Scott Walker's Act 10 and Emergency Teaching License Increases!!! Walker's own "manufactured crisis."

Wisconsin was a leader in vilifying the teaching profession thanks to Act 10, and taking education down a peg or two on accountability:

Teacher Shortages Getting Worse: Act 10 is now collapsing the teaching profession, as predicted, just in time for Scott Walker to run for reelection. It seems rural support might be slipping too, as they scramble to approve referendums and deal with teacher shortages:

In 2015, four years after the law’s collective-bargaining limits reshaped the profession, the smallest group of juniors and seniors in two decades was enrolled in teaching programs at the state’s public universities. Some 25% of school districts are reporting an “extreme shortage” of job-seekers for key positions. Wauwatosa Superintendent Phil Ertl told parents at a meeting: “People are being driven away from the teaching profession. It’s not a lifelong career anymore.”

JS: The “Order of the State Superintendent for Public Instruction Adopting Emergency Rules” (is) causing big concern in perhaps every school district and independent school in Wisconsin … Who’s going to fill the remaining open teaching jobs we have? Are we really getting the best people we feasibly could to work in our classrooms?  

"Not Doing much to Increase the Quality:" This is not the kind of quote you want to hear from a principle when you've got kids in school, like in Bangor, WI.



Beyond Walker's Act 10 Teacher Shortages: The shortages go beyond teachers and their substitutes. And to think, this was all about Walker defunding unions and the Democratic Party to get an edge up in state elections:

Some critics put a considerable amount of the blame on political forces opposed to teachers’ unions and in favor of using public money to pay for private schools. One outspoken advocate of such views is Tim Slekar, dean of the School of Education at Edgewood College in Madison.

He called the teacher shortage “a manufactured crisis” and said that changing licensing requirements “will do nothing except dramatically increase systemic inequity and genuinely harm the teaching profession.”

“Softening teacher license policies or doing away with the license altogether will kill the profession and turn teaching into a low-wage service sector,” Slekar said.

With all this in mind, it seems we're now having to deal with a whole new set of problems. The effect was predictable. And yet, even after the mass longtime teacher retirements:

No known poll has asked Wisconsinites about Act 10 in the months leading up to Walker's statement on April 1, 2014, and his staff did not cite one.

Scott Walker's Act 10 wrecking ball lowers Teacher Standards, doubles lower quality "Emergency Licenses!!!"

We're now lowering the bar for teacher hiring in Wisconsin, thanks to Scott Walker's biggest bragging point, Act 10. It's also time for Democrats to drive this point home, now that Republicans are attempting to solve a major problem they created with Act 10 by dramatically lowering the bar for teacher hiring statewide. 

From a previous blog post, this event was a pelude to the growing teacher shortage:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Now anyone can teach our kids, says one rural republican politician. Underfunded rural schools, struggling desperately to keep their teachers from leaving, just got the conservative kind of help they voted for. jsonline:

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...

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. 

Czaja agreed it might make it easier to become a teacher in Wisconsin than in any other state. Czaja couldn't name any districts that had asked for the broader flexibilities.

"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." 

Scott Walker's Act 10 "Emergency Licenses:" Doesn't sound right...right? Sure we've got a budget surplus, but it didn't have to come at the expense of teachers or public education. These dumbed down emergency licenses are on the increase too, with no sign of slowing down:

Alan Shoho, the Dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said the school's enrollment is down from historical numbers. He tells us jobs that once had 120 candidates before Act 10 now fall closer to 20. "We can talk about compensation, we can talk about working conditions, but I boil it down to this one word and its respect.". He feels the lack of respect has caused detrimental changes in teacher education.

 So now we've created emergency licenses. Here's TMJ4 with the bad news:



Walker to the Rescue, Again, Fixing a Problem He Created? Here's what's worse; not only does Walker have to fix a problem he created, but like everything else, he's lowered the bar with a half-assed band-aid that's just as destructive. From WKOW a look at the teacher problem and the solution - make it easier to become a teacher?:

-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.

Walker: "Improving the Quality of the Classrooms is Priceless...:" Walker's worse than anticipated solution to hiring unqualified teachers is "improving quality?" That's what's he going to say in the state of the state address:

Walker also previewed a message he'll deliver on Wednesday, touting historic spending on K-12 education in his latest budget and the impact of his controversial 2011 Act 10 law that hobbled the ability of public teacher's unions to negotiate benefits, working conditions and wages.

"Making a historic investment in K-12 education is great, but knowing with certainty those dollars will be invested in improving the quality of the classroom is priceless," Walker said.

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.

Walker's Act 10 mistake: Treating School Districts like Private Companies.

Scott Walker's lack of business experience is showing.

And yet, he continues to pretend he's just like a "small business owner." That's what he said when he became governor...

"I just came in trying to...like a small business owner, I saw a problem, saw a solution, I tried to fix it."

"Tried," and as we have all sadly seen, failed.

But Walker's delusional "small business owner" self image is at the heart of Act 10 and the public education system he's slowly destroying.

School Districts not like Businesses: Unlike businesses that can try "new ways to operate," move, or even go-out-of-business, school districts...CAN'T. From the JS article "Act 10 at Five:"

Scott Walker said it’s up to school districts to get creative. Just as private companies do, small school districts need to find new ways to operate efficiently and be attractive, Walker said. 

Treating schools and their districts like "small businesses," has turned school house doors into revolving doors for teachers:

1. Once anchored in communities, teachers are moving from district to district, creating a year-round cycle of vacancies and turnover as fewer people enter the profession.

2. It all may sound familiar to private-sector workers.(Its) undermined some districts’ ability to fend off the poaching of their teachers. Claudia Felske, a 2010 state teacher of the year working in East Troy, thinks the analogy inapt. “We are not an NFL team. We are not corporate America. We still have to answer to the taxpayer. How can we have superstars come in and pay them an extra $20,000 when it has massive effects in the district?”

3. Teacher free agency, the zero-sum contest: Exactly 75% of districts are losing their teachers more often after Act 10 because a competitor offered a better salary or benefits, the survey found. Nearly one-fourth of the teaching staff in Dodgeville, in southwest Wisconsin, departed this summer, mostly to job-hopping.

4. By a 10-point margin, school superintendents see a negative rather than positive effect on teaching quality from “free agency,” retirements and other turnover.

5. Teacher retirements surged when protections on benefits fell: the largest rate of retirements in two decades — some 5,100 teachers in 2011 alone, with most districts seeing an increase. 

6. Two-thirds of districts report trimming or ending post-employment benefits for some or all future retirees.

Get a load of this little deception that keeps Walker's approval rating chugging along:

Gov. Scott Walker highlighted improved third-grade reading scores for one year. Unmentioned: The scores went down two other years. When they did, he pointed to rising fourth-grade scores instead. raises have cut into the size of pay increases for teachers who stay put, many districts report. That makes discrepancies worse and can fuel more desire to move.

Walker's Act 10 brings Wage Disparity to Teaching.

Abrupt and ideologically based major policy changes often come with unintended consequences.

It never occurred to Republicans that there maybe a reason why our schools are public, and private schools are what they are...businesses.  

One teacher I know mentioned to me that the new business like approach has taken away many of the incentives to pursue other course work and degrees that can improve their ability to teach and make more money. High demand courses will soon create shortages in other fields of work. How long before people enter the teaching profession not as a calling, but as a way to make more and more money. 

And now, private sector wage disparity has come to our educators. A new study is telling us the female dominated field of teaching is underpaying women compared to men, largely due to Scott Walker's Act 10.

WKOW's Greg Neumann explains: 

Male teachers now make more money than their female colleagues in Wisconsin, and a UW researcher says it's because of Act 10.

In researching the teacher shortage in Wisconsin, Dr. Peter Goff - an education leadership and policy analyst - found men who teach in state public schools are earning about $300 more each year than their women counterparts. Dr. Goff said (the gap) is likely to grow. He said the public school system in Wisconsin now more closely resembles the private sector, where women earn about 79 cents for every dollar a man earns.

"One of the things that's very well known in business literature is that men tend to be a little bit more aggressive in negotiating for pay and there's also some evidence that when women are equally aggressive in negotiating for pay, that they're penalized for it," said Dr. Goff. "They're seen as being pushy."

Astar Herndon, state director for 9 to 5 Wisconsin - a women's employment rights group, said Goff's research mirrors what she's seen before. "Some managers are hearing a woman requesting a raise, whereas a man is due a raise because he is more - whether it's competent, he has a family - there's so many more explanations given to a man when he asks for a raise," said Herndon.

A spokesperson for Gov. Scott Walker did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Cruz liked the way Walker dismissed Act 10 protesters; Cruz calls Trump coward, in bar fight over wives!!

As WPR reported:

Cruz Says He Was 'Inspired' By Walker During Act 10 Protests: "Wisconsin is known for producing fighters," Cruz said. "When Gov. Scott Walker stood up and led the fight against the union bosses of the public employee unions, and when millions and millions of men and women across Wisconsin stood with Gov. Walker, that fight inspired millions of Americans across this country. It inspired me, it inspired Heidi."

In a down-the-rabbit-hole interpretation of the 1st Amendment, Cruz portrayed every protesting Wisconsinite standing up for workers, as corrupt "special interests."

"It showed that when we stand together as 'we the people,' we can beat the special interests and we can end the corruption."

Cruz wants to be President? To hear one candidate for president call another candidate a "coward," in an argument over their wives...seriously, what is happening in this country, and why is the Republican Party still relevant:



And then this happened...

Walker's arrogant "I don't Care" Department of Corrections now in shambles after Act 10.

In 2012, Scott Walker appointed Dept. of Corrections Secretary Ed Wall, who's one major responsibility was public safety. We're now finding out that he's been an incredible failure.

But we also need to hold Walker responsible. I know Republicans don't like it, but the same "buck stops here" rule applies to Scott Walker. Where has Walker been during the breakdown of corrections staffing and documented abuse? Oh that's right, Act 10 solved all our problems, not made them worse.

Walker's “Working for Wisconsin” tour dubbed the “2020 Vision Project,” where he is supposedly seeking local advice, is a sham. According to one attendee:

The format didn’t allow for more dialogue about problems facing the state. “The governor didn’t address what was being shared. He recorded it. He listened. But I can’t say he gave us a response to any of the issues that were raised.”

Walker never mentioned the Failure of Act 10 - The Problems at the Columbia Correctional Institution: Public safety fell apart after Act 10, since corrections staff no longer had input, and many up and quit. Despite losing 541 employees, Walker's DOC Sec. Ed Wall didn't think it was important to increase oversight?

Following the passage of Act 10, 541 employees retired from the DOC. In 2012 resignations went up 40 percent. At CCI, staff report seeing more people leaving, some recent recruits deciding not to stay along with the exit of veteran employees.

CCI staff have often said that when concerns about safety and security are brought up to management, the response from Warden Mike Dittman and DOC Secretary Edward Wall is “there are 1,000 people in line to take your job.” In one meeting with legislators in October, Wall reportedly responded to a comment that more staff would be leaving in the next year by saying, “I don’t care. Let them go.”

Buck stops where? Walker sees the dangerous conditions at CCI and the dramatic staff reductions as another problem to run from. Contract it out. Walker isn't kidding either when he blamed previous administrations. He really thinks that gets him off the hook:

When asked after his speech about the state of the Department of Corrections and Columbia Correctional Institution in particular, which runs (by some estimates) a 20 percent staff deficit, Walker said that it was to be expected.

“This is an issue that predates me and predates Act 10. Back when I was in the Legislature, in the early 1990s, Tommy Thompson had a similar problem. It’s part of the reason why for a while he looked at out-of-state contracts for holding inmates.”

Anecdotal Walker flip flops on Anecdotes: After countless Walker policy changing anecdotes were found to be unprovable or flat out fabrications, Walker won't allow other peoples anecdotes about Warden Dittman and Wall's comments make him look like a complete incompetent, even when they're true:

“I would love to see the documentation. I’ve never heard him say that. I would be interested in hearing where that is documented, rather than rumors from staff out there. I’ve yet to hear that. If that’s something you can document for us or show, that would be concerning to us, but I’ve never heard that from the Secretary or anyone else in the administration.”

Democratic offers to help partisan attempts to Embarrass Walker? Instead of being suspicious of the Democrats, he should have listened:

In September, Sen. Jon Erpenbach, sent a letter to the co-chairs of the State Legislature’s Joint-Audit Committee, requesting a vote on an audit of the DOC. In January, Erpenbach, with a group of representatives including Rep. Dave Considine and Sen. Jennifer Shilling offered a nine-part proposal for addressing the problems in the DOC, separately proposed for a more convenient a la carte consideration.

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.  

Walker tames weak state Republican leaders, who were afraid of Big Bold Walker Agenda? Not what they remember...

Our brave unintimidated Governor Scott Walker has just bitten off more than he can chew. It seems that when you belittle and cast your fellow Republicans in the legislature as timid and weak, you're going to get some blowback. Maybe even come across as a blowhard liar of sorts. jsonline:

Some Republican leaders in Wisconsin are disputing Gov. Scott Walker's latest account of how he took on the GOP establishment during his battle with public employee unions. Walker in recent days has been stressing the resistance he mt not just from ... Republicans.

Walker: "Sometimes people (think) I just took on the unions or the other party. We did. But before all that, we had to take on our own party's establishment. There were a lot of people in my party, particularly in the legislative branch, who said, 'You know it's nice to be in the majority, that means we've got a bigger office and more staff and nice titles but I don't know that we really want to do all that much more.' They said, 'It's kind of safe here, if we have to push some of the big, bold reforms you're talking about, there might be some push-back. And some of us in safe seats might actually have some challenges.' You know what? We said, 'Never mind. We got elected for a reason. We didn't get elected for a title .... We got elected to do something.'"

What a leader? 

He is selling himself as a politician who will fight for voters and who is willing to embrace "big, bold" ideas.

Walker is so desperate to get that Iowa vote he'll even trash his lackey, one party legislature that pretty much does everything he wants:

But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said Republicans in that house never balked over the controversial proposal to all but end collective bargaining for most of the state's public workers, known as Act 10. "That was not my recollection. I wasn't in every meeting but on the Assembly side, I never met anybody (in leadership) who wasn't on board from day one." Vos said he did not recall the kinds of push-back that Walker is now describing. He added that he never heard any GOP leaders worry about losing perks, such as their title or office. "It seemed to me the whole discussion was about how we were going to get it done. I have always felt we were a team." 

Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) made similar comments on Twitter Friday morning. "I was new at the time, but timid is not a description that fit our caucus. Resolute and united is," he tweeted.

Former Sen. Dale Schultz, who was the only Republican senator to vote against Act. 10, said he remembers Walker visiting the Senate GOP caucus. "There was a lot of concern there, but the leadership had already bought into doing this. We'd already been told this was going to happen."

My favorite comment came from Sen. Luther Olsen:

The comments struck a nerve with Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon.

"The thing is, we were all the guys facing the crowds every day coming in and out of our offices. We didn't have the police protection," he said. "Taking on your friends ... and saying you were the tough guy? Thanks a lot, buddy."

Parents Statewide angry over Walker's cuts to Schools, while teacher applicants way down or they're just leaving Wisconsin.

Scott Walker's budget was so dramatically out of line with expectations of state residents, that it's hard to know what he was thinking. This is an all or nothing proposed downsizing or rejection of everything "government." Many Walker voters are suddenly feeling the full effects of their own policy. Beloit Daily News: 

BRILLION, WI: The overwhelming message dozens of educators, parents and school board members delivered to the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee Wednesday was simple: Fund public schools and stop the expansion of taxpayer-subsidized vouchers.

"I'm not just concerned, I'm appalled that education cuts are even on the table. … Our schools are not failing as you have been repeatedly told. They are struggling to succeed with the little resources that you offer them," Kathryn Carley, who has children in the Green Bay Area Public School District, told the committee. Hundreds of community members attended the day-long public hearing at Brillion High School, most of them voicing concerns on varying aspects of Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget.

Don Hietpas, Appleton's chief financial officer: "We cannot sustain excellent student programming and student activities if our revenues continue to be frozen," Hietpas said.

Scott Walker's Act 10 union busting "tools" are all worn out. Vilified teachers leaving state:

Beloit area schools are having a harder time recruiting teachers: Superintendent of the Beloit Turner School District Dennis McCarthy said there has been a sharp reduction in applicants for teaching positions for the past several years. “We have posted numerous positions with little or no applicants … there are simply far less quality candidates available.”

McCarthy said a technical education teacher position in 2009 yielded 17 applicants, but the same position had 5 applicants in 2013. A fifth grade teacher yielded 259 applicants in 2009, yet there were only 28 applicants in 2014 for the same position … down 30 teachers from the four years ago … anticipates $5 million in cuts this year. Tasha Bell, equity coordinator for the district, said “This year we have gone to fairs in Illinois hoping to net some bilingual and candidates of color.”

Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, associate dean of teacher education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said there has been a decline among students pursuing education at the university. “It hasn’t been significant, but it’s going down,” Hanley-Maxell said.

Hanley-Maxwell said those who do become teachers are choosing more often to leave the state, estimating a 10 percent increase in students who leave Wisconsin after graduating from UW-Madison … enrollment in California teaching programs is down 53 percent

Walker is aware the Nation can hear him lie, right?

Snuggle up on the sofa with steaming cup of hot cocoa, and bask in the warm glow of the (Pants on) fire. Tis the season for bigger, national sized lies from our sociopathic governor.

While Walker and his band of legislative Republican pirates insist a constitutional change allowing the State Supreme Court justices to vote every two years for a new chief justice brings true democracy to their workplace, that same kind of "democracy" doesn't apply to workers voting to unionize their workplace. Whatever "principled" rationalization is convenient at the time I suppose.

Unions are still the super villain holding down corporate dominance. They're so bad that Walker has the balls to compare unions to the Red Threat. But as pictured here, even the unions back then were squarely in the sights of the Soviet Union.

But as PolitiFact pointed out, Walker's play to the base is simply outrageous:

Five experts told us they had never heard of such documents. Several were incredulous at the notion. McCartin, a Georgetown University labor history expert who wrote the book about the strike that Walker cited, said: "I am not aware of any such documents.  If they did exist, I would love to see them."

Svetlana Savranskaya, director of Russia programs at the National Security Archive at George Washington University, told us she "had to listen to the Walker interview twice, so ridiculous is the statement about the air traffic controllers. There is absolutely no evidence of this." James Graham Wilson, a historian at the U.S. State Department, also told us he was not aware of any Soviet documents.
 Reagan's own ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock, told us: "It's utter nonsense. There is no evidence of that whatever." Matlock questioned whether Soviet leaders even paid much attention to the firings, saying: "At that point, their big question was whether (Reagan) was going to attack them."

Walker cited no Soviet documents showing that the firings made the Soviets treat Reagan more seriously. And experts, several of whom felt Walker’s claim is outrageous, told us they are not aware that any such documents exist.

For a statement that is false and ridiculous, our rating is Pants on Fire.

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.

Walker knows Republican Voters love being Lied!!!

Scott Walker knew this was a lie, since he was referring to a poll question two years ago. So what else is he lying about? Don't get me started...

Walker Flips Position, Injects himself into legal System to Fire Teacher. This after rejecting a Veterans pardon. But Walker loves teachers?

Firing teachers at will is something Republicans have been working on for a long time. Now they have their first execution to prove their "moral" purity.

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."-Bush

No Pardons-the Law is the Law: Scott Walker believes in the legal system so much that he even turned down an Iraq war veteran's request for a pardon (the guy wanted to become a police officer):  

Walker has said he doesn't consider pardon requests because he doesn't believe he should inject himself into the criminal justice system. "To me, the only people who are seeking pardons are people who have been guilty of a crime and I have a hard time undermining the actions of a jury and of a court."

Flip Flop: "Undermining the actions" of the court(s): Even a decision by the state's highest court of law didn't slow Walker down in what he saw as an election year story of "moral" values. After a court ordered a fired teacher to be reinstated and the state Supreme Court agreed, Scott Walker's respect for the law and courts disappeared. After all, didn't Walker just defeat and vilify teachers? 

Gov. Scott Walker has asked State Superintendent Tony Evers to begin license revocation proceedings for a Middleton teacher reinstated to his job this month after being fired in 2010 for looking at pornographic images at school. “After hearing from concerned parents..."

Here's Channel3000 with their coverage:



Actually only one parent.

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said the governor sent the letter to Evers after hearing from one of those parents. In an email last week, an aide to the governor told parent Kira Dott that the matter was under the jurisdiction of the local school board and “further from the Governor’s jurisdiction as this was decided in the courts.”

Flip Flop: Just like that, Scott Walker is setting out to undermine the local school board and courts, in a big way. Here's a short history, a legal process Walker is about to reverse: 

Other teachers also found to be violating the district’s policies on Internet and technology were not fired. An arbitrator ruled in 2012 that the district “has just cause to discipline Harris but because the penalty of discharge is excessive, arbitrary and an abuse of discretion, the penalty needs to be reduced to be comparable to other penalties for similar offenses,” and that he should be given a 15-day suspension instead.

Circuit and appellate courts upheld that ruling. Earlier this month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear the school board’s appeal of the arbitrator’s ruling, prompting the district to comply with the ruling and reinstate Harris.

 But a little known law passed in the shadow of Act 10 has suddenly put Walker in control:

A law known as Act 84 that was passed in 2011 further clarified immoral conduct to include looking at pornography on school computers. In the letter, Walker said “it appears (Harris’) behavior meets the definition of ‘Immoral conduct’” … giving Evers the ability to revoke Harris’ license … reforms Walker worked to put in place that gave “local school districts the tools they need to hire and fire teachers based on … professional conduct. 

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator:"

 “We have a legal system in this country,” Harris’ lawyer, William Haus said. “You go through four years of litigation and now the governor chimes in? There has to be an end of a process ... you can’t go through four years of expensive litigation and it goes all the way to the Supreme Court and suddenly we have someone who knows better.”

Poor Scott Walker, no one listened to him during the protests, and other complete fabrications.

It was the following Scott Walker comment that attracted me to the included video interview below. There's so much to literally hate here that it's hard to know where to start. But it does show how upside down everything is in Republican world. Truly stunning. Fiscal Times:

Walker: "One problem is that we conservatives think and talk with our heads – the left thinks and talks with their hearts. We need to think more with our heads and talk more with our hearts.”

In other words, Republicans need to talk like the "left." George W. never stopped talking about his gut decisions. Heck, Stephen Colbert used that as a running gag for years...still does. And yet to Walker, Republicans are too "intellectual?"

Walker isn't done. He doesn't understand why anyone would dare criticize him, or force him take so much outside campaign money from billionaires. And what about citizen protesters unhappy with his one party freight train barreling down the tracks? :

Walker: "(The unions took) “millions of dollars in ads against me, an amount you’d expect only in a [national] campaign. There were 100,000 protestors in the capital. The media would only listen to their side – it’s interesting to cover protests, not so interesting to cover details."

Yea, it was just 100,000 protesters. Too bad the newspapers couldn't find our media shy governor.

Despite the impossibility of a market driven health care system, Walker's plan (like Paul Ryan's) creates a false premise to sell his idea while pretending none of the problems people are seeing now and listed below (rising costs, dropped plans, finding new doctors) existed before ObamaCare. Since Walker is a career politicians, he probably clueless about private health care or the individual market. I've been in it for over 20 years so:

Walker: (Obamacare is “horrible” because it’s not market driven) “The president promised people they could keep their doctors and their plans. That’s not happening. People are also feeling sticker shock now. It is anything but affordable. Republicans need to offer a viable alternative. We owe it to Americans to put them back in charge of their own health care decisions. The current system isn’t effective. It’s not market driven or patient centered. It’s bureaucracy driven.”

Hold on!!! Walker trashed the idea of  "patient centered" care when he changed state law from a "reasonable patient standard" to a "reasonable physician standard," where the doctor doesn't have to tell a patient everything they need to know. Explain that one Governor. And before that, Walker signed a law removing the requirement that the small print in insurance contracts be understandable to an 8th grader. Now you need lawyer. How is that "patient centered?

Walker is being given so much credit for presiding over a one party system of government. Hate to see the guy break a sweat listening to the Democratic opposition. Let's face it, who needs their vote anyway? I predict Walker will only run for president if he can lead a one party government, he even said so:

Walker: “Nationally, it’s not enough for Republicans to hold the House. We have a big opportunity to regain the U.S. Senate. Then two years later, it makes for a compelling case that we can complete the reforms by putting a new chief executive in the White House.”

Is anybody getting this...? Here's the included video where Walker credits smart Democrats for voting for him in the recall election. He even says he added money to education, even though he cut nearly a billion dollars and gave most of that additional cash to vouchers.