Even after Act 10, Vos Still Blaming the Teachers Union? Who's buying it?

Old talking points never die.

After Scott Walker's union busting Act 10 legislation passed, you'd think Republicans would have just deep-sixed their old argument that teachers were nothing but union thugs marching in lockstep. Nope.

Unions were no longer relevant thanks to Act 10: 

The law weakened unions by implementing mandatory annual recertification elections and prohibiting paycheck deductions for union dues collection. It also eliminated teachers' and other public employees' rights to bargain about pay, hours and other conditions of employment.

So where's the problem? 

Bashing Teachers and Unions still a Voter Favorite? Just listen to WI's cosplay governor Robin Vos. It's an incoherent rant of disconnected thoughts focusing on the vilification of any citizen or group willing to fund a candidate Republicans don't like. Vos even laments how the First Amendment victimized their candidate. It was a 200,000 vote blowout: 

Underly received 586,286 votes, or 57.66% of the total, while Kerr received 386,392 votes, or 42.34% of the total, as reported by the Associated Press.

Despite the blowout, Vos is still blaming the teachers union because it's a fan favorite? Note: Vos also drags out Trump blowback, special interest donors out of state, lies and misconceptions about what's happening in WI, kind-a like Vos doesn't see the consequences of his party's actions. From Upfront:

Vos: "At the end of the day, we know that Jill Underling and HER ALLIES are BEHOLDEN TO THE TEACHERS UNION, they're not going to worry about what the parents think or the voters, they're going to worry about their taxpayers that fund their campaign through the teachers union. That's the ones they're worried about. So I think that's a sad commentary, but then again, I believe in the First Amendment, people have a right to do it, but they don't get to take credit for the policies that are enacted, all they get to do is take credit for the success of raising huge amounts of resources from special interests to spread lies about Republicans." 

For Vos, it's crazy to think Underly's vision, described as her "agenda," was more popular than Kerr's transphobic vision made up of private and religious indoctrination centers. :

Vos: "It's because of the "AGENDA" that is "SEEMS" DPI is fostering, it's not about trying to find the best results for schools...putting more money into DPI seems like the same old same old, with now real successes to point to...not a Madison bureaucracy beholden to the teachers union."  

Uh, Act 10 Robin? Never mind...

Don't pay any attention to the GOP's weak opponent Deb Kerr, who after major missteps, simply lacked voter support. It's never about their unpopular agenda:

Kerr’s campaign was marked by a series of missteps, most notably when Kerr, who is white, tweeted that she had been called a racial slur for Black people when she was 16 because “my lips were bigger than most and that was the reference given to me.” Her campaign manager and attorney quit.

Underly accused Kerr of being transphobic over her support for bills that would prohibit transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams … Kerr had a 10-year-old financial scandal at her former district. Kerr said Underly was in the pocket of the teachers union.

Kerr’s campaign won the backing of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

The Act 10 Holiday celebrated by Freeloaders.

Act 10's anniversary came and went without anybody noticing because right-wingers didn't want to even try to defend the indefensible. Let's take a look at Act 10's legacy of change.

IT'S A TAX CUT ENTITLEMENT: Scott Walker and his band of gerrymandered legislative plundering pirates have oddly convinced "hard working" conservative voters there really is a "free lunch," it's just that they have packaged it under the name "tax cut."

In Republican fantasy world, there is no such thing as a tax increase, ever. The way they see it, nothing ever gets more expensive, wears out, becomes outdate, or improves via new life changing technologies. The "tax cut entitlement" mindset is their just due, their money, not the governments.

WHEN REPUBLICANS LOVE SOCIALISM: My Trump cultist friend in Milwaukee recently bragged Trump is spending money on the pandemic...uh, that's socialism. All the while Trump is sticking with his mind boggling proposed budget cuts to the CDC, even after all this.

RIGHT WISCONSIN'S "ACT 10 HOLIDAY" or ST. PATTYS DAY MALARKY? The problem is state aid for public schools is still below what was spent 10 years ago. Freeloading Republicans perform clever math. The formula: spending cuts = surplus = tax cut + backfill spending cuts (by saving us from the problem they created). See below:

Here's how the McIver Institute see's Wisconsinites exercising their First Amendment right "of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." 

"As far as the government unions were concerned, the budget repair bill was the end of the world – and they acted like it. For a month, they coordinated the occupation of the hallowed halls of the Wisconsin State Capitol by juggling clowns, college potheads, exploited children, out-of-state communists, card-carrying socialist state employees, malingering public school teachers, derelict doctors, and thousands of other protesters."

Let's take a look at what M.D. Kittle wrote in 2018 about what the new kind of "worker freedom" did for state employees (my comments in bold directed at underlined Kittle bullshit):

Time would prove wrong the liberals who used dire predictions about Act 10 to fuel their political recall campaigns (the real point of Act 10, defund Dem political campaigns). The law saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $5 billion (pulled $5 billion that teachers could spend in their local economies) in its first five years alone. Wisconsin school districts have saved more than $3.2 billion in benefits costs (then saw a cut in state funding by $600 million in 2012), thanks to employee contributions and greater competition in the health insurance marketplace. Wisconsin schools pumped those savings back into education (to make up for funding cuts), rewarding exemplary teachers (bidding wars that drained rural teacher supply giving wealthy districts the advantage), reducing class sizes by hiring additional educators (teacher supply shortage resulting in lower qualifications), and expanding or improving other initiatives and programs (whatever you want to make up here).

Republicans may can take credit for tax cuts, but they'll never bring up the hike in taxes by most local governments around the state. This is dishonest reelection material only.

With school test score down now, rural schools closing and losing teachers, endless but very necessary referendums, and union apprenticeship programs hurt by the "right-to-work" law, you'll notice who won the battle in Wisconsin according to Kittle.

"Thank you Scott Walker for having the courage to stand up to the status quo and Big Labor."

If "big labor" lost, then it goes without saying that big business won. Don't forget, big labor includes all workers, every person who makes big business succeed.  

Four Teachers out prior to Exams in West Bend: Act 10 keeps Bearing its Poisonous Fruit!

Like everything Republican, the list of their failed ideologically focused legislation will inevitably lead to huge problems in the future, where another set of legislators will have to repair all the damage. That will just take time away from dealing with a whole new set of problems. 

Act 10 Plundered the Public Investment Made in Education: Vindictive policies that took aim at the opposition party's biggest supporters, Democrats and unions, without any concern over the consequences of their actions is now hitting home for parents and students alike in school districts statewide.

The story below is just another example of the short sighted political gamesmanship from Scott Walker and his band of plundering legislative pirates, who are hell bent on defunding Democratic campaigns and privatizing public education. It has turned what was a thoughtful long-term investment in our teachers and schools into a waste of time and money. And that's "fiscally conservative?"

Yea, everything is fine...

JSonline: Everyone wants to know why 4 West Bend teachers abruptly resigned: Four of the six English teachers resigned Friday, throwing students into a lurch before finals and prompting vast speculation about the cause of the departures. Students appear most concerned about the teacher departures.

"Kids are outraged because we have exams coming up next week," said freshman Mackenzie Owens, 15. "All this week is supposed to be review and four of the six English teachers are not here. Especially being freshmen and being new to the exams this year, it's a lot of stress."
Many students like Owens feel the teachers were pressured to resign by the administration because they were complaining internally about a new curriculum the district is getting next year. The district declined to comment further on the personnel issue. An online petition led by students pleaded for the district to give the educators their jobs back. It had more than 625 signatures as of Wednesday.

As for the testing system, called Galileo, Owens said she felt like it was taking time away from her classroom learning this year. "With all the new testing, I feel like we're being taught how to take a test," she said. " A lot of teachers have this opinion, but they can't say anything about it."

Several parents said they worried that staff turnover would diminish the community's ability to attract quality educators and new families. "Last year my son had several different teachers for his math class," said Jody Erickson, who has a 16-year-old at West Bend West and a 19-year-old who graduated last year. "As a concerned parent, I want to know that our teachers feel supported," she said.

Others say the turbulence can be traced to fallout from Act 10, as well as what community members say about all the issues on social media.

Trump's Economic Trade Adviser Embarrassed, Exposed by PBS NewsHour Reporter!!!

Trump's only economic adviser with a PHd is Peter Navarro. He's the go to guy helping guide what could be U.S. next trade policy under Trump.

A funny thing happened the other night, PBS Newshour's economic reporter Paul Solman completely obliterates Navarro's doom and gloom opinion of our current trade policy...with his smart phone. Would I kid you?

After making Navarro's plan look ridiculous, Solman went on to expose Trump's own outsourcing deal that'll take your breath away:

PETER NAVARRO: This is the big kahuna. This is what Donald Trump understands. This is the trade deficit. We run a trade deficit of close to $800 billion a year. And so this directly subtracts from this. This is why we’re stuck in low-growth mode.

PAUL SOLMAN: Well, maybe. The job of a journalist, however, is to ask questions.What is U.S. GDP 2016?

SIRI: Checking on that.

PAUL SOLMAN: Happily, there’s now Siri to answer them.

SIRI: It looks like the answer is about 18.2 trillion U.S. dollars per year.

PAUL SOLMAN: Thank you, Siri. In that case, GDP is something like $18 trillion, right? And you’re saying that the trade deficit is — well, it’s less than $1 trillion, right? So, this can’t be a major factor in total GDP, the size of the economy.

PETER NAVARRO: Yes, but when we run these big trade deficits and send our jobs offshore, we hold our wages down and our income down. That feeds right back into the biggest part of this whole equation, consumption. This drags GDP down as well.

PAUL SOLMAN: Or so this story goes.

But we can't ignore the Republican efforts to lower wages for manufacturing jobs with right-to-work and union busting via ACT 10:

Wisconsin Manufacturing Wages Declining: Citizen Action of Wisconsin looked at thelatest federal data, and found a startling decline in manufacturing wages in every Wisconsin metro area.

Real wages (adjusted for inflation) are going down for manufacturing workers in every Wisconsin metro area. On average, annual wages declined $1,430 between 2010 and 2015 - Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Act 10's anti-freedom and liberty choice to be in unions cuts Membership in half.

Republican logic follows that unions can still provide services they’re not allowed to perform, without membership dues, to non-members who are along for a free ride. Any decline will prove unions were always bad.  So...

(Before Act 10) Wisconsin union members made up 14 percent of the total workforce. Last year, that number shrank to just over 8 percent.

Big surprise? Even when private sector union businesses objected to government interference, Republicans ignored their free market choice. So much for freedom and liberty, as mentioned by one right wing trolls comment below:

Clearly the people of Wisconsin have spoken with their feet exactly how useful unions are to them. Long live the liberty and freedom of the people of Wisconsin to make their own choices. Never again let us be forced to join organizations we do not support.

Last I looked no one has ever been forced to join a union, since no one is forced to work at a union company. Job seekers still have the freedom and liberty to walk away from a unionized business.

This was a big government choice to destroy a business Republicans did not agree with. And a business that challenged their campaign contributors. Kind of gets back down to money...I mean free speech. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald admitted as much in the Fox News clip below, saying without union cash, Republicans win:

Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations with Clark University, said Act 10 and a right-to-work law crippled organized labor. "Essentially it was an anti-union climate in Wisconsin that resulted in severe loss of membership," he said. Chaison said the decline is a major historical shift for a state that at one time was a leader of the national labor movement.

Another Rural School may close, killing jobs, turning families away... "Who wants to come to a place that ain't got a school?"

The resentment rural voters have toward government is being exacerbated by their own elected representatives screwing them over royally. Oddly, it only reinforces the Republican anti-government sentiment that’s at the heart of the problem. A vicious cycle that seems to be getting worse as the state becomes even more divided. Check out the WPT Here and Now interview with the author of The Politics of Resentment, it's an eye opener:

Case in point, the dramatic cuts Scott Walker and the Republicans made to public education. 

These rural area schools, have been hit the hardest by declining budgets, school closings, long bus rides for children, and the loss of teachers who are being lured away by wealthier districts. Republicans created this, and won't do a thing to stop it. 

What makes it even worse is the dramatic impact policies like this have on communities that lose their local schools. Lone Rock is sadly another example of supposed small government Republican cuts, with no regard for the unintended consequences. WISC:

The River Valley School District's elementary school in the village of Lone Rock could close under a proposal considered Thursday by the district, which faces a $288,000 budget deficit and declining enrollment. Administrators said closing the school would make up for the deficit. 

"I think it would affect everybody if they take the school away," Lone Rock parent Kelly Joles said. "Our teacher lives on the same block. I just worry about what would happen for them and the community."

"It'll be devastating to the community; this will be the third school locally, in Lone Rock, to close," grandparent Jim Crist said. "It will be a long bus ride for that 9-year-old in the morning, in the evening, I just think there's gotta be a different way." Crist said he believes closing the school would turn families away from Lone Rock. "We're trying to attract people here; who wants to come to a place that ain't got a school? It's going to be really hard," Crist said.

Who indeed. Oh, that’s right, Republicans haven't gotten around to reformulating the way schools are funded so things like this won't happen. Oh, wait, State Superintendent Tony Evers came up with a plan but the GOP is ignoring it because he's a Democrat. Real grownup like: 

District Administrator Tom Wermuth said his district, like many rural districts throughout Wisconsin, is plagued by high property values but low enrollment figures, which affects the funding his schools receive from the state. "Your Zip code in the state of Wisconsin should not dictate the type of education available to you," Wermuth said "I believe every child in our state has the right to similar education, and that shouldn't be dictated based on where your parents live."

Will we see the end of many small towns in Wisconsin?

Wermuth said many small communities are having trouble attracting families to live and send their children to school there. "What brings young families to school districts are jobs," Wermuth said. "If you look at some of our demographics and some of the demographics of our neighbors, we don't have high numbers of people between the ages of 18 and 35 living in our district, traditional child-bearing age, and it's primarily because of economic factors. For example, the principal at Lone Rock Elementary School has four children, three of his children would be impacted by this decision, again, this is something that we don't take lightly at all."

Republicans continue to attack many of their own constituents in rural Wisconsin with a proposal to limit school funding referendums statewide without any blowback.

Walker's Act 10 "Tools" getting Cut!!!

The math looks like this (not Common Core):

    Act 10
 - School Referendums
  Big Trouble for Education.

Under a less than blistering barrage of softball questions, State Sen. Duey Stroebel painfully struggled to give even one good reason why adding more big government Republicans regulations would solve what he perceived to be unwarranted tax increases supported by local district voters for their schools.  

A Republican bill in the State Senate would require school boards to hold referendums during traditional fall and spring elections.  It would also prevent school boards from going back to voters for two years following a referendum’s rejection. Senator Duey Stroebel says his proposal protects taxpayers and restores integrity in the referendum process.

Bet you didn't know we had an integrity problem with the referendum process. Hey, wasn't that same excuse Republicans used when they gave us voter ID and replaced the GAB with a partisan elections supervisors (soon anyway)? Yes, and with bigger more complicated big government regulations from our "small government" conservatives.

As you can see by the video graphic below, Stroebel shepherded through a law that reduced voting hours, which had the likely effect of reducing the number of people going to the polls. That's ironic, because what is Duey worried about now; holding school referendums at times when voters are least likely to turn out at the polls.

Dumber still, Stroebel dreads 15 % turnouts in spring time elections, which is just about average (near 20%) for voting that time of year. Not the best argument to make, but then nothing he said to defend his bill on referendums made much sense....from WPR's Joy Cardin Show:



1. Why wait two years for another referendum?

Duey: "They need the time to do that correctly." 

2. So when desperate districts quickly revise their referendums and come back with another one, why is that bad?

Duey: "I don't thinks that's respecting the decision of the electorate in this democratic process."  

3. But it erodes local control, right?

Duey: "Again, we want these elections to be when people turnout, not when they don't turn out, that IS local control." 

It is?

From the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, Dan Rossmiller gave a coherent response to Duey's simplistic lunacy: Referendums were one of the "tools" Walker gave local school districts to use. Duey would take that away.

A caller came up with this slogan, "This sounds like controlling locals, instead of allowing local control." Another caller threw the ball into the voters court, saying those who vote, vote. If it's important to them, they'll turn out:

Absentee Gov. Walker now compared himself to "Wisconsin 14," the Democrats who left state to protest Act 10.

We're now finding out how the Act 10 protests profoundly effected Scott Walker; in the most bizarre way. Remember when he shocked everyone comparing protesters exercising their constitutional rights to ISIS:

"If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the globe,"

Walker's at it again. This time he's comparing his massive amounts of time out of state to the Democratic Senators who left for Illinois, stopping Act 10 from getting a vote. He's saying it's ironic and hypocritical of his critics to say anything about his time away when they approved of the exiled Wisconsin 14. Not a real comparison, not even close, but his "stand with Walker" voters will repeat it over and over. This continued whining about the protests is ridiculous, since Walker was responsible for starting them. From WKOW:



Oddly, if Walker really wants to make that comparison his own, than here's what one republican, Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, said at the time about the Democrats...and apparently Walker too:

“Today, the most shameful 14 people in the state of Wisconsin are going to pat themselves on the back and smile for the cameras. They’re going to pretend they’re heroes for taking a three-week vacation. It is an absolute insult to the hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who are struggling to find a job, much less one they can run away from and go down to Illinois — with pay.”

Will Walker now stand by that comparison? "Shameful," and an "insult."

Walker's pettiness also extended to Russ Feingold's run for the Senate, saying he was out of state at the time of his announcement. Wow, must have been a bad day for bad comparisons? Feingold isn't answerable to the taxpayers right now. He isn't in office either, and isn't trying to run the state and pay the bills on a desperately short budget that spins off the states biggest money makers.

No Cap on Teacher Pay may strain school Budgets.

The Mic 92.1's The Devil's Advocates talked to Poynette School Board President Kathleen Lucey about Act 10's unintended consequence; the uncapped individual teacher salaries and bidding wars between the wealthier districts and rural schools. Guess who wins and guess who sees their budgets explode?

Most of us would love to see teachers get higher pay, they deserve it, but under the old uniform system. I'm curious to see if other states have seen their teachers wages strain school budgets. Especially if those districts have revenue limits. Or will there be an unfair wage gap?

Walker backers deny that Act 10 squeezes School Budgets, now blame bad district budgeting.

We always knew that when it came to cutting school budgets, conservative freeloaders would never be satisfied. As long as I can remember, Republicans have always complained about supposed bloated school administrations. In the 90's we were already talking about cutting everything down to the bone. 20 years later, the rhetoric hasn't changed.

Check out this recent retweet by Walker's Borg-like trolls, whose loyalty to party leader Scott Walker knows no bounds. It epitomizes their now mindless habit.

To them, it's not Act 10's disappearing one time benefits contributing to school district shortfalls, it's the districts irresponsible spending on things like keeping the lights on and class sizes down, blah, blah, blah. See the comment at the bottom by Tom O'C:

It’s a funny thing about Scott Walker’s much touted tax cuts; they’re negated by the state’s cost shift to local governments. “Stand with Walker” Borgeteers can never seem to connect those dots. We saw that when districts increased taxes to make up for lost revenues to voucher schools, and they didn't even notice. Conservative voters refuse to see how they’re paying more, even after passing funding referendums.

Simply put, as the state cuts aid by 3.9%, costs continue to rise for the Eau Clair school district, like $927,000 for computer equipment delayed from last year and maintenance costs:

Eau Claire school district residents will contribute more money out of pocket … the district’s proposed 2014-15 budget would boost the amount of money collected from local taxpayers by nearly 6 percent to preserve existing services. General state aid is anticipated (to be) down $2.32 million from last year. Residents would pay $50 more per $100,000 of property value.

This increase is “the function of the revenue limit formula controlled by the state,” Superintendent Mary Ann Hardebeck said.

Walkerites will say it’s bad budgeting because anything else would burst their little fantasy bubble and force them to think. And they weren't told that "thinking" was a part of their tea party platform. 

Dissent will not be tolerated say our "Stand with Walker" right wing authoritarians.

Stand with Walker supporters had to bus in protesters!

The wacky right and their envious spokesperson Vicki "I am AFP" McKenna failed to convince very many people to turn out at the Capitol, especially knowing their Americans for Prosperity buses could only transport a limited number of seniors at a time.

That wasn't true of the hard working Wisconsinites who turned out to support all labor, including the vilified teachers in our classrooms.

The tea party "counter protests" were so small and embarrassing that there is no photographic evidence available anywhere.

When it comes to Act 10, this is how Wisconsin Republicans saw the mass turnout of protesters standing up for workers. Guess we don't want to see American redressing their government again anytime soon? McKenna actually wrote this on her Facebook page...

You'll love this comment...

"This is one of the reasons why education should be entirely privatized. Wisconsinite turned against Wisconsinite with such rancor because teachers' salaries & benefits became a public matter."

The Rising Cost of Education, Higher Turnover, Disappearing Rural Schools thanks to Act 10.

I liked what we had for public education; the unions, the pay scales, the benefits and the profession itself. Change was good too. And I’m all for higher teacher pay. Public education was something we could count on. Not anymore.

Privatization and union busting have turned education from something amazingly reliable and predictable into an industry with winners, loser, profits and losses. Our kids are described as “commodities,” and every school is, in the words of Tony the Tiger, “terrrrific,” if you believe their exciting colorful brochures.

In an amazingly hypocritical about face over what used to be described as exorbitant teacher pay and benefits, Republicans are now all for it, embracing teacher bidding wars between schools and districts. It’s all good now because it’s based on the “free market,” to hell with saving taxpayer money.

The Wisconsin StateJournal editorialized, "A marketplace for good teachers is good for public education," completely reversing the right wings 50 year arguments against public education:

The most sought-after school teachers across Wisconsin are now enjoying large pay raises, signing bonuses and what some school administrators are calling “free agency.” That’s a better system than the old way of compensating teachers based largely on years of experience and advanced degrees.

State Journal education reporter Molly Beck reported in Sunday’s newspaper that public school teachers licensed in high-demand fields such as science, technology and engineering are being recruited and retained with financial incentives. And the money for top teachers doesn't have to come out of other teachers’ pockets. In Oregon, for example, the district may ask voters in April for $3.5 million to provide raises.

This is progress, because it helps get the best teachers where they’re needed and valued most. Act 10 has hurt Wisconsin in some ways. It pulled our politics even further apart. It pitted citizens against one another. It hurt morale for educators and chased some out of the field, or stopped others from entering.

But in giving local school boards more freedom to compensate teachers in new ways, Act 10 has helped.

Imagine the shortage of teachers in low demand subjects. Would all this just make public education more expensive? Wouldn't wealthy districts have an advantage over all the other districts, like rural schools, who by the way are struggling to survive. Cap Times* reporter Matt Pommer wrote this recently about rural schools:

The Assembly Task Force on Rural Schools … report  … cited high costs of busing students in sparsely populated areas, technology needs, lack of access to broadband internet, and recruiting and retaining excellent teachers. Often the rural districts go to the voters to exceed spending limits. These districts lose money because there are fewer students to count and they look richer “because there is more property value behind the remainder of their students,” State School Superintendent Tony Evers notes.

And most important, relating to the topic at hand:

The task force was told rural district teachers earn about 15 percent less than teachers in urban and suburban districts. Teacher often leave rural districts for higher pay in other parts of the state. 

And then there's the increased teacher turnover. jsonline-Erin Richards:

-In the summer of 2013, hundreds of veteran teachers retired from Milwaukee Public Schools, many taking advantage of the favorable terms of expiring contracts.

-One year later … there's been another, even greater, spike in teachers leaving. But those walking away now are predominantly educators with three or fewer years of experience

-MPS officials say … "There is a national trend toward not staying with the same employer for decades."

-Some teachers get a taste of today's workplace and leave education entirely … pressures and politics of the job have heightened in recent years … it's common to hear teachers say they feel disrespected by the public, unsupported by their administration and beaten up by parents.

-Act 10 has created an open market for teachers, which makes it harder for districts to retain staff with sought-after skills. "Everyone is talking about resignation rates, they're higher everywhere in the past several years," Johnna Noll, director of instructional services at the West Allis-West Milwaukee Public Schools said.

These are Act 10's "unintended consequences." 

*direct link to article not found.

Holy cow, Scott Walker wants to help the wealthy get all of us to pay for their kid’s private school.

This ought to go over well with voters in many of Wisconsin's great school districts. It's also an unexpected but welcome gift to Mary Burke from the Walker campaign, especially after recent research and testing have shown how voucher schools came in at or below public schools scores on math and reading.

But why let actual result get in the way of ideology:   

jsonline: Walker said if he's re-elected, he would support a significant or wholesale lifting of the enrollment cap on the 2-year-old statewide private school voucher program, particularly for low-income students but also potentially for students from families with higher incomes.

Suggesting that Act 10 has been an amazing success, instead of  the slow disaster we’re seeing first in rural schools, is insane. The Walker campaign is trying to vilify Mary Burke for her public service on the Madison School Board, while trying to make people forget he cut school funding more than every other state except one:

So what's so hard to understand?

Walker said his opponent in the gubernatorial race, Mary Burke, sits on the school board of the Madison Metropolitan School District that will be the only school district in the state next year not adhering to the Act 10 law next school year.

Ouch, how horrific? Walker loves campaign money from former politicians who've become lobbyists for private schools interests, over Mary Burke’s support from actual teachers and the remaining state unions. Lobbyist cash is a whole lot better than money spent by teachers, right?

Walker has received political and campaign support from backers of school choice. Walker said Burke is getting support from teachers unions in the form of political advertisements.  "That, at least to some, might appear to be why she's been reluctant to take on the teachers unions when it comes to options like (Act 10)," he said.

Walker is desperate of course, actually making it seem like Burke should “take on the teachers unions,” like the very concerned voucher privateers are pushing. Acting like the Democrats are against Act 10 is as surreal as Walker's empty campaign will get. It's clear, Walker never notice the Act 10 protests. So much for being a servant of the people.

Also check out Jake's TA Economic Funhouse for a detailed account of how much money the state would have to come up with to pay for expansion...$710 million? That's how it's shaping up.

Missed Labor Day story: Walker's ballsy Laborfest "presence" greeting Obama and union leaders.

Scott Walker and WISGOP succeeded in distracting the press long enough to make Walker's Laborfest participation a non-story.

Press Getting Fooled Again: The media couldn't get enough of the phony "Burke won't be seen with Obama" story. Like past Labor Day celebrations where Republicans like Sean Duffy and Paul Ryan hypocritically took part in hometown parades, Walker was right there gritting his teeth and waving to the crowd that wished he'd go away permanently.

You'd think Walker would have been more comfortable in the company of Sheldon Adelson or David Koch?

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who pushed through a law that stripped most public sector union members of their ability to collectively bargain … was at General Mitchell International Airport to greet Obama upon his arrival in Milwaukee. Walker also greeted the labor leaders accompanying Obama, including Mary Kay Henry of the Services Employees International Union and Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers Union.

Act 10 Ushers in High Teacher Turnover, declining experience.

Those small government, small minded losers controlling our one party system have won.

What we’re now seeing after Scott Walker passed Act 10 is a noticeable change in the teaching profession, where dedication to our children is being slowly replaced by high turnover “employees” looking for the best monetary fit.

A free market based educational system will turn our dependable public schools into Dollar Store deals, where communities who once attracted relocating families due to their highly rated school districts will now be offering up well advertised private schools that could pick up and go anytime they feel they're not making enough money. 

It started with Act 10. jsonline-Erin Richards:

-In the summer of 2013, hundreds of veteran teachers retired from Milwaukee Public Schools, many taking advantage of the favorable terms of expiring contracts.

-One year later … there's been another, even greater, spike in teachers leaving. But those walking away now are predominantly educators with three or fewer years of experience

-MPS officials say … "There is a national trend toward not staying with the same employer for decades."

-Some teachers get a taste of today's workplace and leave education entirely … pressures and politics of the job have heightened in recent years … it's common to hear teachers say they feel disrespected by the public, unsupported by their administration and beaten up by parents.

-Act 10 has created an open market for teachers, which makes it harder for districts to retain staff with sought-after skills. "Everyone is talking about resignation rates, they're higher everywhere in the past several years," Johnna Noll, director of instructional services at the West Allis-West Milwaukee Public Schools said.

The trend is to take the dedicated teacher out, and replace those top professionals with “salaried competitive high turnover jobs.” The following list of changes should leave you with a hollow sinking feeling. It’s a world where privateers use the word “commodity” when they talk about our kids:

-Among teachers with three or fewer years of experience, 174 resigned in 2013-'14, compared with 67 in 2012-'13 and 63 the year before.  40% of the resignations were relative newcomers.

-Salary structures in teacher’s union contracts once rewarded teachers for staying with the same district until retirement. But under employee handbooks, pay raises are no longer tethered to years of experience … teachers might be more easily lured away by competing districts, which now have more ability to offer rewards such as signing bonuses.

-Many districts have implemented heftier financial penalties for teachers who resign midyear. MPS teachers who sign a contract of employment for the coming school year now can face fines of up to $1,000 to $2,000 if they resign for non-catastrophic reasons. In the past, MPS teachers were not required to pay anything to resign.

Here's the best explanation why so many young teachers are leaving:

Rachel Schlueter is a 25-year veteran MPS teacher, said she had "incredible teachers" in the rooms next to her, who offered support and tips. "I think now, young people are kind of thrown into it," she said. "There's never enough time to collaborate with colleagues and to get a lot of help from other teachers. In my opinion, that's when people get frustrated and leave any district as a new teacher."

Activist Conservative Supreme Court Votes to advance GOP takeover of State on Domestic Partnership, Voter ID and Act 10.

It should come as no surprise that the state’s Supreme Court has a conservative activist bent to it. 

That’s why so many constitutional challenges have been made by Republicans, they can now get away with anything. Even worse, conservative voters can now simply point to “THE SUPREME COURT” as proof they've been right all along without thinking about the consequences. And anything that makes Scott Walker look like a constitutional scholar, well that’s just icing on the cake, and a little on the surreal side:

1. VOTER ID: A divided state Supreme Court,  4-3, ruled Wisconsin's voter ID law is in keeping with the state constitution, but tweaked a provision of the measure so people could get identification cards without having to pay anything. But to put the requirement in place, they must also overcome the federal litigation. (Preventing the mythical voter fraud problem and instilling the public with confidence in the voting system swayed the conservative activist justices.)

In both cases, the court found the law passed muster with the Wisconsin Constitution.

2. DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP: The Wisconsin Supreme Court Thursday upheld a 2009 law providing limited benefits to gay and lesbian couples. (There was no opposition to upholding the law as passed.)

3. ACT 10: The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld, 5-2, Justice N. Patrick Crooks concurred but wrote separately, upheld Gov. Scott Walker's signature labor legislation Thursday in just one of the three major rulings issued by the court on union bargaining.

Despite some support by the more liberal justices, the real problem lies in the automatic conservative vote by the four activist justices. Any surprise not one bolted from the pack? 

State Senator Joe Leibham R-Sheboygan, author of Wisconsin’s voter ID law came right out and admitted to the courts conservative activism:

"I have stood strong against watering down this law and kept faith that this law can be upheld constitutional once we get it away from liberal activist judges.”

Gulp! Pushing aside reality, it's also a belief in, and a fear of fraud that made this outrageous decision possible. With all the talk about fraud, who are the ones "breeding distrust of our government?"

Bloomberg: The appeals court found “there was no evidence of ‘recent’ voter impersonation fraud in Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Patience Drake Roggensack wrote for the majority. “That finding cannot overcome the state’s interest in preventing voter fraud.”

“Voters who fear the legitimate ballots will be outweighed by fraudulent ones will feel disenfranchised,” Drake Roggensack said. “Voter fraud drives honest citizens out of the democratic process and breeds distrust of our government,” the judge wrote.

Additionally, here's an explanation for the still confusing 4-3, 5-2 vote on Voter ID:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in two cases, upholding the voter ID law 4-3 in one case and 5-2 in the other. In one of those cases, the court found what it called a "saving construction" of the law to keep it from being unconstitutional — a construction that would require the state to guarantee voters do not have to pay any government fees to get a state-issued ID card.

In dissent in both cases, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson wrote that the court shouldn't be interpreting regulations that aren't before it. Because the burden on voters is severe, she said, and the state has not shown a compelling interest served by requiring photo ID, the voter ID law should be struck down as unconstitutional. "Today the court follows not James Madison — for whom Wisconsin's capital city is named —but rather Jim Crow — the name typically used to refer to repressive laws used to restrict rights, including the right to vote, of African-Americans," Abrahamson wrote for the dissenters in the second case.

Bottom Line: The point is, before Voter ID, we were required to present some form of identification from a long list of proofs, like a billing address on an envelope. But any ID would work. In this case, forget all that stuff, you MUST have a photo ID. That's an additional standard, as Justice Abrahamson pointed out in her dissent:

I apply the principles of the Wisconsin voting rights cases to the instant case and conclude that the League of Women Voters and the circuit court are correct: Act 23 unconstitutionally adds a qualification to the right to vote.

¶91 If a qualified voter fails to produce an Act 23 photo ID, Act 23 bars that person from voting even though that voter meets all the qualifications enumerated in the Wisconsin Constitution and meets all the statutory voter registration requirements. Thus Act 23 deprives qualified, registered Wisconsin voters of the right to vote, based solely on their failure to meet a legislatively established precondition to voting. Such deprivation amounts to an impermissible legislative amendment of the Wisconsin Constitution to add a voter qualification.

Retired Judge Sumi on Act 10 Decision and the Supreme Court that overturned it....

From WPT's Here and Now, a little gloves off background from Judge Maryann Sumi on Act 10 and the politically divided conservative activist State Supreme Court:

Anchor Frederica Freyberg talks to former Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi on her career and Act 10 decision.

Under Walker's Act 10, Joe Schmo school board dictators push profession teachers around.

After watching the Racine Unified School District meeting featuring a few fed up teachers, it's becoming very clear where public education is headed.

And we can thank Act 10.

By keeping teachers out of the process (you know, the ones in the classroom teaching our kids), we're left with a group of elected citizens whose memory of education is 20 to 30 years behind the times. Some want to get even, some want to get government out, and some simply think there's money to be made off our commodified kids.

This is a shocking peek at how quickly the wheels are coming off our educational system, thanks to Act 10 and the end of collective bargaining.  This isn't liberal or union mumbo jumbo, this is real and dripping from every story below. An elected board of pedestrians are now in charge of teaching our kids. I've edited and compiled the more important points:

Denise Lockwood: In front of a packed room Monday night, Racine Education Association members called on district administrators to collaborate more with teachers.

Union members brought up issues of district administrators substitute teaching under false names, not enforcing blue slips, becoming lax on discipline policies, and asking teachers to pay for the cost of substitute teachers out of their own pocket.

One teacher also told the Board that three teachers were walked out the door because of allegations of misconduct without due process, which turned out to be unfounded.

All of this was brought up in the midst of a complaint involving Racine Unified Superintendent Lolli Haws, who is under investigation by the Kenosha County Human Services Department’s Division of Children and Family Services.

Thanks to the RootRiverSiren for the heads up.

Media Crushes Mary Burke, adopts GOP Act 10 Double Standard!!!

Let me get this right: Mary Burke cannot vote to support union negotiations, repealing collective bargaining rights, and cannot appeal to her base without destroying her political career.

Have I got that right?

But it is perfectly alright for a man like Scott Walker to not just support Act 10, but fight for voter ID, and be receptive to right-to-work legislation that would definitely appeal to his tea party base? No big media deal there.

This total collapse of the media and its in-the-tank approach to the Republican Party agenda is stunning, and explains why so many misstatements by Scott Walker have gone uncorrected. So much for an informed public. Heck, let PolitiFact do the hard investigative work, whenever they get around to it.

See for yourself from this Wisconsin State Journal headline:

We must watch Burke very closely, just in case she stumbles, or even tries to get the votes of her party. Double standard much? Guess so.

The school board believes it can negotiate with the union:

"...lower court rulings to reach contracts with their public employers. Those contracts extend the unions' bargaining authority to reach deals on issues such as vacations and benefits and the ability to collect mandatory payments from employees as long as the legal agreements last, since typically not even laws can break contracts ... the Madison School Board has extended the MTI union contract three times.

Of course transparently right wing organizations trying to privatize education so they make a boat load of money off our kids, like the Bradly Foundation, will spend whatever it takes to litigate and delay opposition, whether its a school board, union or the simple vote of board member and candidate Mary Burke. How dare she...!

State GOP executive director Joe Fadness called Burke's vote a "payoff" to Madison Teachers and other unions that endorsed her."

Of course Walker didn't payoff corporate donors, or appeal to his base with Act 10, rejecting high speed rail, supported an unconstitutional law requiring voter ID, rammed through lose mining regulations, trashed Common Core...etc. No payoff there. Outside billionaire campaign funding is just an odd coincidence the media is tired of covering.

Personal Emails now a part of new Right Wing Blacklist.

If you've ever emailed your lawmaker, then you are now open to political harassment and blacklisting.

The message is clear: Shut up!  

Wisconsinites just lost the power of representation in one fell swoop, when the conservative fringe group MacIver Institute forced State Sen. Jon Erpenbach to reveal the email addresses of everyone concerned about the passage of Act 10. You can also thank our conservative activist judges.

The conservative Waukesha Second Circuit Court handed down their first warning shot to all voters; we’ll know what you’re thinking, and we’ll know who are.

State Sen. Jon Erpenbach

Judge Brown: “This result is a notice to legislators and citizens, whoever they are and whatever their opinions, that communications to legislators are subject to the open records law, without redaction.”

Yes, Judge Brown gave us “notice” when it came to contacting our elected representatives via email.

“We conclude the redacted information is not ‘purely personal.”

Your email address isn't personal? Of course former Republican lawmakers make for great wise and wonderful judges too. Take Mark Gundrum’s remarkable "can't prove a negative" logic:

Appellate Court Judge Mark Gundrum, a former Republican lawmaker, wrote that Erpenbach couldn't prove those emailing his office could expect threats for their advocacy or that they had any expectation of privacy when emailing the senator. "In this day and age, it would be unreasonable for a person sending an email to a lawmaker in an attempt to influence public policy to believe that the email and all the information therein might not be seen by persons other than just the lawmaker," Gundrum wrote.

Really, ask any voter, I'll bet you get a different answer. Erpenback offered this:

Erpenbach believes the ruling creates “big problems” because it prevents lawmakers from shielding the identities of people who bring highly personal and possibly embarrassing problems to the attention of their elected representatives. “I think people don’t realize how far-reaching this is,” Erpenbach said … he fears people corresponding with his office could be subject to “McCarthy-like” harassment if their identities were released. He pointed to the negative publicity faced by some people who signed recall petitions against Walker.

“The Senate rules clearly say I can protect the privacy of the citizens of this state that contact my office … I can protect the rights of citizens over special interest groups. If we do not preserve the voice of individual people then we give all of the power in this state to those that can buy the best lobbyist. The issue becomes, is it possible to do a cost benefit analysis on the Constitutional rights of the citizens of this state?”

And while dark money pours into our pubic elections, these conservative activist judgers have the balls to say:

“Public awareness of ‘who’ is attempting to influence public policy is essential for effective oversight of our government,” the judges found.

The public is on notice:

“This result is a notice to legislators and citizens, whoever they are and whatever their opinions, that communications to legislators are subject to the open records law, without redaction.”