We believe that we need to keep the educational needs of the children in the forefront of all that we do.
Given the significant challenges facing our state, we believe that it is in the interests of the Monona Grove School District to maintain respectful partnerships and cooperative relationships that preserve rights and dignity for all. We agree that there is room for improvement in the laws governing the relationship between local governmental units and public employees. In our judgment, the proposals in the "Budget Repair Bill" give too little consideration for the possible disruptions that invariably result from such sweeping changes.
As such, we believe the collective bargaining provisions in the "Budget Repair Bill" should be reconsidered in a more collaborative process.
Our commitment must continue to be that of providing the best educational environment for our youth.
Monona Grove Board Of Education
Speaking for myself I would comment the continued statements by Gov. Walker that the collective bargaining provisions are intended to provide local governments with "the flexibility to deal with impending budget cuts" does compel those local governments to respond to the question of whether they want or need those provisions. While a number of local governmental units have approved statements in opposition to Walker's proposal, none (to my knowledge) have come out in support. This appears to me to significantly undermine the justification for the bill.
7 comments:
He claims the "silent majority" support him. I sure think it is time for that group of people to speak up a bit louder...or start listening to that very verbal minority and change a few things.
He does have a louisville slugger with his name on it.
Just to cover all your bases, you'd better get all the layoff notices out by tomorrow. I'm just saying...
My suggestion is when you release the bad news, let everybody know it is due to the Governor, and the actions by public employees at the Capitol are not the cause. Something like:
"Due to Governor Scott Walker's extreme $1.5 million dollar cut, as well has the intended removal of a valuable tool used by the Monona Grove School Board, we regret the following lay-off notices...."
The state has passed the expenses on to local school boards for years, and they have been able to make the difficult choices under the ever increasing tightening budgets. It's time to redirect the anger back at the true cause of our budget issues and growing property taxes.
It won't matter what the board says. This same scenario occurred about 20 years ago - the state funding formula was in a shambles and MG was bracing for a HUGE budget cut. Time lines were just as they are now. Everybody in MG knew about it. There were public meetings, etc. You would have had to live under a rock in this town to not know what was going on. The board sent out a lot of non-renewal notices because of the uncertainty. The teachers went bonkers and could not see the board had no choice. Some of the old timers still talk about it and much of the root of the current job actions date back to that time.
To be frank, if the board has to point out to teachers why they need to do this, well, any teacher who doesn't get it by now is hopelessly clueless.
This is the first step to privatizing public education. Class sizes are being predicted to be 30-40 students in some districts-at least 35 in Monona. I am worried about the quality of education in Wisconsin. Governor Walker has said he is passing some flexibility to local school boards but is announcing another huge cut to education this Tuesday. The debate about retirement and insurance costs is mute in this case, first because unions have already agreed to pay these, and second because these cuts were already publicized before the events of the past few weeks.
Our school boards will have no choice but to present referendums to each district and see if the public will support them..
If not, I just saw the annual tuition for Madison Country Day School is $7500.
A concerned parent
The state voucher system was the first step towards privatization of public schools.
Let's have more virtual schools. One teacher can instruct hundreds at a time.
Not get those layoff notices out tomorrow!
And in the future, if "the district" runs out of space for "the districts" children, please reopen the mothballed "district" schools. Please don't ask for more money. Everyone will be making less money in the coming years. Sad, but true whether you are employed privately or publicly.
If you want to live in a vibrant economy, move to China.
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