Boo Radley
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(CNN) -- In a budget-cutting move likely to be echoed around the country, Milwaukee Public Schools said Wednesday it will lay off 519 staff members -- including 354 teachers -- because of $84 million in state cuts and the system's efforts to control costs.
Milwaukee schools to lay off 354 teachers - CNN.com
Cuts have consequences.
So does spending money you don't have on services that have gotten out of hand and ineffective.
(CNN) -- In a budget-cutting move likely to be echoed around the country, Milwaukee Public Schools said Wednesday it will lay off 519 staff members -- including 354 teachers -- because of $84 million in state cuts and the system's efforts to control costs.
Milwaukee schools to lay off 354 teachers - CNN.com
Cuts have consequences.
The outrage should be directed at top heavy administrations and extraneous features, not the cuts. Cuts are necessary. Flat screen TVs and state-of-the-art football stadiums are not. Three assistants for the Superintendent are not. High-end, wifi capable charter buses for 1-hour trips are not necessary.
Not speaking for Milwaukee, but those are some of the issues we're seeing here....while they're cutting teachers and TAs left and right. Perhaps we should start holding districts accountable instead of falling for their crap about teachers being fired. They're doing it to make a point, and they're punishing our kids in the process. If they were serious they'd address the real areas of frivolity.
So does spending money you don't have on services that have gotten out of hand and ineffective.
I hope it is your children that no longer get an education.. Grats on advocating children and our nations future to pay for republican mismanagement..
The right wing war on the working class continues unabated.
I hope it is your children that no longer get an education.. Grats on advocating children and our nations future to pay for republican mismanagement..
You just -have- admire someone who, without shame -indeed, with great pride - spouts unmitigated partisan bigotry.and the GOP plan of making American's even dumber is going strong.. hey soon people will actually believe that Jesus rode dinos, the world is flat and the sun revolves around the Earth....
So too does mismanagement of public funds.
Tim-
yes, it does. And I would not object to better management. However, cutting just to eb cutting, without a plan, losing teachers, no, that says something about what we care about and it concerns me that education isn't a priority. At least not like it should be.
However, cutting just to eb (sic) cutting
The Kaukauna School District, in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin near Appleton, has about 4,200 students and about 400 employees. It has struggled in recent times and this year faced a deficit of $400,000. But after the law went into effect, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, school officials put in place new policies they estimate will turn that $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. And it's all because of the very provisions that union leaders predicted would be disastrous.
In the past, teachers and other staff at Kaukauna were required to pay 10 percent of the cost of their health insurance coverage and none of their pension costs. Now, they'll pay 12.6 percent of the cost of their coverage (still well below rates in much of the private sector) and also contribute 5.8 percent of salary to their pensions. The changes will save the school board an estimated $1.2 million this year, according to board President Todd Arnoldussen.
Of course, Wisconsin unions had offered to make benefit concessions during the budget fight. Wouldn't Kaukauna's money problems have been solved if Walker had just accepted those concessions and not demanded cutbacks in collective bargaining powers?
"The monetary part of it is not the entire issue," says Arnoldussen, a political independent who won a spot on the board in a nonpartisan election. Indeed, some of the most important improvements in Kaukauna's outlook are because of the new limits on collective bargaining.
In the past, Kaukauna's agreement with the teachers union required the school district to purchase health insurance coverage from something called WEA Trust -- a company created by the Wisconsin teachers union. "It was in the collective bargaining agreement that we could only negotiate with them," says Arnoldussen. This year, WEA Trust told Kaukauna that it would face a significant increase in premiums.
Now, the collective bargaining agreement is gone, and the school district is free to shop around for coverage. And all of a sudden, WEA Trust has changed its position. "With these changes, the schools could go out for bids, and lo and behold, WEA Trust said, 'We can match the lowest bid,'" says Republican state Rep. Jim Steineke, who represents the area and supports the Walker changes. At least for the moment, Kaukauna is staying with WEA Trust, but saving substantial amounts of money.
Then there are work rules. "In the collective bargaining agreement, high school teachers only had to teach five periods a day, out of seven," says Arnoldussen. "Now, they're going to teach six." In addition, the collective bargaining agreement specified that teachers had to be in the school 37 1/2 hours a week. Now, it will be 40 hours.
The changes mean Kaukauna can reduce the size of its classes -- from 31 students to 26 students in high school and from 26 students to 23 students in elementary school. In addition, there will be more teacher time for one-on-one sessions with troubled students. Those changes would not have been possible without the much-maligned changes in collective bargaining.
(CNN) -- In a budget-cutting move likely to be echoed around the country, Milwaukee Public Schools said Wednesday it will lay off 519 staff members -- including 354 teachers -- because of $84 million in state cuts and the system's efforts to control costs.
Milwaukee schools to lay off 354 teachers - CNN.com
Cuts have consequences.
You invest in what you care about. I am not suggesting we shouldn't be concerned about the budget, but if you care about education, you do something more targetted, more aimed at the problem, and not the things that will effect children and education the most. Again, it is about what do you care about.
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