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.

Walker...the Grinch that Stole Recess? Attacks Seattle teachers and union for demanding "More recess, less teaching."

With his poll numbers dropping off the chart, Scott Walker's going back to what made him a household name among low information tea party voters: bashing teachers. 

Clueless and uninformed, Walker's latest dig at teachers is coming across like a detached disciplinary 50's father, who never had any curiosity in his son's schooling. If he did any research at all, he'd know what his sons needed most besides great teachers in school, was a decent recess. 

Time for students to let loose has declined over the decades. Many educators feel the loss of recess effected boys the most, resulting in bad grades and low test scores. That's especially true if you compare rural/affluent districts with inner city schools. Why am I not surprised there's a racial component:

Proving he has no business shredding public education, Walker is now making fun of recess, blaming the teachers and their union for demanding more time in the school yard. Here's his bizarre tweet:

I went to Walker's link, where I came across his opinion piece on recess:

"More Recess. Less Teaching: You might expect to hear that from kids as they go back to school.  You probably don’t expect to hear that from their teachers.  But that’s exactly what we’re hearing out of Seattle as union bosses have called an illegal strike.  

The demands? More recess, less teaching." 

Besides asking for a cost of living increase after 6 years of nothing in the Seattle area, teachers want to help their students learn by increasing their recess time. Research backs up the policy as you can see by the charts above, but damn the brainy science behind education. We want politicians to make those decisions now.

Recess really? Talk about picking the wrong issue. Teachers are not walking around with their heads floating in some kind of union bubble, they're too busy feeling responsible to their students. I saw that last night when I met my sons 11th grade teachers. I was envious in fact. Times have changed. Teachers are nothing like the image Walker has created to advance his career.

Walker: "The union bosses are betting that if they can make parents and children suffer, they can get what they want."  

Bizarre. Walker can’t get the idea of trashing teachers and squashing labor out of his heads for even a second.

He continues to brag about the great test scores coming out our public schools, as if his short time in office has inspired students to do well just for him, our charismatic unintimidated leader. Of course Walker won't credit 5 years of Common Core standards and the whole 12 years it takes to actually turn out great students. Sadly, all of that is about to change, slowly, unless something is done soon.

A quick Google by Walker's team might have changed their message, ya think?

Children today are likely to have 10 to 15 minutes of outdoor playtime during the school day, if they are lucky. No wonder there is an upswing in childhood obesity and an increase in childhood heart disease and type 2 diabetes. No wonder teachers are concerned about a generation of children who can’t entertain themselves, have social difficulties, and are fidgety and off task in class … there is considerable research to suggest that recess has many benefits for children in the cognitive, social-emotional, and physical domains. 

Or this:

In Minnesota, for example, lawmakers are considering a bill that would prohibit schools from withholding recess time as a form of punishment. At least 11 states have similar prohibitions, according to the Reston, Va.-based National Association for Sport and Physical Education. in 2012, when the American Academy of Pediatrics released a position paper saying recess "should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons." 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all elementary school students get at least 20 minutes of recess time each day. The American Academy of Pediatrics position paper highlights research that shows young students have improved literacy scores and better cognitive functioning when they get breaks for physical activity.

And it was Republican George W. Bush who cut recess times while dramatically increasing the amount of testing. Want to complain about too much testing? Blame Bush's No Child Left Behind for starting all this.  

Arizona Teachers Flee State after Republicans passed laws not quite as bad as Wisconsin's.

Now that we have been brought down to southern state status by Scott Walker and his band of plundering pirates, we can expect to see what happened below soon, since we're about to make even bigger cuts to education than sorry Arizona. Especially longer term. See if any of this sounds familiar (can you say one-size-fits-all policy): 

WaPo: Why teachers are fleeing Arizona in droves: Over the last five years, thousands of teachers have left the state, according to a 2015 report by the Arizona Department of Education, with this past school year being possibly the worst. Low pay, insufficient classroom resources and so many testing requirements and teaching guidelines that educators feel they have no instructional time and flexibility in their own classrooms, educators say.

Arizona is near the bottom of a state list of spending per student, $7,208, with the average per pupil spending around the country being $10,700. But it is near the top of a list of states in getting public education revenue from the federal government.

Fewer Arizona residents want to become teachers, and that the force of veteran teachers is shrinking. In 1987-1988, the “most common” teacher had 15 years of experience; by 2011-2012, 5 years of experience; In 2013-14, 29 percent of Arizona’s teachers had 3 or less years of experience, and  24 percent of first-year teachers and 20 percent of second-year teachers left their positions and were not reported as teaching in the state.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and the Arizona legislature have moved to end all state funding for two of the largest (community colleges) in the state. It also reported that Arizona “ranks first in the country in steep cuts to higher education budgets.” The Legislature recently passed a 2016 budget that slashed $99 million.

"Heavens no" says Rural Schools Alliance to Rep. Czaja's "anyone can teach" solution.

Now anyone can teach our kids, says one rural republican politician. Voilà, no more teacher shortage.

Underfunded rural schools, struggling desperately to keep their teachers from leaving and schools open, just got the conservative kind of help they voted for in the last election. Not surprisingly, they're not liking it one bit. jsonline:

But a rural schools leader said that's not what rural schools asked for. "Heavens no," said Jerry Fiene, executive director of the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance. "This totally destroys any licensure requirements that we have in Wisconsin. It's very concerning."

New Low in Stupidity: May I introduce you to Rep. Mary Czaja (R-Irma). But she's not alone...her fellow dullards in the assembly love the idea:

Problem solver or dimwit?

She said pursued the (following) measure to help rural schools find and retain qualified teachers in hard-to-fill subjects.

Anyone with a bachelor's degree could be hired and licensed to teach sixth- through 12th-grade English, math, social studies or science in Wisconsin And any person with relevant experience — even a high school dropout — could be licensed to teach in any other non-core academic subject in those grades. 

Of course Czaja was ready to explain her well thought out plan...right?

Czaja said the idea was to help schools fill specific niche areas … But when pressed about the impact of the broader provision, Czaja agreed it might make it easier to become a teacher in Wisconsin than in any other state.

"The districts are going to be the ones that hire these people, and I firmly believe that they're not going to throw somebody in there that isn't doing a good job. This is just flexibilities. They don't have to use it." 

Czaja couldn't name any districts that had asked for the broader flexibilities.

"They don't have to use it." But if they did, imagine the "flexibilities," like Sup. Tony Evers:

State Superintendent Tony Evers said "It essentially takes the licensing system out of the state's hands and puts it in 424 school districts' hands. If you're a buddy of the superintendent or the principal, you go in and say, 'Gosh, I want to teach here,' he or she says yes, you've got a license."

The Scary Bottom line; your average citizen politician is now designing education policy, not educators and those egg-headed elitist know-it-all researchers. Ugh, I hate them and their smarty pants objections.

Jon Bales, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, said "This is characteristic of bad and ineffective policy." The Wisconsin Association of Colleges for Teacher Education said putting unprepared teachers into classrooms was not only unwise and unfair, but "threatens the very foundation of a strong, competitive workforce."

This is the way we're going to compete with those high scoring students in Europe? They have a
different approach to teaching. See if you notice a difference:

“All of Finland’s teachers must have a research-based master’s degree that’s based on a five-year degree,” said a member of the Finnish Parliament. “We also set high wages for teachers, and teaching is considered a very respected profession in our country. This includes preschool teachers—every preschool teacher must have a college degree.”

Following an informal meeting of Education Ministers in Gothenburg in September 2009 … the Council in November 2009 agreed, that: ‘In view of the increasing demands placed upon them and the growing complexity of their roles, teachers need access to effective personal and professional support throughout their careers, and particularly during the time they first enter the profession … all newly qualified teachers receive sufficient and effective support and guidance during the first few years of their careers.’

I think sums it up well:

The knowledge, skills and attitudes of each of Europe's 6 million teachers are of great importance. The quality of their teaching has a direct effect upon learners’ attainment. The demands made on teachers, school leaders, and teacher educators are increasing and changing. They are called on to play a key role in modernising education. To do that, they need to develop their own knowledge and skills. Initial education and continuous professional development of the highest quality, and access to support throughout their careers are both essential.

All of this kind of makes sense doesn't it, especially after they attacked and vilified Wisconsin teachers in order to pass Act 10. That's because anyone can teach really.

Walker takes credit for 2nd place Graduation Rates in our "failed" Public Schools, so why all the Voucher Talk?

A little known secret made the news the other day that dispels every Scott Walker and Republican lie about our supposed failing public schools.

Wisconsin’s high school graduation rate was 88.0% for the 2012-13 school year, just behind Iowa at 90 percent and tied for second. 

That's way over the national average of just 81%. So what's all this talk about our failing public unionized schools? It was all a carefully constructed right wing privatization campaign myth.

It seems despite Republican efforts to voucherize education and bleed public schools dry, the switch over to Common Core standards in 2010 and the incredible dedication teachers had for their students was enough to keep the state's ranking at the top.

Thanks to Scott Walker? Who wants to take credit for something he nearly single handedly destroyed with Act 10? Scott Walker of course, and he lied again making it seem like the ranking included all four years of his administration, when in fact it wasn't. We're talking about the 2012-13 school year. And the fact that the actual that graduating class started 4 years earlier and Wisconsin's graduation rates haven't really changed much for the last 3 years...well, has this guy ever accomplished anything policy wise?

2011: 87.0%

2012: 87.5%

2013: 88.0%

NOTE: Wisconsin's top graduation rate blows up Walker's excuse that the Act 10 protests negatively effected business and job creation. If anything, Act 10 should have negatively effect teaching and public education in general, since that's what the protests and recalls were all about...and it didn't. WKOW:

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."