WEAC Does Math Poorly
And here we see how well Mary Bell knows math.
Walker will propose a modest increase - roughly 1% - in funding for Wisconsin public schools in his budget to the Legislature on Wednesday, two years after his steep cuts and all but elimination of collective bargaining for teachers sparked the unsuccessful movement to recall Walker from office.
Tom Beebe, project director for Opportunity to Learn Wisconsin, a liberal-leaning group and former executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools, has been critical of Walker’s cuts to education.
He said the amount of general aid increase proposed for this next biennial budget - $129.2 million over two years - only amounts to about $161 for each of Wisconsin’s 800,000 public-school students.
“If the revenue cap does not go up, then there is no new money going to schools no matter how much aid increases,” Beebe said. “The increase in school funding simply goes to property-tax payers, not into the classroom.”
Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teacher union, said the modest increase was really just keeping overall revenue for schools flat.
So throwing another $192 million into education is “flat?” What’s really funny is that the media thinks that Mary Bell has any credibility at all regarding educating kids. If the last couple of years has proven nothing else, it’s that WEAC is nothing more or less than a liberal advocacy organization fighting for more cash from taxpayers to go into their members’ pockets. Let’s drop the charade that they give a crap about educating kids.
What he said:
He said the amount of general aid increase proposed for this next biennial budget - $129.2 million over two years - only amounts to about $161 for each of Wisconsin’s 800,000 public-school students.
What he meant:
He said the amount of general aid increase proposed for this next biennial budget - $129.2 million over two years - only amounts to about $3286 for each of Wisconsin’s 58,426 public-school teachers.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 19, 2013 at 0829 hrs
IF you read the Millwaukee Journal Sentinel today and listen to WPR, you will see that the budget freezes per pupil aid—the increase in funding is going to voucher students. Does not seem like any increase in public school funding.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 19, 2013 at 1050 hrs
More. More. More. That’s all we hear from the education establishment.
Time for full competition.
This public school monopoly is out of control.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 19, 2013 at 1339 hrs
If the revenue limit per member is frozen, then yes the overall funding for public schools is flat. State equalization aids will go up slightly under Governor Walker’s proposal, but that does not lead to an overall increase in funding. What will happen is that property taxes will go down slightly on average.
Quite a bit of new dollars for vouchers and also funded mandates like Ed Effectiveness and statewide data systems.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 19, 2013 at 1922 hrs
“Let’s drop the charade that they give a crap about educating kids.”
Webmaster has given no effort to researching and presenting what education reforms WEAC has supported in the state since WEAC has existed.
Webmaster likely considers title 9 unconstitutional bullshit and student teacher ration research bullshit (except when choosing webmaster’s kids’ schools.
Webmaster’s “Liberal” “conservative” labeling tactic is a divide and conquer strategy appealing to people who cannot thinks beyond two sides to a story.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 19, 2013 at 1938 hrs
Webmaster’s “Liberal” “conservative” labeling tactic is a divide and conquer strategy appealing to people who cannot thinks beyond two sides to a story.
A tactic he surely emulates Obama on.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 19, 2013 at 2028 hrs
As a licensed teacher I am torn on this one. Obviously WEAC has to have their members well being in mind. It is the reason they exist. Every educational reform that I have seen them endorse or propose had, at it’s heart, increased revenue and/or reduced work loads for it’s members.
I would love to see any diagnostic data on the impacts of specific reform measures but none are available that I can find.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 20, 2013 at 0811 hrs
Webmaster has given no effort to researching and presenting what education reforms WEAC has supported in the state since WEAC has existed.
As successful research in that area would disprove webmaster’s statement, I can’t imagine why webmaster would have done that research…
Also, since WEAC supports any bill with the words education and spending increase in its entirety, whether it helps children or teachers or both, little research is necessary on the path webreader suggests. The key word in webreader’s statement above is not support, it is reform. The real questions are whether anyone considers reducing the retirement age for teachers while the average human lifespan is climbing to be a reform, for example.Webmaster likely considers title 9 unconstitutional bullshit and student teacher ration research bullshit (except when choosing webmaster’s kids’ schools.
One does not understand how webreader came to this conclusion. There is no evidence to support webreader’s statement and there is no direct connection between the statement and the topic of the post as women’s orgs were responsible for title IX. WEAL is not WEAC(though WEAC certainly supported the large education bill that had the 37 famous words in it, they were not cognizant of what the famous passage in title IX would mean and had no hand in suggesting or writing that amendment). Perhaps webreader should learn what an acronym is and then how to distinguish between them NOW.
Webreader should also look in to exactly what WEAC spends its money on. After reporting back here exactly what percentage of WEAC funds goes to politicians, the Dem party, ads for candidates and independent commercials, then what is spent on WEAC payroll, then what is left, perhaps webreader would not have the same opinion.
For the record, webreader sounds less like confucius than webreader might think…more like Rainman without the superlative Hoffman acting, or Pinky.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 20, 2013 at 0837 hrs
David, as an expired licensed teacher, I think you are exactly right. I agree that WEAC should have its members in mind, and as an advocacy group I do not have a problem whatsoever that WEAC spends all of its money on electing people who will pay them back per se, it is how the Government today runs. I blame the system creators and supporters more than the PACs that use it(though yes, they helped create it).
What I find offensive is that most WEAC supporters seem to believe and espouse that WEAC in any way supports the students. They don’t, but then again it is not their job. Supporters try to hoodwink the populace in to also believing that WEAC supports education, education reform, students, single parents, the poor, puppies, etc.
We all complain about how badly educated the children are today and how gullible the general electorate is, yet the vast majority of both major parties are only interested in perpetuating it and they lie their asses off every day to prove it.
There is a specific pool of money every year to teach our children. WEAC’s only jobs are to increase that pool and get as much of that pool in to their members pockets as possible. In as much as more money may inspire teachers or get a better teacher, yes WEAC ‘helps’ students. However, if the choice is ever between a new computer lab and a teacher pay raise, WEAC will fight for the raise every time. I would argue that ‘hurts’ students. They are a teacher advocacy group, not an education or student advocacy group. As a group, they really don’t ever put children first and that is not what they are paid to do. It is both wrong of Rep/cons to say WEAC doesn’t care about children(that is not their job) and wrong of Dem/libs to say that they are for the children as again, it is not their job.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 20, 2013 at 0906 hrs
Agreed Tuerqas (by the way, what is the origin of Tuerqas if I may ask?).
I believe that one side (or both) should make peer reviewed studies of initiatives and the collateral effect on student achievement available to the public.
This “They are for this” and this “They are not for this” banter really needs to evolve into a healthy debate.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 20, 2013 at 0937 hrs
I sure wish I could meet more people with the common sense to agree with it. I think it is self evident, but put it out in a gathering of hardcore libs, dems, or reps and you get a fight most every time. Many conservatives who feel partyless seem to agree with me though.
Tuerqas is a total geek origin. I wanted an original name for a character in a D&D game 30 or so years ago so I rolled random dice, a 20 sided for consonants and a 6 sided for vowels. Then odds/evens on whether to do a consonant or a vowel. I loved this particular turnout and it was one of my best/favorite characters ever. I later used it in LARPs, etc. too. If it has ever been used anywhere else or has any other meaning, I don’t know it.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 20, 2013 at 1539 hrs
Really great story which is being used to Travel to Cleveland to meet the mother really these things make some one happy forever ....!!!
Posted by Vsam on February 23, 2013 at 0607 hrs
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