Dave Zweifel’s piece in today’s Cap Tmes like Ed Garvey’s recent Op Ed points the finger of blame for school woes where it belongs: the irrevokably flawed state funding system.
The whole thing is worth reading, but the heart of it is at the end:
But it occurred to me that the real reason all those people were there — with the exception of those involved with the school naming controversy — was because of those stupid revenue caps that the state Legislature has forced down the throats of every school district in Wisconsin — caps, incidentally, that have the blessing of WMC.
Someone loses because of those caps. Here in Madison, where the caps have created a need to cut $7 million from the budget, among those paying the price are the Marquette neighborhood and Catholic school kids who need rides to school.
The legislative Republicans and former GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson all came up with this great idea, claiming that it was the only way to stop reckless spending by school districts.
Well, some, including the budget-slashing proponents at the state’s largest business lobby, are finding that maybe that spending wasn’t so reckless after all.
Thomas J. Mertz
AMPS 