Walker's election year school funding makes years of district begging magically all right?

While public radio promotes Scott Walker's blue wave panic like it's the worst thing that could happen, Walker came right out and explained just how he's been duping his base on the issue of taxes. And I'll bet his voting base didn't even notice.

As Milwaukee County executive, Walker avoided raising taxes and taking the blame, by making the County Board raise those taxes by overriding his draconian budget vetos.

Again, Walker is committing to the same scheme with school funding. Sure he's cut taxes, just like he said on Upfront with Mike Gousha, but school funding isn't the responsibility of the state? Walker relishes the idea that local governments have to pass referendums to raise taxes because that takes Walker off the hook again. Wake up conservatives.

In the clip, he almost enjoys sticking it to the locals, when he says "it's theirs." Walker also pretends "all the money" he suddenly started spending in an election year is more than enough, and will make up for years of cuts, teacher shortages, lower standard for hiring, crumbling schools, bus transportation...etc. Nope:

Walker takes on State Constitution with Activist Supreme Court justices, hoping to reverse past rulings, take control of public education.

Now that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is stacked with activist conservative justices who have unapologetically legislated from the bench, Republican Governor Scott Walker can now centralize power by legally wiping out past decisions to fit in with his new authoritarian state.

How and what our kids are taught in school is the next important step in holding power, and the movement to control curriculum is gathering steam. Walker wants the constitutional office of the state superintendent to march to his edicts, tossing small government out the window, and replacing a qualified educator with partisan legislative freeloaders who failed in the private sector.

Most importantly, this is a redo, and a real test for the activist court; will it unashamedly rule in the governors favor, throwing out a fairly recent court decision. The only things that's change in Wisconsin is the radicalized party in charge.

(A) 1996 Supreme Court ruling stopped then-Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) from placing the education department under his control.

Walker's style, to win and then destroy his opponents, rolls on this time targeting the state's Constitution:

AP: The Wisconsin Supreme Court is considering whether to overturn a nearly 20-year-old ruling that protected powers of the state superintendent of schools from being taken away by the Legislature or governor.

The court heard arguments Tuesday in a case challenging a 2011 law that gives the governor the power to approve and block administrative rules being enacted by the state superintendent. Lower courts have struck down the law as it applied to state Superintendent Tony Evers and the department he oversees.

WISC

Walker's cuts to school spending shocker; now below national average.

If it wasn't for the dedicated hard work of our teachers, and the concern they have for our kids, schools would be failing academically right now. It's anybodies guess how long teachers can hold up under the barrage of funding cuts, and the constant character assassination brought about by a bunch of disgruntled republican politicians who still can't get over their bad boy years in high school.

We're trending down folks, biennial budget after biennial budget. This is Scott Walker's plan for the country, what do you think? jsonline:

Walker budget puts Wisconsin per-pupil spending below national average: For what could be the first time ever, Wisconsin would fall below the national average in per-pupil K-12 spending if Gov. Scott Walker's budget passes without changes, according to an analysis from a national nonpartisan research group. Only a handful of states, including Wisconsin, are poised to cut education spending in the 2015-'16 school year, according to the commission's analysis.

The vast majority of other states are projected to increase spending between 1% and 3% to account for increasing operational costs such as health care.

Republicans got an earful about the cuts, and they know they’re in deep shit with their own voters if they don’t come up with something. But that may not be enough.

Walker proposed cutting $127 million from K-12 schools in the first year of his budget, which has drawn criticism from districts and the state Department of Public Instruction. Increasingly, parents have rallied to join the call for not just a restoration of the cut — which would bring districts back to where they are this year — but also an increase. A recent statewide poll by Marquette Law School showed 78% of Wisconsin residents disagreed with Walker's $127 million proposed cut to K-12 education.

Republicans are also trying to give the impression that they care about restoring funding, so when they don’t, they can say they tried. Will their voters let them off the hook again?

Leading Republicans pledged to restore funding for K-12 schools as they work through amending Walker's budget.

They think a token giveback to save their sorry asses will help. I hope not.

Thank you Scott Walker: Taxpayers Pay the rich to send their Kids to Private Schools.

Big surprise?

jsonline: More than 2,400 students have applied to receive a taxpayer-funded voucher to attend private school and the majority of them currently attend a private school.

Welcome to serfdom folks, while the 1% move forward in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin.

These two comments following story hit the mark:

"Seems more like those who can afford to go these schools have figured out that they can go for free. I'd be willing to bet the parents of most of the kids are against 'entitlements'."

"They will probably have field trips to grocery stores so they can mock people who buy meat with their food stamps."

That’s not all, public schools were given a back seat to kids already in private schools, thanks to legislation passed by Walker, who apparently didn't read the bill. That’s the opposite of giving parents in public schools choices. Walker and the legislature got caught tilting the scales:

Newsobserver: Public schools students will not get preference over those already in private school as they compete against one another for a limited number of taxpayer subsidized vouchers: Proponents argued growth was needed in order to give parents of children in public school more choices over where to send their children. Those who worked closest on the deal were apparently unaware that the final version did not ultimately give public school students preference over those already in private schools.

Amazed? Why are the following people surprised? Legislators read the bill before passing it, and Walker read the bill before signing it, right? This is government incompetence by politicians who say government can’t do anything right. It's was also pre-written by ALEC: 

Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican leaders of the Legislature — Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald — all said Wednesday the intent was to give public school children preference.

But were they surprised, or just caught? We know the answer:

"It can't be fixed," said Democratic state Rep. Sondy Pope, a longtime critic of the voucher program. "It's in place for the fall and once a family is in, they stay there." She said Republicans purposefully wrote the law to not give public school students a preference, even though they said that was their intention. "They got what they wanted," Pope said. "They say one thing and do another. It's like the fox guarding the hen house. There's not a lot we can do about it, as we're seeing right now."

Although it’s perfectly constitutional, many voucher supporters may not know, or don’t care if almost all voucher schools are religious, and parents are sending them there for religious teachings and not because of higher achievement levels and grades:

WSJ: Madison's Lighthouse Christian School is one of 25 private schools in Wisconsin that can enroll students using taxpayer-funded vouchers this fall, the Department of Public Instruction announced Thursday.

End Entitlements: Isn't it time to cut a child’s dependence on Free or Reduced School Lunches?

What does it mean when more kids are eligible for free or reduced school lunches? It says their parents incomes are falling behind, or they’re not working at all. So is this the time to cut back on FoodShare? Get tougher on unemployment job searches? Dump families off Badgercare?

This is what Walker meant by turning out State Red?

If you’re Scott Walker, yes. Who hasn't been angered by the following irresponsible and inappropriate argument Walker gave for achieving "freedom?" When he repeats, "not because we...kick them out to the street...to the curb," it's an acknowledgement that that's exactly what will happen, and he's okay with that.

Walker: "We measure success in government by just the opposite: by how many fewer people are dependent on government, not because we kicked them out to the street, not because we pushed then out to the curb, but because we understand that true freedom and prosperity come when we empower people to take control of their own lives and their own destinies." 

These are destinies that empower people as they live on the “street,” or off to the “curb.”

The truth is, free and reduced school lunches shines a bright light on what real prosperity is…Walker style; low wages and lousy desperate jobs.

WPR: The larger numbers of students in Wisconsin receiving free and reduced-price school meals has increased for the ninth straight school year. Over 43 percent of public school students in the state qualified for subsidized breakfast and lunch this school year - up nearly a percent from last year. Ten years ago, (it was) around 30 percent. 110 Wisconsin school districts now have 50 percent or more of their students who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. That's out of a total of 414 districts in the state that participate in the National School Lunch Program. 

Shorewood Schools Complain about war on Public Schools! Really, you didn't see that coming?

I'm marveling at another school districts sudden realization that maybe they were mislead. Doing away with collective bargaining, and giving school boards control when they're not even in the classrooms is a formula for failure. Did anyone really think this was about improving schools (wink).

Suckers.

I'm rather enjoying the fallout, because there's a little "told you so" in all this. I'm also wondering if this doesn't make it a little harder for Scott Walker to get reelected. Why wouldn't it. His policy against public schools isn't sitting well with proud and happy families living in their highly valued school districts. There's a reason property taxes and home values are high.

I do feel sorry for Shorewood and all the other districts, whether conservative or liberal, and I'm glad everybody seems to be catching on. Like all the other towns and cities that have had the same reaction, Shorewood knows there's a problem:

Shorewood Now: School district leaders are calling on community members to lend their support to a letter which says the Gov. Scott Walker's proposed 2013-15 budget threatens the quality of public education ... an effort to sway legislators to revisit the governor's 2013-15 budget proposal, which freezes a slight increase in state aid to schools and expands the voucher program ... and risks faced by the district as a result of the governor's proposal.

It looks like the Democratic legislators weren't lying after all?

"(Cuts resulting from the governor's budget) affect not only the students and teachers in Shorewood's classrooms each day, but the community as a whole," Superintendent Martin Lexmond said in a news release.

Specifically, the letter calls for: legislators to increase the state-mandated revenue limit - which controls how much districts can raise via the combination of state aid and local tax levy - by $250 per pupil for the next two years instead of zero

And seemingly pulled right out of a couple dozen speeches presented by Democratic legislators during the protests over Walker's budget attack on public schools....

"Traditional public schools are the only schools in the state required, equipped and privileged to serve all of the children of Wisconsin," Lexmond said in the release. "However, we cannot do our jobs as educators effectively without revenue that keeps pace with increased costs and new requirements." 

Good luck with that. Here's a classic comment from a conservative reader that might need a few extra hours of English....it's people like this that'll never be happy, yet are always at the base of power in the Capitol:

If you can't read it, here's the transcript: 

James Brotz ·  Top Commenter · UW MadisonWOW with all the Communist. Indoctrination in the schools Nation wide and ALL the ARROGANT Communist WEAC members Waisting our Money LAST YEAR id say to He! with about 90% of the babysitters(teachers? LOL) Fire them and START OVER goes for the UW system Also!

Oh No! Rich have to pay for Voucher Schools Too!!!

The rich conservative voter didn't know they would be on the hook for Walker's plans to fund school vouchers. They're surprised they were included in the state defunding of public schools for private. Did they think there were exempt?:

jsonline: Menomonee Falls says state budget is unfair to 'property-rich' districts: School Superintendent Patricia Greco reiterated some of the main concerns that have been expressed to state legislators, including the desire to have the revenue limit increase paced with the cost of living. "The question we asked them was, if their notion is a freeze, why is the state operating budget … increased by 2.8 percent, which would near cost of living for the state budget, but not for the school budget?" Greco said. "As state aid drops, our local property taxes, because we're considered a property wealthy community, go up," Greco added.

Vouchers paid for by the RICH too!!!

Another related concern is the impact to the district of the state's proposed funding mechanism for private school vouchers. "Because we're considered a property wealthy area, a disproportionate amount of the impact of the funding for the private school vouchers and the other proposals would also fall as an impact on our area taxpayers," Greco said … the support for private school vouchers is to help provide a sense of competition to schools that are poorer performing, Greco said. However, it has a negative impact on Menomonee Falls taxpayers, she said.

Here's my favorite dumb-ass comment by the filthy rich:

"In essence, we have high-achieving schools, and our taxpayers will be the ones to fund the private school vouchers," Greco said. "If the concept is competition, they're actually taking it from high-achieving schools in order to fund the voucher system."

Ouch! And they thought they were shielded in some way from the riff raff...? Let's see how this washes out come election time.

Green Bay Public Schools will get less funding than Private Voucher Schools, and More.

I've been saying for a whole bunch of years that charter and voucher schools complicate education, by creating parallel systems that make it even harder to watchdog taxpayers money. Others are just now getting the message.

"Report cards" and tests should be used to improve schools, not dissolve them.

From WPT's Here and Now, these are the two best news stories I've seen on the voucher threat. You'll see that it's a lot more complicated that the ridiculous reason given by a school voucher advocate; it's a parents right. Really, the constitution says that? Do parents really know what's best, or have they been out of the loop for 10 to 15 years, since they left school? It comes down to feel good advertising, sloganeering, by the privateers who are almost all former Republican Assembly Speakers. That should tell you something.

Here's what were looking at in Green Bay. This is edited and features only the highlights. Check out the whole piece from Zac Schultz here:



Anchor Frederica Freyberg takes a closer look at Racine, where a voucher supporter and now budget director warns schools will be closed. What he has to say is very unsettling:

Anyone Else notice the “Con” in “Con”-servative Voucher Laws?

I've always warned of the deep dark secret pushed by voucher advocates; the plan is to tout how much cheaper voucher schools are compared to public schools, while behind the scenes, they're lobbying Republicans to give them the same per student fee the public schools are getting right now.

Nothing says "I told you so" better than this new scheme by Scott Walker:

AP: Walker's plan would also give a big boost to the reimbursement the state provides to private schools accepting voucher students. Currently, the schools receive $6,442 per student. That would rise to $7,050 for K-8 students - and 8.6% increase - and $7,856 for high school students - a 21.9% increase.

What's the percentage increase for voucher schools?

Gov. Scott Walker is proposing increasing by at least 9% the taxpayer funding provided to private and religious voucher schools - an increase many times larger in percentage terms than the 1 % increase in state tax money he's seeking for public schools. 

For all the hoopla connected with vouchers, the 20 year old program in Milwaukee hasn't done anything but put three parallel school systems in place, created uncertainty around stability, and then greatly increase teacher turnover. Schools even closed without notice leaving parents to fend for themselves and their kids displaced. That’s privatization. As a parent, I don’t need the simple act of going to school to be just another thing to worry about.

But it’s all part of the Republican plan to keep citizens a little off kilter, back-on-their-heels so to speak, distracted from the GOP's larger agenda. But that’s another topic, for another day.

Republican Political Failures get New Jobs selling Vouchers: Second, you may have noticed how many failed Republican politicians took jobs selling our kids to the private sector, to pillage and profit from. One guy, Scott Jensen, had been convicted of 3 felony’s, until he appealed, judge shopped in conservative activist Waukesha courts, and got the felony charges dropped. Now he wants you to believe him when he tells you how great vouchers are for kids.

When you think about it, it's not just scary, but surreal:

The school voucher movement is a powerful force in Wisconsin. School Choice Wisconsin has two former Republican speakers of the state Assembly — John Gard and Jeff Fitzgerald — working to advance its cause. And a third Republican speaker, Scott Jensen, works as a lobbyist for the American Federation for Children, another group that supports expanding vouchers.

That's right, AP didn't even bother to mention Jensen's corrupt past.

To add insult to injury, about 80 percent of taxpayer money goes to religious schools, who do poorly
and quit frankly, could use the influx of our money to survive. Check out how prepared they were to teach our kids:

WSJ: Michael Lancaster, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Madison diocese, said while the diocese supports vouchers philosophically, it has not been advocating specifically to bring them to Madison. “If vouchers come, we support them, but even our principals weren't educated about what they were and how they work (before late last year).”

Instills confidence, doesn't it? This is all about money, and profiting off children. When it comes to our kids, devoted parents are easy targets. There's nothing they wouldn't do, even spend lots and lots of money.

The Walker Authority hit a sour note ignoring a majority of senate Republicans who didn't want vouchers tied in with the budget:

Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah). "The governor didn't respect the thoughts of about eight or 10 Republican senators who didn't want it in the budget."

Republican Sen. Ellis tries novel approach, local control, choice and vote.

There are a few Republicans who haven’t shown any signs of authoritarianism, like Sen. Mike Ellis. Hell, he sounds almost liberal suggesting local communities should be given the choice to include vouchers or not in their school systems. I almost spit out my coffee:

WSJ/AP: Republican state Senate President Mike Ellis says he will oppose any expansion of school vouchers in Wisconsin unless local residents are first required to vote on such a move.

Ellis (said) he has made it known that he will block any expansion of the program without that element. Gov. Scott Walker has said he wants to expand the program, but he has not said whether he would include the local vote requirement. Ellis says he will introduce a bill requiring a petition to be circulated in the local school district to allow vouchers. If enough signatures are gathered, a vote would be scheduled.

Walker's "Red State" push opposite Presidential Election Results. Education Big Target Again.

With a super majority in the state legislature, any talk of bipartisanship or compromise is ridiculous and frustrating for me to watch.

Democratic talk has centered on cooperation and "reaching across the aisle." This is what I've seen in every media interview so far, and I’m hoping that at some time we stop giving Republicans the benefit of the doubt. It makes them look good and Democrats look even weaker.

What we have in "common" is a sidebar to their real ideological agenda, and Democratic legislators are embarrassing themselves with happy talk of cooperation. Stop it,  please.

The most recent signal we’re going of the ideological cliff comes from comments made by Gov. Walker in California, who listed actions he wants to take, actions no liberal in their right mind would support. His announcement came even before he’s talked to his own party’s leaders.

State Rep. Robin Vos, the next Assembly speaker, said … he has yet to talk to Walker personally about his legislative proposals … “hopefully, we can also work to bring Democrats who are open-minded…”

Now that’s a good manager. You’ll notice Walker’s focus is on “public schools:”

jsonline’s Dan Bice: Gov. Scott Walker unveiled major components of his upcoming legislative agenda, including "massive tax reform" consisting of cuts in state income and property taxes … Walker also said he wants to require the state's public schools, including the technical colleges and the University of Wisconsin System, to meet performance-based targets to receive increased state funding - similar to programs in Florida and Pennsylvania … push to expand the state's voucher program for private schools and further streamline the state's rules and regulations.

The performance-based targets for public schools fly in the face of Walker’s recent removal of the standards and testing for voucher school students. According to two recent articles: 

“voucher schools are so far not included in the new report card system,” and “Walker wants to phase out income requirements and drop the requirement that voucher schools take the annual state achievement test.  

And there's nothing that can stop this from happening.