Rethuglican budget cuts cause Florence county schools to shut down.

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=3529464

The Florence County school board voted Wednesday to close the county's only public schools.

Voters in Florence County in northern Wisconsin rejected a school referendum for the third time, despite arguments by the school board the decision would force it to close all the county's schools.

Voters were asked to approve $750,000 a year for the next three years. It failed by 21 votes -- less than one percent of the total votes cast.

(snip)

Leaders of the school district said it needed that money to continue operating, and without it, it would have to close the schools and bus students to other counties.


This is what happens when rural folks vote the way the Rethugs and the Right wing hate radio jocks tell them to.

[woodsprite]

1. Bet the neocons see this as a victory.

Since all those teachers are out of a job now, maybe some more will begin to see the light.

I *HATE* what is happening to our country. :cry:

[shoelace414]

2. ooh.. I know how they will respond

"they could have just cut more pork out of the budget"

because every school system has a pig farm.

[TheMightyFavog]

5. They're saying the same shit about the UW system.

Assholes.

[sybylla]

3. Suppose their puke representatives will be hurt by this?

Seratti tried to get legislation passed to benefit only the Florence school district so perhaps she'll be able to paint herself as a Joan of Arc instead of a barbarian.

[TheMightyFavog]

9. Serrati's gone.

She mysteriously dropped out of the race last year for "family reasons". Rumor around Madison was that some major shit was going to hit the fan on her, and she didn't want to get caught up in it, so she bugged out.

Jeff Mursau, a rethug out of Crivitz heads up the 36th now.

Hmm, he graduated from the same high school as I did.

[sybylla]

10. Wow, how did I miss that.

I figured she'd have the job as long as she wanted it. Too bad, in a way. I always laughed when the press would say she was from "Spread Eagle." I figured that's the way all the pukes get their start in politics, spread eagle before the corporations.

Any word on what was about to hit the fan?

[TheMightyFavog]

11. No Clue.

Just that it was something that would have completley destroyed her career.

[gizmo1979]

4. So so sad

other countries are putting out scientists and engineers by the truck load we're cutting back on education.saddest of republican legacy.

[Jimbo S]

6. Hasn't Florence Co. been in dire straits for a while now?

My understanding is this isn't a recent development. Is this related to the school funding formula? JC, I know you're closer to the area than I am.

[sybylla]

7. I have a bit of the dish on this

I know a local school board member. The tale of the Florence County School District is legendary in school board circles because it is a worst case senario that was made worse in part by circumstance and in part by management mistakes. This kind of stuff terrifies school board members so the story gets shared over and over again and any news on it travels fast. Keep in mind this is just grapevine and we know how accurate that tends to be.

First, Florence County School District was a relatively low spending school district per pupil when the revenue limits were placed on schools over 10 years ago. That meant their spending was frozen at that low level and only is allowed to increase based on attendance and the good graces of the state who is supposed to fund 2/3rds. Because they are a low population county, this essentially means their allowance was frozen.

Then gas prices shot up. Florence County brings all the students across the whole county to one school or group of schools. Thus, a large part of their expenses are transportation. Those expenses have gone up faster than inflation. But their income remained essentially unchanged by law so they had to start making cuts and living on the edge.

Then, the school board members start having problems with their administration. I have no details on the problems except that they approved huge buyout figures for the contracts of some of their administration. Rather foolish when their hands are tied by the pukes revenue limits. To do that, meant more cuts. (It is the understanding of my source that Lorraine Seratti was on the school board at the time this decision was made)

Of course, this set the teeth of the population against them and is probably why they had a hard time getting the referendum passed this last year.

Unfortunately, the location of Florence County makes it difficult to get help from agencies in place to assist schools like the Cooperative Educational Services Agencies who could have provided aids for transportation, technology assistance and possibly replaced the curriculum of cut programs with online or satellite courses.

Most unfortunately, the kids will be punished for the adults inability to manage the school. Though many of the kids have had to travel a great distance on each end of the day to get to school, all of them now will travel a great distance to go to school outside their own county. This step means no more public schools in Florence County - and that's just plain wrong. If you spend three or more hours a day on a bus getting to school, when will you have time for sports, marching band, forensics or anything else that kids should be able to do? What are we doing to those kindergardners making them spend half a day on the bus to spend the other half in school?

It really is sad to me that the Republicans on their no-money-for-public-schools binge who threw the snowball in the first place won't be punished for the fact that it has now crushed kids under its weight at the bottom of the hill.

[Dinger]

8. Here's An E-mail I Just Sent To State Legislators And Governor Doyle:

Dear Senator/Governor:

I am writing to you in regard to the recent state budget proposal. First, I appreciate your support for Governor Doyle's version, which will make it possible to give our children the education they deserve, and their parents expect.
I am a teacher in the _______ School District, a small PreK-12 district that is struggling, thanks to budget policies that have hurt not just our school district, but others like ours. I am not only talking about giving support to teachers here, and yes, that is an issue that needs to be dealt with, I am talking about the survival of small, rural school districts in the northern half (maybe more) in our state. Certainly, Florence is an example. I really hope something can be done for them. I pledge to do what I can to help them, and maybe help other school districts in the process. I am very concerned about the effects this budget WILL have on the students. What message will be sent to the parents, students, and taxpayers if this budget passes? Here are some messages I think will be sent:
1. "My" political survival is more important than the education of Wisconsin
children.
2. We think public money funding private schools, without accountability,
is good the the future of this state.
3. Children in smaller rural school districts do not deserve the same
educational opportunities as those in larger wealthier districts.
4. Teachers in smaller rural school districts do not deserve the same
opportunities in professional development (which directly affects)
(the education of our children) as do teachers is larger, wealthier
districts.
5. We legislators know more about teaching Wisconsin students than the
teachers do.
6. It is a good idea to use the "nuclear option" for small, poor, rural
school districts. Their future is set anyway, so why waste money on
them? Who do they think they are? Close them, for our children's
future.
7. We think the largest funding cut in education ever in Wisconsin's history
shows that we care about education.
8. Saving education for the last item on the budget agenda, followed by an
all-night budget session, shows we put education first.
7. We think unfunded educational mandates need to have to be increased,
for our schools to succeed.
8. We think public schools, as we know them, should be a thing of the past.

9. People who have lived 5 years as an adult, or had 5 years in the military,
could replace our highly qualified teachers(the only state with 100% of the
public school teachers meeting the 3 criteria - Wisconsin). After all,
we've led the nation in ACT scores for long enough. It's time to give
someone else a chance.
10. Private voucher and charter schools do worse on standardized testing
than public schools, so let's go with the private school model. We think
it's better.

11. Financially, private schools have had a worse record than public schools,
have had problems with corruption, so, to save money for taxpayers, let's
secure our future the way privately funded schools do.



Sorry for my cynicism, but I can't help it. Don't get me wrong, I KNOW there are excellent private schools out there, and there are Republican legislators that care about the education of our children, but if this budget goes through,
my list won't look so radical. That's because I believe this list will be reality. We just can't afford that. Please, at this 11th hour, what can be done. Please tell me that something can be done for the future of the public school system in Wisconsin, Please.

Sincerely,

"Dinger"



P.S. I will forward this to as many legislators as I can, and to Governor Doyle. Again, thank you for your support for our kids.