State Superintendent Says Walker's Budget Repair Bill Goes 'Too Far'
Tony Evers shares in letter to state elected officials how the bill will affect local teachers and districts.
State Superintendent Tony Evers sent the following letter to State Sen. Alberta Darling and State Rep. Robin Vos on Monday about Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.
In the letter, Evers shares his opposition to the bill and how it could affect education. At one point in the letter, Evers said the proposed legislation goes "too far."
Here is Evers letter:
I am writing today to express my opposition to some provisions in the proposed Budget Adjustment Bill that I firmly believe undermine the ability of our school districts, and our state, to succeed in the face of mounting challenges.
Growing up in Plymouth, I learned that Wisconsinites are good, hard-working people that come together in difficult times. Having spent 30 years as an educator in places like Tomah, Oakfield, Oshkosh, Verona, and Madison, I know this remains true today.
We need to make tough decisions, but we must be careful not to abandon fairness and a sense of decency in the name of boldness. Strong measures are needed, but we are better served by reasonable reforms than by radical reactions.
Many of us recognize that changes in the public employee benefits structure are necessary, given the difficult economy. However, we should enact changes strategically to minimize harm to our local economies and working families. Together, we can tackle these problems and grow our economy without doing permanent harm to long-standing rights or undermining the Wisconsin Idea.
Public employees have been and will continue to do their part to move Wisconsin forward and help balance the budget. Despite furloughs and freezes, public employees have provided vital public services with fewer people, over longer hours, and for less money.
While change is necessary, the proposed bill will translate into an immediate salary cut of up to ten percent. Hastily enacting such significant salary cuts will take money out of the local economy and could jeopardize our fragile recovery, especially in rural areas. In order to minimize the economic harm, the legislature could enact some benefit changes immediately, while phasing in others during the next biennial budget.
Alarmingly, the collective bargaining changes simply go too far, are not necessary for balancing the budget, and should not be included in this bill. This is a divisive and blunt method to deal with perceived imbalances in bargaining.
This bill will shatter relationships among educators and school leaders, undermining current innovations around teacher compensation, evaluation, and improvement. It will have a chilling effect on teacher recruitment and sends a terrible message about the value of public service.
Moreover, these changes will disproportionately hurt our lowest-wage workers, who often provide vital services, such as child care, elder care, and special education support.
Teachers have a great deal to offer our public schools and should be part of the solutions that move us forward, bringing a vital perspective on classroom, school, and district issues. There is a difference between balancing the rights of management and employees and silencing the voices of the hard-working employees who are in our classrooms teaching students.
These efforts will hurt our classrooms, our kids, and the people who educate them. I have been at the negotiating table as a superintendent, and I know that working together and remaining focused on the kids is the surest path to success.
Unfortunately, this bill is but the first step in a drastic transformation of our state. I fear this is only the beginning with cuts to wages and benefits soon followed by drastic reduction in school aids. Years of revenue controls and recent state aid cuts have harmed rural and low-spending districts, and it is disingenuous to continue asking schools to do more with less while expecting the same results. In the globally competitive 21st century, we cannot allow our commitment to education falter.
The legislature needs to make changes to this bill. It is possible to balance the needs of working families, the local economy, and the rights of workers with the challenges in the state’s budget. I urge our elected officials to move forward without eliminating the long-standing rights of state and local workers, particularly the voices in our schools of teachers and education support staff.
Together, we can take care of today’s budget deficit without permanently harming our public schools.
Sincerely,
Tony Evers, PhD
State Superintendent
Keith Best
3:07 pm on Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I disagree with Evers. This budget repair bill has( 0 ) effect on students. Public employees are going to be responsible to pay out of their pockets 12% for pension and 5% for healthcare. This is not anything the private sector has not had to deal with already. I pay 14% and 7% now.
Unions have been beholden to former Governor Doyle. There is a new sherriff in town and his name is ...........Walker. We elected him to fix this state and keep it from bankruptcy. This is just a small step.
AMP
7:51 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
What do you mean that the repair budget won't effect students? Mr. Walker plans on cutting $900 million from school budgets. How does that not hurt students??
See Lee
5:44 pm on Thursday, March 3, 2011
We understand paying more for health care and pensions; however, you think that by cutting almost 900,000 in education funds, eliminating aid programs for students to achieve higher academic goals, and cutting back the number of days teachers have to teach kids will NOT AFFECT kids? Where have you been all this time?
Leslie Madrzak
7:59 am on Thursday, February 17, 2011
I agree with Evers. If this goes through, teachers who have paid and labored to further their education and experience will have no more seniority than a new teacher out of college. Since their pay is greater (as it should be) they will be the first to be let go to save money. This will have a disastrous effect on students in the long run. In the short run, only the financial benefit will be seen. By the time the effects are seen in education, it will be too late to repair the damage. Our teachers deserve better. By the way, I am not a teacher.
Carol
9:52 am on Thursday, February 17, 2011
I totally agree with this "financial repair"! We all have to pay our health insurance and work 12 months a year. It's about time our county & federal workers have to do the same. And as for teachers, they have more days off school than anyone else in the working world. Would be nice to have summers off, wouldn't it?
Jason Patzfahl
11:59 am on Friday, February 18, 2011
Carole,
FYI teachers do not get paid for their "summers off". Often they teach summer school or pick up other jobs like roofing and landscaping in order to help support themselves during those lean months. You try supporting a family on a starting salary of $37,000 a year while paying back student loans and imagine how a 10% cut in pay would effect your family.
JoEllyn VanLieshout
1:56 pm on Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Carole, As a former teacher I often arrived at work early and stayed late. I also brought work home on the weekends. You just don't walk into the classroom and start teaching. There are many hours spend preparing, grading papers, filling out report cards, making phone call to parents, etc. Teaching has an intensity that starts in August and ends in June. You do not know what you are talking about!!
See Lee
5:45 pm on Thursday, March 3, 2011
Yes, Carol! It would be nice for you to have the summers off without paid just like teachers!
Sonia
10:26 am on Thursday, February 17, 2011
I have two friends who are teachers in the process of establishing their careers, and also thinking about starting families themselves. Both of them are horrified about this turn of events and are now seriously considering changing their career paths altogether, so they can support a family. What a waste of two fine teachers.
I know that many who work in the private sector have taken pay cuts and benefit cuts, but few of them have had to experience a cut of 10% in one year.
The other thing that distresses me about this situation is the way in which our leaders seem to be ready to throw democratic principles out the window in exchange for some cash. I realize that Wisconsin is in a dire economic situation, and I agree that we are long overdue for making some hard choices that the Doyle administration was too afraid to make. However, I believe it's important to preserve the process of deliberations and hearings. Anyone can tell you that if you try and do something quickly, you are bound to make mistakes and overlook areas where problems can occur. I don't understand why this budget process has to happen so quickly. It seems like a recipe for disaster.
Gavin
5:31 pm on Thursday, February 17, 2011
Just because the private sector must pay more toward their pensions and/or health care doesn't mean those in the public sector must pay the same amount. That is a function of working in public service and what has been established through negotiations. I work in the private sector and I pay a large amount toward health care; so much so that I can't aford a 401K or contribute to my kids' 529's right now. Do I blame the state employees for that? No, I don't. Perhaps we middle class should recognize we're constantly pitted against one another by the wealthy. Wisconsin was the birthplace of Worker's Compensation laws. Workers in the private and public sectors in this state have come together at the Capitol this week in a collective support of the middle class and specifically the rights of those state workers to have a voice. We all should have a voice in the interests of labor laws and fairness. Don't punish one group of workers because they have what they should have.
See Lee
5:46 pm on Thursday, March 3, 2011
Amen!
Harvey
11:56 pm on Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tony PhD...the taxpayers have spoken--what don't you understand?
We have been pumping money into education for soooo long and have got nothing to show for it.
Even a moron can see that something is wrong--not only is the education system broke but so is the bank.
See Lee
5:46 pm on Thursday, March 3, 2011
Who's "we" ?
Jason Patzfahl
11:55 am on Friday, February 18, 2011
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
~President Dwight D. Eisenhower, l952
See Lee
5:49 pm on Thursday, March 3, 2011
Thank you, Tony Evers ... for understanding the value of hard working people in Wisconsin. We need more people like you. As for close-minded people who thinks otherwise, just you wait till your jobs/careers are jeopardized, then maybe you'll show some sympathy.
Carol
11:12 am on Monday, March 7, 2011
See Lee,
Sounds like you might be a teacher. This whole debate has gotten out of hand. We in Greendale have a great school system & have good teachers. No one is ripping the teachers. It's the whole thing about "benefits" and collective bargaining" that needs to be fixed. I would rather have a job and take a cut in pay or give something up rather than possible be layed off. Someone also mentioned Social Security.Yes, that's in trouble too, only because alot of it was used for things than what it was meant for. And now who's going to suffer? Our kids!!! The whole country is a mess and it's not going to get fixed overnight!! I don't think any of us who have responded are like you say close-minded people. We live in the real world and don't want everything handed to us !!!