GOP to end law protecting Public Schools, nationally Fund Private School System.

Lost in the flurry of devastating policies just hitting the fan is the actual dismantling of public education.

There is now a bill in the House to eliminate the countries educational framework for public schools known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. This may be the first time your hearing about this law, so here's what it has been quietly protecting for the last 51 years. This will soon be gone...:

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA) of 1965 is the nation's educational law and provides equal opportunity in education. 

1. It is a comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance and Federal Accountability Programs.

2. Abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch. For our most vulnerable, this may be the ONLY nutritious food they have in a day.

3. The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting special needs kids, no mention of IDEA and FAPE.

4. Protects Children with Disabilities - ensures access to the general education curriculum-ensures access to accommodations on assessments-ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning - includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based interventions in schools with consistently underperforming subgroups - requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversion behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion).

What will be replacing it?

The Choices in Education Act of 2017, introduced by Republican wacko Rep. Steven King. It gets rid of the ESSA and creates federal block grants that'll be used Republican states to pay for what would be a federally funded nationwide private school system, short changing public schools. Not exactly small government/constitutionally required and well beyond the incentives used before this:

The bill establishes an education voucher program, through which each state shall distribute block grant funds  

(1) distribute a portion of funds to parents who elect to enroll their child in a private school or to home-school their child, and(2) do so in a manner that ensures that such payments will be used for appropriate educational expenses.

To be eligible to receive a block grant, a state must:

(1) comply with education voucher program requirements, and(2) make it lawful for parents of an eligible child to elect to enroll their child in any public or private elementary or secondary school in the state or to home-school their child.

At fake news purveyor Breitbart, home schoolers are as mad as hell over the possibility taxpayers may want them to be accountable:

Homeschooling families throughout the nation are voicing opposition ...“would be a slippery slope toward more federal involvement and control in homeschooling,”  asserts William Estrada, director of federal relations for the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

Why faze out public schools via state taxes and replace them with grant funding of private religious and home schooling? Rep. Steven King admits steering government funding to private school systems will stop the liberal attack on education and religion, giving back to parents the control they never lost regarding their child's schools. Oh, and that establishment of religion thing...?:

"We’re watching as a nationwide curriculum is being established, and that nationwide curriculum eventually drags the parochial schools into that curriculum. I’m watching as our Judeo-Christian values are being undermined, and I’m watching as western civilization is being deconstructed systemically throughout our public school system and especially in our universities – which we don’t touch with this, by the way. The object is to put parents back in control of their children’s education and curriculum and put it in a position where the public schools compete with the parochial schools.

Let the states regulate those things at that level, not the federal government. States that are unwilling to pass a voucher program have to give up their federal money. So isn’t that a much bigger goal for us – to put the public schools into competition with parochial schools than it is to preserve the status quo of homeschool?"

The states would then be able to cut even more public school funding with impossible benchmarks while sending more money to private schools.

Like one Westchester Pennsylvania blogger wrote:

Does the bill refer to any standards for schools to meet? No.

Does the bill require the child to be making some recognizable progress? No, just be “aged 5 to 17, inclusive.” So a student age 5-17, even if repeating one grade 3 times, qualifies, but a high school senior aged 18, for whatever reason such as earlier serious illness, doesn’t.

Don’t federal and states standards cover some of these things? Maybe, but none are referenced in the bill. In a year when you can see regulations falling like dominoes, you can bet that once the door is opened by HR 610, no one will dare turn off the money.

Check out this recent article from The Nation:  Education for Sale? School choice and the future of American education.

Mississippi Republicans say Voucher Accountability lies with Parents!!!

(Warning-strong language follows because this is getting ridiculous)

Republicans have been so successful dumbing down their base, that bullshit has the ring of absolute truthiness.

Thanks to Republicans in Mississippi, we now know how bad things are going to get with school vouchers.  I mean come on, are we really going to fall for the voucher con when it sounds as fucked up as the bill below?

When asked what the accountability measures were in the bill to ensure students were progressing educationally, Rep. Joel Bomgar, R-Madison, said the accountability was the parents.

“There is accountability in the bill, but the accountability that matters is the parents.”

I’m not making this up. Wait till you see what they said about testing…

The bill does not require students who receive the vouchers to take the achievement tests that are required of students in the public schools. Bomgar said student testing has not been effective in improving public education.

Take a deep breath, there’s more. The reporter tried to get another legislator to say something, anything, about accountability:

House Education Chair John Moore, R-Brandon, the primary author of the legislation, said the proposal does not include accountability measures now, they will be added later in the legislative process. “You can bet there will be some accountability in it.”  

Yup, later, can't think of anything right now. And with no testing or measure for success…what could go wrong with tutoring:

Vouchers also could be used for other purposes like hiring a tutor for homeschooling.

I’ve saved the best piece of bullshit for last; the original scheme that actually works around the intent of their state Constitution by making families the middle man, so they can spend the money on public education instead of the state:

Section 208 of the state Constitution reads no funds shall “be appropriated toward the support of any sectarian school, or to any school that at the time of receiving such appropriation is not conducted as a free school.” 

But Bomgar said the funds would be given to the parents and not the schools.

As dumb as that sounds, the courts went along with it.

Republicans admit, taxpayers pay more to subsidize separate private for-profit school system.

For years local taxpayers have been paying extra for voucher schools, a parallel and separate school system, so other families could send their kids to them. Why isn't anyone getting pissed?

These glorified voucher Sunday schools take money from public schools, which then have to raises taxes via referendums to make up for the losses (besides state funding cuts). 

The "fellows" at the MacIver Institute have been denying it:

Taxpayer advocates assert that if a child leaves the public school district, the district no longer incurs an expense to educate the child, so the district shouldn't need to raise property taxes at all to make up for the lost state school aid.

Huh? The teacher, the classroom, the school, even transportation, all must get smaller and less expensive too, right? 

Rep. Jeremy Theisfeldt put it this way:

“…makes it an easy target to turn the choice program into the boogeyman and place all the blame there.”

Oops, Republicans today accidentally let it slip:

Under language in the 2015-17 state budget, those districts can compensate for those losses and more by raising property taxes. According to state fiscal analysts, 142 districts that lost $16.1 million in aid this school year raised their taxes to generate $21.4 million. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos proposed amending another voucher school bill to limit those property tax increases to the actual aid loss.

Not surprising, the major lobbyist behind this lunacy cluelessly chimed in, unaware the big secret was out:

Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin: "Unfortunately, some districts blamed school choice for property tax increases while simultaneously keeping the extra cash."

Yes, taxpayers are now paying for two school systems, and may not even know it.

Profit? Skimming?: And when schools look ahead and ask for a little more money to work with, just in case things do end up costing more or the state slashes funding, they can absorb it. To Republicans, that's called "skimming. Rep. Jeremy Theisfeldt called it "profiting." If that's what it is, he might have an issue with for profit private schools:

"The districts levied beyond the costs of the WPCP, profiting from students that are no longer enrolled, or never were enrolled in district schools."

The Republicans obsession to privatize, to turn a profit from the untapped commodity we call "kids," created this mess and parallel school system. 

GOP trick to make Public Schools sound like Private Schools fails.

Republican lawmaker and former teacher Jeremy Thiesfeldt must think we’re stupid, and after taking a look at his plans for public education, he apparently wants to make our kids that way too.

Public Profit Bad, Private Profit Good: Thiesfeldt complained in his press release that the Fond du Lac School Districts made up for lost funding by increasing taxes and then having a surplus, what he oddly called “profit.” That’s rich coming from a guy pushing profit driven private schools:

Former disgruntled teacher!!!

The Fond du Lac School District (FDLSD) “increased its tax levy $379,407 due to private school voucher students.” A Fond du Lac Reporter article took advantage of that complexity to mislead the readers, whether intentional or not, to put the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program (WPCP) in a negative light. The districts levied beyond the costs of the WPCP, profiting from students that are no longer enrolled, or never were enrolled in district schools.

Profit is usually paid out to someone or something. The districts money will stay with the district and pay for schools. 

Below I’ve interpreted Thiesfeldt’s nonsensical list of talking points, with my comments in parenthesis:  

“Students are educated at a lower cost (education will be driven by cost, not outcomes) and access to more educational choices (the magical thinking that more choices makes things better) yields greater parent satisfaction (playing on the insecurities and fears of parents who want to do what's best for their kids) and improved outcomes (simply not factually true).” 

Thiesfeldt closes with meaningless, nonsensical assumptions:

In America today, people are demanding choices (no, Republican privateers are demanding choices). In order to efficiently provide for more educational choices, we must conclude all good schools are worthy of some level of public financial support ("we must? ... 'these aren't the droids you're looking for...sorry, just more insane claptrap beyond any Jedi mind trick). 

Good schools need adequate funding as they assist parents in educating their children (but not public schools, right?); dedicated teachers need fair compensation, good training and parental support; good parents need to be actively engaged in school governance; students need parents to hold them to high standards (yes, for public schools. Try "governance" of a private school sometime). 

Cooperation amongst all these entities (just give-in to profit driven private schools) will yield students that possess the skills our workforce requires, but, more importantly will sustain and advance the American tradition by passing the keys of freedom to coming generations (dripping nationalism, since when are private for profit schools traditional?).

Isn't it a little suspicious that a 21 year former religious school teacher wants to expand vouchers? Thiesfeldt's ultimate goal is like so many others in his party; a mass conversion to religious indoctrination and ultimately a more socially conservative society. Let's call it what it is, taxpayer supported Sunday school, 5 days a week.

Kewaskum’s Rep. Jesse Kremer came right out and said it, when he dragged his 3 Biblically named daughters into the debate:

An unapologetic social conservative with a deep Christian faith, Kremer enrolled his three daughters — Keturah, 12, Miriam, 10, and Michaiah, 6 — in a Lutheran school in West Bend. “I tell people who send their kids to public schools that I send my kids there because I know they are getting the beliefs that I want them to have.”

And since you don't have to test "beliefs," Thiesfeldt's opt out bill is starting to make sense:

Rep. Thiesfeldt's Test "Opt Out" Bill Passes Assembly: Rep. Thiesfeldt’s bill, guarantees parents of students in grades 3-12 the ability to receive, upon formal request, an exemption for their child from the statewide standardized test...

And magically, vouchers schools are as good as they say they are.

Walker has done nothing to improve Minority Graduation Rates.

To put it in a way Republicans and their voters can understand; Scott Walker's Act 10 and voucher expansion isn't improving minority graduation rates. jsonline:

Even after 25 years of vouchers in Milwaukee and the expansion statewide, Walker is failing to close the graduation gap under Act 10 and vouchers. Especially for those Republicans who are pretending to care most about black student achievement.

The graduation rate for white students rose to 92.9% ranking third nationally, widening the gap between black and white students to 26.8 percentage points.

What a success? And while it takes from 8 to 12 years or so for current policy to show up as an improvement or failure in our national scores, Walker is taking credit for all the progress mad by preceding administrations, all the while tearing it apart:  

Wisconsin's gap in graduation rates between black and white students widened slightly in the 2013-'14 school year to become the largest in the country, at a time when many states are narrowing that gap, according to preliminary data released this week by the U.S. Department of Education.

Wisconsin's overall graduation rate rose by more than half a percentage point to 88.6% in 2013-'14, the most recent year available ... But the rate for African-American students held steady at 66.1%, failing to keep pace with gains seen by their Wisconsin counterparts and those in almost every other racial, ethnic and special-needs category.

The reason? Republicans have been focusing in on spreading private voucher money to higher income families with students already in private schools for mostly religious reasons, and not our economically challenged inner cities for improving public education.  

An estimated 26,900 students who live in the city of Milwaukee are using vouchers to attend 117 private schools, the vast majority of them religious. Public spending for the current school year will exceed $190 million. Once a school is running, is the fact that parents are choosing it enough to justify continued public funding? That's pretty much the case now.

Walker's Act 10 "tools" to fix education over his last 5 years have done nothing for elementary minority students reading and math scores. Instead of attacking Common Core and Tony Evers, and praising white student scores, legislators should have been working with the State Superintendent to improve minority graduation rates and basic reading:  

Fourth-grade reading scores for black students were the second worst. And black students in only three states had lower average math scores than Wisconsin's black fourth-graders and eighth-graders.

So will Walker be blamed 8 years from now when minority graduation rates still stink or possibly decline? I can hear the accusations of "Walker derangement syndrome" now.

Speaking of the State Superintendent Tony Evers, Republican efforts to oust Evers and change the state constitution isn't even close to what the public wants.

When asked if the head of the state Department of Public Instruction should be elected or appointed, a resounding 84 percent of Wisconsin Surveyrespondents favored keeping it as an elected position. The survey shows almost all Democrats -- 92 percent -- feel the superintendent should remain an elected position while 73 percent of Republicans agreed. 

Dumb Ron Johnson trying to block, or at least muck up investigation into Voucher abuse of Children with disabilities.

It’s oddly funny how the Republicans continue their dogged pursuit of the IRS and Hillary emails, trying to uncover wrong doing no matter what the cost, for momentary red meat for the waiting throng of rabid conservative voters.

But when the Obama administrations justice department investigates voucher school abuse and discrimination of students with disabilities, at the request of Disability Rights Wisconsin, the ACLU and the concerned parents of 3 children, well, that’s an outrage and they’d better stop:

jsonline-Erin Richards: U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is trying to use the authority of a key Senate committee he chairs — Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs — to get to the bottom of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Wisconsin voucher schools ... stressed his concern that the department's investigation into whether Milwaukee voucher schools discriminated against students with disabilities is driven by policy opposition to the private, mostly religious schools that receive taxpayer dollars. He said the department has failed to justify its role in the continued monitoring of the Milwaukee voucher program … A DOJ spokesman on Thursday declined to comment about Johnson's most recent letter, "due to the ongoing investigation."

The federal investigation ... contended that voucher schools were not complying with the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

Not complying with laws on the books? Not a problem for elitist Republicans who think they're above the law. But taxpayers are getting ripped off by private schools who have a distinct advantage; they don't have any accountability, even when they admit they aren't complying with the law because they can't afford it:

They do not have the same legal requirement as public schools to serve the students' needs. Voucher advocates point out that they get less total funding per pupil than public schools and would not be able to afford, say, a full-time nurse for a student with severe physical disabilities. Proving anything with records is difficult because the voucher schools are private and not subject to open records requests like public schools.

Can you imagine a Democratic program, running as long as vouchers, never having any taxpayer accountability? Good luck with that. 

Despite being told it's an ongoing investigation, Dumb Ron Johnson is in desperate need of appearing busy, that he's doing something and engaged, and that he's aware of what's going on around him. We're not fooled:

In his follow-up letter this week, Johnson asked Lynch for those items again, as well as for factual evidence of the basis for the department's "lengthy investigation" into the schools. He stressed that his committee would consider the use of "compulsory process" to obtain the materials if the Justice Department declined to produce the materials.

Of course, because he knows he can milk this thing for as long as the investigation continues. 

Public Education turned "Consumerist and Hyper-protective."

In a few more years, at least in the next biennial budget, the course of education in Wisconsin will be forever changed. There is a point where saving public education will be an almost impossible task, especially when you think of the timid way Democrats roll out their own agenda. 

The following opinion was that epiphanic moment for me, when I realized how Republicans have turned a responsibility to educate the next generation, into a product (education) we shop for (choice) to be consumed (by kids) for a profit. We've turned children into a commodity, and parents into a target audience for unbelievable advertising. 

And this odd new public educational system will spur on a religious renaissance, where kids are taught early and often about religion. It's an end run around dwindling Sunday church services, and a little thing called the Constitution.

VOX.Com: "Things have changed since I started teaching. The vibe is different. Not, like, in a person-by-person sense, but students in general. The student-teacher dynamic has been reenvisioned along a line that's simultaneously consumerist and hyper-protective, giving each and every student the ability to claim Grievous Harm in nearly any circumstance, after any affront, and a teacher's formal ability to respond to these claims is limited at best.

The academic job market is brutal. Teachers who are not tenured or tenure-track faculty members have no right to due process before being dismissed, and there's a mile-long line of applicants eager to take their place. And as writer and academic Freddie DeBoer writes, they don't even have to be formally fired — they can just not get rehired. In this type of environment, boat-rocking isn't just dangerous, it's suicidal, and so teachers limit their lessons to things they know won't upset anybody.

I got called into my director's office. I was shown an email, sender name redacted, alleging that I "possessed communistical [sic] sympathies and refused to tell more than one side of the story." The story in question wasn't described, but I suspect it had do to with whether or not the economic collapse was caused by poor black people." - Edward Schlosser

Republicans Blowup Public Education once and for all, for Freedom and Liberty!!!

The Joint Finance Committee literally ripped apart public education with a maze of big government regulations that hands taxpayer dollars over to parents, because they know what's best. Professional educators and researchers just got their pink slips.

These are the worst changes yet:

"Eliminate the Course Options program that allows college courses to be taught in high schools." (Kids would get) "high school and college credit." This would have saved families lots of money, and now penalizes advanced students.

"Students with disabilities would be eligible to apply for vouchers for the first time under a separate program." Private standards are so lax, this plan simply invites deception and corruption for profit.

Constitutionally possible? "Prohibits the state superintendent from promoting the Common Core State Standards, and from adopting new academic standards created by the Common Core State Standards Initiative, though there are none in the works."

Zero ability to compare schools: "The proposal allocates money to find up to five alternative tests for schools to choose from." 

Taxpayer money going out-of-state? To be honest, I don't even believe this one: "Allowing a student to attend a public school outside of the school district they live in, or outside of the state." 

Right Wing-nut Testing is here...freedom and liberty f**k yea: "Requiring students to pass a civics test to graduate from high school."

Allowing the failed virtual charter model to flourish by not holding host district responsible: "Prohibiting test scores from students attending virtual charter schools from being included in school accountability reports for the schools’ host school district if more than half of the virtual charter students don’t live there."

Lowering teacher standards: "Allowing DPI to grant teaching licenses to individuals who wish to teach technical courses and have a set amount of work experience and teacher training."

This isn't the complete list either. Republicans also took aim at Wisconsin's biggest cities, setting up the installation of an un-elected schools czar who can turn public to private on a whim. Oh, and two of those cities are predominantly Democratic. Coincidence?

And after all this and the outcry from voters, republicans are now desperately trying to spin their way out of trouble for their over-the-top legislation:

A chorus of voices — from the state superintendent to teachers unions, school administrators and parents — claimed the Republican-led amendments result in a wholesale reshaping of education policy.

Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, acknowledged the budget "doesn't make it easier to run a school district." Olsen said there wasn't enough money to fund property tax cuts that Walker promised and also fund the public education system. "Something has to give and that's what gave," Olsen said Wednesday.

Public School Republican Indoctrinates Students, saying Obama not a Christian, just like the parents that support him.

Liberal indoctrination in public schools has been the target of Republicans since the beginning of time, or at least the last 50 years. Every example supposedly proves conservatives are under attack. The truth about their party and actions is just so much left wing propaganda. That’s why privatization makes sense them.

And yet, Republican outrage does not extend to conservative indoctrination. This is not an isolated case, but it is the latest one getting minimal media coverage:

Salon: A Dublin City, Georgia teacher caused a community-wide scandal when she allegedly questioned President Barack Obama’s Christianity, as well as the Christianity of anyone who supported him in front of her class. The incident, which reportedly occurred last February, was brought before a school board meeting in late March. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Adam Carlson reports:

Dublin City Schools Superintendent Chuck Ledbetter said. a parent at Dublin Middle School first brought the matter to the school principal … In its letter the NAACP alleges that, in a parent-teacher conference soon after the comments were made, the teacher "presented to the parents a packet of several pages from a website that expressed her views on religion and politics" instead of adequately addressing their concerns. 

Borg-like Republicans will automatically disregard this new outrage, laugh it off with some snide Democratic put-down, and never correct what seems to be a growing problem in our newly privatized educational system.

State Senate GOP take Superintendent powers away from taxpayer supported Voucher and Charter Schools, say they're not like Public Schools at all.

(Update and revised Wed.) On the way to usurping the constitutional office of the superintendent of education, again, Republicans are now claiming private charters and voucher schools are so different from public schools, that they each need a big government board overseeing them. That's my read on this. Yes, two bureaucratic boards, one placating vouchers, and the other overseeing charter and public schools. All from the party of small government too.

Public schools will still be under the watchful eye of a professional, Superintendent Tony Evers, thank god.

With two different standards, you can forget about accountability. Seriously, what's to compare?

Sen. Paul Farrow: "As much as everyone wants to say it's a apple to apples holding things equally accountable, it can't be done. There are three separate pieces, and so we're looking at a way we can hold each of the sectors accountable the way they should be."

Complete fiction and a giveaway to voucher interests and big money, who really don't want real accountability.

This also establishes 2 parallel school systems. Two. If the senate agrees to go along with the assembly's "optional test" for voucher schools, then comparisons are out the window. And with rising voucher outlays every year (voucher advocates are working on getting full student tuition), with no way to tell whether the two privates system are failing, public education will die a slow funding death.

Note: Walker will allow Common Core as a way to continue to lift scores, making himself look good, while privatization sinks scores on the other end. This is shameless government at its GOP worst. WKOW:

Wisconsin Voucher spending on students already in private schools not saving money, and any money saved is going...where?

This seems odd; Two years in a row, 73% of new voucher students were already going to private schools. That means many people aren't jumping at the chance to toss their kids into a for profit (nonprofit too) money making religious experience.

Even worse; new research by the conservative free market Friedman Foundation reports the money going to kids already in private schools isn't saving taxpayers anything. Walker's expansion is failing at doing even that.

Worse than worse; the study didn't even know or couldn't track the savings. This is a plan?

The new study covers the ten oldest voucher programs in the country. Edweek:

School vouchers have saved states $1.7 billion over the past 20 years, however it's unclear what happens to those savings, according to a report out today from the Indianapolis-based Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Lack of transparency obscures some of the fiscal effects of private school choice programs, the report argues.

Here’s one of the above mentioned problems:

It also acknowledges there are some circumstances where voucher programs may not save states money; the program is open to students already enrolled in private schools…

Here’s another twist that I don’t completely understand, and maybe that’s also intentional:

The report's analysis does not include fixed costs for district schools—such as buildings—which schools still have to pay to maintain even if they have fewer students and therefore less per-pupil funding. But it ventures a counter argument for readers who might raise that question, noting that state school finance laws are "frequently ... written in a way that results in much of the savings from a school voucher program being passively reallocated back to the public schools."

After nearly 25 years, you would think the voucher program would be blazing new trails by now. Not happening. Check out how bad vouchers are doing in Louisiana:

In Louisiana, state education department numbers show that fewer than half of voucher students who took state assessment tests passed.  But Louisiana's schools chief pointed out that the 44 percent pass rate for 2014 is still higher than in 2010 when only 31 percent of students passed.

Wow, that better? So how does 44% compare with the public school pass rate?

 In contrast, The Times-Picayune reports that 69 percent of public school students passed the state assessment tests.

A 25% difference. That should make parents feel real good. And yet Republicans can't get enough of this failed voucher idea.  

Walker will end and privatize public schools, especially those in conservative rural areas.

There's no free lunch. Funny thing, Scott Walker and his followers have thrown that concept out the door now that they're in complete control of the state. 

Public education will only get more expensive as the state shifts the cost of education to local districts, via referendums, instead of spreading the cost to all taxpayers for the greater good.

And after a successful referendum, taxes go, while Walker brags about cutting them. It's the old "career politician" trick. And despite not having an alternative option, Walker will end Common Core.

And it'll be going from bad to worse:

WPR: For many of Wisconsin's rural school districts, the issue of school funding is a pressing one. There are 340 students enrolled in the school district of Potosi. Schools in small, rural towns across Wisconsin are struggling. Enrollment is declining, poverty is rising, and transportation costs are considerable. Jerry Fiene, the executive director of the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance, says that limited school funding has exacerbated the situation. “Over the past 10 years, there have been nearly 1,000 referenda to exceed the revenue limit. And of those, 80 percent are rural school districts.”

If Walker gets another 4 years, he's going to push a wasteful internet "distant learning" plan as a way around busing and the dwindling supply of teachers hired away by wealthier districts. Distant learning has been a disaster so far, but still...

Walker said his next budget would include more focused aid for rural schools, “We're going to build off of that and incorporate it in our budget to try to give more attention not only for transportation costs, but for distance learning costs and other things that offset some of the challenges that rural schools have across the state,” Walker said.

That's horrible news. Mary Burke on the other hand passionately cares about schools:

Mary Burke said she wants to remake Wisconsin's school funding formula to help rural schools if the budget allows.

The problem with all schools, especially in the rural areas, is upkeep, fluctuating enrollment and the important and sadly understated roll they play in bring communities together:

Ron Saari, the Postosi School District’s superintendent, said that the community’s 1950s-era school building is aging and needs attention. He said some people are worried. “When a school shuts down in a town like Potosi, they say that the town kind of goes dead,” Saari said. “The school is seen as the heart of the community.”

One teacher Facebook'ed this frustration:

I am a teacher in a public school in Wisconsin. In 2011 our governor enacted the biggest cuts to education in our state's history- $1.2 billion. In the following years, more money was drained from Wisconsin’s public schools into voucher schools and charter schools. Yet, to the casual observer, Wisconsin’s public schools may look largely unchanged. Why is this? One answer is that Wisconsin’s teachers are doing their best to make up the difference.

When schools don’t have enough money for needed supplies, teachers dip into their own pockets … spent $513 in personal funds on materials for the classroom. Our school parking lot is almost never empty; teachers are there early in the morning, long after school lets out, and on the weekends. When teachers do leave school, they carry a bag of work with them. Over the past three years, I have watched talented and devoted teachers leave the profession. I bet you have, too.

In this letter to the editor in the Beaver Damn Daily Citizen:

Tom Schmidt Sr., Juneau: Hustisford's electorate voted by more than 75 percent for the politicians who cut funding to public schools by $800 million, namely Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (a Hustisford alumnus). The voters' decision to elect the 'Two Scotts' is going to result in higher property taxes or the likely loss of the high school.

Walker has a plan too, and not so original. Here’s a short look at where privatized public education is headed, and you’ll just love the cast of characters:

Moyers: Douglass Academy founder, a politically active North Carolina businessman named Baker Mitchell, shares the Kochs’ free-market ideals. Every year, millions of public education dollars flow through Mitchell’s chain of four nonprofit charter schools to for-profit companies he controls. The schools buy or lease nearly everything from companies owned by Mitchell. Their desks. Their computers. The training they provide to teachers. Most of the land and buildings. Unlike with traditional school districts, at Mitchell’s charter schools there’s no competitive bidding. No evidence of haggling over rent or contracts. 

The schools have all hired the same for-profit management company to run their day-to-day operations. The company, Roger Bacon Academy, is owned by Mitchell. The treasurer of the nonprofit that controls the four schools is also the chief financial officer of Mitchell’s management company. The two organizations even share a bank account. Mitchell’s management company was chosen by the schools’ nonprofit board, which Mitchell was on at the time — an arrangement that is illegal in many other states. 

Many of these companies are becoming political players … Mitchell’s company, have aligned themselves with influential conservative groups, such as Americans for Prosperity and the Koch-supported American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. This new reality — in which businesses can run chains of public schools — has spurred questions about the role of profit in public education and whether more safeguards are needed to prevent corruption.

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.