserve our most vulnerable students.
PS: Don't forget to take this survey.
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Walker to Wisconsinites: There's a new cap on your dignity

While their goals have been public knowledge all along, it took no time at all after Tuesday's record-breaking election was sold to the highest bidders for Governor Re-Elect Scott Walker and his right-hand men, Senator Re-Elect Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Leader Robin Vos to announce their priority agenda items for 2015:  getting "even more aggressive" about demoralizing the working poor and doubling down on their assault on Wisconsin schools.  As expected, the most pernicious and gleefully anticipated "reform" is expanding the state voucher program to lift caps and income limits, draining money and resources from public schools and allowing even kids of wealthy parents to attend private schools on the taxpayer dime. The Republican-led legislature also plans to push for dropping Common Core standards by allowing partisans and legislators a say in writing new "Wisconsin Standards" (and we've seen how well that idea has gone in Texas and Colorado). But the crown jewel of this plan is to implement an absurdly cost-ineffective, denigrating, and unconstitutional strategy that has failed and/or is being challenged everywhere it's been tried: drug-testing recipients of government programs.

Given, however, this administration's craven obsession with "accountability," MoD assumes that the mandate to demonstrate drug-free eligibility will be equally extended to ALL recipients of government handouts, a figure that has risen dramatically under Walker's watch as he continues to "compensate" those who contributed to his campaign with crony contracts and tax breaks.  Because surely the son of a preacher man has no intention of singling out the least among us as the only recipients of government funds who should be held accountable to his high standards. We therefore present this handy guide to determining whether or not you need to report to the specimen-collection oupost, in anticipation of the wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am speed with which this legislation will be shoved through the legislature by the Republican majority. 

Are you on the dole?  Get ready.


!!! ATTENTION ENTITLEMENT RECIPIENTS !!!
Are you an able-bodied adult who enjoys
government handouts?  No problem! 
In Wisconsin, we love nothing more than helping people who need out help. But there’s nothing we hate more than wasting the money of hard-working taxpayers!  Our new policy provides the perfect solution: We’re implementing an unconstitutional policy that will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and save virtually nothing! 
Simply submit to a routine drug test
to ensure that your dignity eligibility is preserved!


None of this is law yet.  The time to speak up is now. 

As Ruth Conniff made clear after the harrowing results of the midterm election, "Progressives need their own strategy. Not a one-election strategy. Not another well-funded, good-looking, poll-tested candidate. But a massive grassroots organizing drive that speaks to voters' deepest concerns."

One of my deepest concerns is that in constantly degrading and demoralizing the very people who make this state great - hard-working people struggling to make ends meet and looking for ways to improve their lives and the lives of their communities, the message we're sending through regressive policies like this only further disenfranchise them from the political process.  At a time when we need to come together, Walker's first act of reelection is to get "even more aggressive" about driving us apart.  His blame-the-worker, blame-the-poor attitude distracts us from the wasteful cut-and-borrow policies of his administration and the cronies and campaign contributors who will benefit from each and every item on their 2015 legislative agenda.

The time to organize is now. 

We working stiffs might not have the money or political clout that Walker & Vos' billionaire policy-pushers have, but we have something even better on our side:  democracy.

They work for us. 

If anyone's going to suffer the humiliation of peeing in cup to benefit on our dime, let's start at the top.
PS: Special note of thanks to the MoD followers who helped put this list together!




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