by | March 15, 2007 · 7:37 pm

Dozens in GOP Turn Against Bush’s Prized ‘No Child’ Act

From today’s WAPO.

Some Republicans said yesterday that a backlash against the law was inevitable. Many voters in affluent suburban and exurban districts — GOP strongholds — think their schools have been adversely affected by the law. Once-innovative public schools have increasingly become captive to federal testing mandates, jettisoning education programs not covered by those tests, siphoning funds from programs for the talented and gifted, and discouraging creativity, critics say.

Robert Godfrey

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by | March 15, 2007 · 3:57 pm

Bert Zipperer: Remember voters, as schools go, so goes our city

From the Capitol Times

By Bert Zipperer
March 14, 2007

A referendum question will again be on next month’s ballot seeking our approval to continue dismantling public education, both in Madison and throughout the state. You will be able to vote to overcrowd classrooms, close schools, provide fewer support staff and undermine all sorts of quality educational programs in our district.

While this question isn’t explicitly on the ballot, by voting for candidates who have failed to put forth efforts to counteract the established state spending caps for school districts (as well as cities), we are certainly voting to destroy public education for all.

Local candidates will typically offer some comment such as “I can’t do anything about that, as we can’t determine taxation powers or policies at our level of government.” These people are the strongest allies of the forces that would end public education as we have known it. They must be voted out of office or they will harm future generations.

What must be done? First of all, every level of government in this state deserves to be a real democracy. Each level of government knows the needs of its people and the elected leaders must be empowered to raise whatever level of funding they deem appropriate. At this time both schools and cities are handcuffed by spending caps. They determine their spending priorities within the limits imposed by the state government.

If local control means anything, state leaders must lift the caps now. Let us decide our own budgets, and if local leaders are wrong, we will throw them out ourselves.

If spending caps are not eliminated, then I believe each and every candidate for any state office must have spending caps imposed on campaign spending. If you can’t run a campaign within spending limits, why do they think we can educate children on the cheap?

Every elected leader in this city and across the state must take action to bring a system of fair taxation to all levels of government. This would be based on an individual’s and a family’s ability to pay. Those of us with more resources would pay a higher proportion of our wealth in taxes, as we have more disposable income. Of course, this is based on the progressive income tax, first enacted here in Wisconsin a century ago.

City leaders and the Madison Metropolitan School District can take immediate steps by authorizing studies of the effects of various tax systems, including local and county income taxes, indexing property taxes on primary residences to household income, and other ideas.

How do we ensure that we provide high-quality services to all without crushing lower-income families, working class families and seniors on fixed incomes? We must demand action from local leaders to move this statewide issue forward.

Immediately the city’s elected leaders must join with the School Board and put forth two referendum questions:

1.Exempt local schools from spending caps, either permanently or for the next several years.

2.Demand state action to create fair taxation options, based on the ability to pay, to fund all local levels of government.

We must replace spending caps with fair taxation at every level of government. We must come to see that the monies we spend are not “costs” to be cut, but rather “investments” that will pay a dividend over the coming decades. By cutting investments, we are eliminating any future returns on this money.

We must demand that local officials lead, rather than be passive puppets, in this time of crisis. Neighborhood residents in various parts of Madison are now pitted against each other to keep schools open and to save specific school programs. The decisions to cut the school budget are not based on fewer students, less need or any good educational reasoning. The district simply creates a budget within the state-imposed spending caps.

The “tax cut” chorus has been based on lies – while taxes are high for some, they are high because of the elimination of taxes on the wealthy and on big businesses.

While we are at it, why not demand a constitutional amendment to fully fund all campaigns with public money? If all elected leaders were responsive to the people, and not to the biggest money donors, wouldn’t this democracy be dramatically reinvigorated immediately? Currently money alone is fully represented – imagine if people had that kind of representation!

The city and the schools are tied together in a fabric of mutual destiny. As the schools go, so goes the city, and vice versa. It is time for these levels of government to stand up together and take action.

We, as voters and members of this community, must not support any candidate for any office who does NOT take action to restore democracy and ensure a fair taxation system to invest in our community. To do anything else is to truly vote to continue destroying public education as well as our city’s future.

Posted by Janet Morrow

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Filed under AMPS, Budget, Elections, Local News, School Finance

by | March 15, 2007 · 9:34 am

Think about it

The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.
~Edward R. Murrow

posted by Janet Morrow

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by | March 15, 2007 · 2:48 am

Accountability and Common Sense

“There is a zero percent chance that we will ever reach a 100 percent target,” said Robert L. Linn, co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA. “But because the title of the law is so rhetorically brilliant, politicians are afraid to change this completely unrealistic standard. They don’t want to be accused of leaving some children behind.”

More here and here.

It is easy to talk about demanding that “all students” do this or that, but reality is much more complex. The No Child Left Behind act should serve as warning about the dangers of ill-concieved accountability rhetoric becoming ill-concieved accountability policies.

Much more on “accountability” here (disclosure, from a friend, Sherman Dorn).

Thomas J. Mertz

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by | March 14, 2007 · 7:54 pm

School district maps tell story about funding challenges

To gain a greater understanding of which districts in our state are having problems with Wisconsin’s school-funding formula turn to DPI’s latest series of online maps showing everything from districts’ base revenue limits to changes in enrollment to changes in school aid.

You can access the maps by going here.

Robert Godfrey

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by | March 14, 2007 · 7:23 pm

‘Cultural activist’ brings spoken word to Madison’s schools

“Ney organized spoken-word presentations at Madison high schools and saw the power of poetry to engage and connect with teens. “We had 2,200 kids in the gym at West High, all electrified and invigorated by poetry. It was all over for me then; it touched a nerve. In the times we live in we need hope, and here it was,” Ney says. “We put together a spoken-word showcase at East High and when it was over, the students spontaneously pulled out their journals and started sharing their work. It was a raw, brilliant, magical moment.
… A call then came from James Kass, a UW–Madison alumnus and founder of Youth Speaks, a San Francisco-based organization devoted to spoken-word performance, education and youth development programs. A partnership was forged with UW–Madison, Youth Speaks Wisconsin was born and ultimately found a home in the School of Education through the new Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives.” Full story here.

Robert Godfrey

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by | March 14, 2007 · 7:13 pm

Study focuses on school achievement gap

“Despite decades of interventions and billions of dollars spent, a large gap in school achievement stubbornly persists between underprivileged children and their more advantaged peers.

With funding from the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery seed grant program, UW–Madison scientists will now bring their collective expertise to bear on one important, but overlooked, cause of this troubling problem.” Announcement is here.

Robert Godfrey

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by | March 13, 2007 · 8:18 pm

A new direction for education in Illinois?

Here is what the governor of Illinois has just proposed to fund his state school system. There are a number of similarities between our two states in terms of how we fund our schools, including the corporate tax rates (or lack thereof). It shows a different kind of leadership on funding reform than we’re used to. Illinois is certainly a state to keep an eye on. If this legislation is successful, it will also provide a strong counter argument to many of our elected state representatives who’ve stated many times, over the years, that we will lose large businesses if they have to pay more than minimal (or no) taxes. Excepts from here below.

“[The Illinois governor] spells out an ambitious, progressive, populist agenda the likes of which has not been seen in the Midwest for years.

If he can build public support and successfully steer it through the General Assembly, the people of Illinois could enjoy a healthier, more prosperous future, and the state could set an example for the rest of the nation.

Mr. Blagojevich’s plans would do much to solve two of the greatest problems facing middle- and working-class people: the quality of public education and access to decent health care. Achieving those goals, which embody universal American values, costs money, he readily admits: about $6 billion annually. For that, the governor would turn mainly to large companies that sell goods and services in Illinois. . .

In his budget address last week, Mr. Blagojevich proposed spending an extra $10 billion over four years to improve Illinois public schools. This, he said, would narrow the gap between the richest districts of suburban Chicago, which spend $28,000 per student, and the poorer districts downstate and elsewhere, which spend as little as $6,000 per student. More schools would offer full-day kindergarten classes, and children in poorly performing schools would have longer school years.

Right now, the state pays only about 30 percent of the cost of public education. Local property taxes cover the rest, inevitably leading to inequities. Mr. Blagojevich believes his plan eventually could lead to reductions in property taxes. . .

The governor didn’t blame the businesses for taking advantage of rules that let them minimize tax payments, but he hammered repeatedly on the fact that those rules are stacked in business’ favor and that ordinary citizens enjoy no such advantages.

In fact, business’ share of state revenue from income taxes has been shrinking. In 1977, corporations paid 21 percent of all Illinois income taxes. Now it’s 12 percent. Mr. Blagojevich pointed out that 37 Fortune 100 companies located in Illinois did $1.2 billion worth of business in the state — and paid no Illinois income taxes.”

Robert Godfrey

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by | March 12, 2007 · 3:38 am

Health Insurance, Voluntary Impasse Agreement and Negotiations with MTI

I thought it might be helpful to provide some facts and explanations about the topic of health insurance – hopefully this will clear up some of the misinformation and misconceptions present in the public discussions. It is important to remember that the focus must be on the total package settlement – because that is what has an impact on the budget. For example, Sun Prairie’s agreement to make changes in its health insurance (by using a joint committee to find a way to reduce health insurance costs) has been praised, as it should be. It should be noted, however, that Sun Prairie’s total package settlement was 4.75% – while Madison’s package, without switching health insurance carriers, was 3.98%. (A rough estimate is that a 4.75% settlement would have cost Madison about $1.5 Million more.)

In every contract negotiation with MTI since I first came on the Board (1990) the district has proposed changes to health insurance – and in most of those contracts there have been some modifications which saved money; among these changes are: self-funding of the first $300(single)/$600(family) of costs; increasing drug co-pays, moving to a PPO (Preferred Provider Option).

The Board is unanimous in its desire to negotiate changes to health insurance – and it will be a major focus of the negotiations with MTI, signing the Voluntary Impasse Agreement (VIA) does not change that. What the VIA does do is structure the conduct of negotiations. It sets out the schedule for negotiations, sets a date, if settlement has not been reached, to begin mediation and names a mediator, and lastly, if mediation does not result in a settlement, identifies a date for going to binding arbitration and names the arbitrator. The VIA sets the conditions for negotiation (teachers will not engage in any form of job action) and the conditions that will be in effect if we go to binding arbitration. These last conditions are in the form of a “poison pill” – intended to make arbitration less attractive to either side. MTI agrees that it will not propose a change to the salary schedule and the Board agrees not to change health insurance. The focus is on reaching a voluntary agreement.

Because we have not yet provided MTI with our proposals I cannot discuss them in public. I can however talk about the settlement we have reached with our custodians who are represented by AFSCME. The custodians agreed to change their health insurance to a choice of 3 HMO’s (Group Health, Physicians Plus and DeanCare). The savings from this change allowed a greater salary increase (2.5%). A small amount of the savings ($15,000) went back to the budget. These savings are realized only in the first year – thereafter, the base for figuring future costs uses the lower health insurance costs.

One of the most dramatic changes of the last 5 years (and one that has been little noted) is the movement of teachers from WPS to Group Health. This year more than 50% of the teacher’s unit take Group Health Insurance – the lowest priced HMO in the community.
Carol Carstensen

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by | March 10, 2007 · 4:47 pm

Early analyses of potential budget cuts

Both the Capital Times and the State Journal today reported on the superintendent’s recommended budget cuts.

From the Cap Times:
“The administration’s proposal is not final; the School Board will begin to discuss it Monday and there will be a number of public hearings through May, when the board expects to make a decision.”

Robert Godfrey

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