On Wisconsin

It is time for the part of the school year that drives me crazy. We are wrapping up our regular pep season, playing for both girls’ and boys’ basketball teams in the playoffs, working Dorian honor band (with music that came 3 DAYS instead of 3 weeks in advance), holding our winter concert, and competing in large group competition all within a three week time frame (four if the boys make it to state). I’ll leave out further details because as busy as it is, it is for the most part fun. Suffice it to say that this season leaves me with 2 primary thoughts:


1. I wish this didn’t mean 3-4 nights per week at school until well after 10pm including weekends

2. I wish the kids worked as hard prepping the concert and contest as they do their outfits for playoff games.

With all of this on my mind, I haven’t been able to spend as much time fretting the Wisconsin situation but that doesn’t mean that I am no longer following it. I did have a rather wordy post ready to go but the more I re-read it, the more it became obvious that it would be easier to rewrite it now that I have calmed down significantly.

It should be obvious given my chosen profession that I am very much against Mr. Walker’s budget repair bill. When it comes to paying more for pensions and healthcare…those are issues that can be dealt with and certainly in these times are necessary. However, I am very much against removing collective bargaining rights for the public employees. Unions negotiate…and by all means feel free to negotiate tough with them…but removing the CBA rights inhibits the abilities of local schools and governments to work with their employees in a way that is/can be beneficial to both sides.

Besides the CBA, there are other issues that disturb me about this bill. In no particular order:

1. Federal transportation money is dependent on workers being unionized. Taking away CBA may cause a loss of 40% (and in some municipalities 80%) of this operating budget. This could hurt elderly and students as well as people in lower income neighborhoods that rely on this transportation for daily life.

2. UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee will be given permission to split from the rest of the UW system. This will allow them to create their own boards and although they will still receive state funding, THEY will have control of how it is divided. They will also be able to raise tuition without going through the legislature. I don’t see anything wrong with these concepts except that they shouldn’t need to split off…those abilities should apply to all schools in the UW system.

3. The Republican position is typically LESS government. This governor made one of his first acts in office a power grab. He made it a law that any state regulation for any state agency must go through him before it goes to the legislature. It seems to me that the job of the legislature is to weed out the good and the bad regulations and to pass those that worked and reject those not in the best interest of their people. Now all of this goes through one person, he has the decision in his hands on even letting the regulation get to the legislature.

4. Healthcare. There is an exception in the budget repair bill to the above rule change. The healthcare committee is to be given the authority to change anything they see fit to see all the healthcare programs (BaderCare, SeniorCare, Medicade, etc…) are solvent. They do not need to go through the governor nor do they need to go through the legislature. Those 12 Republicans and 4 Democrats can do as their majority pleases. So far, the changes being discussed will mean thousands upon thousands could be removed from their program and left uncovered or with less coverage than they currently have.

…There are other issues…but I’m growing disheartened…

For me: This means I have given up the dreams of teaching in Wisconsin. I wouldn’t have a problem paying in…but I do have a problem going somewhere without CBA. It is also unlikely that I would be hired even if I did decide to go. Without CBA there is little incentive for a school to hire experience when a rookie out of school is cheaper. Rookie experiences typically occur in smaller schools anyway, but bigger schools with major budget issues will likely proceed in the same direction-especially in the Arts (if they chose to keep and Arts program at all!).

Spring Grove will likely not be a school when I hit retirement age. We are simply too small. No one can tell you what education will even look like in 30 years. We have 5 years in us yet for sure. More if we’re lucky. Our community is very supportive and I’m sure will continue to be until it becomes obvious our students would be better off consolidated with another community. The band directors on either side of our school started the same year I did. There is no seniority between us. My program is currently the largest of the three but my students could easily be absorbed by their directors without the need to hire another. I can’t see either district removing their own director or even making them re-apply for a spot due to consolidation. This will leave me unemployed and unemployable. La Crescent and Winona directors are young yet and 14+ years experience (as of five years from now) and a Master’s degree will make it difficult if not impossible to find a job in Wisconsin or Minnesota…at least one within a commutable distance from our home.

The question now becomes: what’s next for me when this eventually happens…and what can I do to prepare for it now?