Yet more bad news from Scott Walker’s Wisconsin, as the Oshkosh school district is facing school closing if a funding referendum fails. The additional funding via referendum is being requested because of continued cuts to state funding to the district thanks to Republicans in the Legislature and Gov. Walker.
The Oshkosh Area School District says failing to pass a referendum in April could lead to closing three schools; eliminating dozens of staff members in the classroom, maintenance and administration; combining high school sports teams; eliminating some elective classes; and increasing teachers’ workloads.
“We simply couldn’t continue to offer quite a number of elective classes from world’s languages, to certain areas within sciences, in business ed, whole departments would probably collapse as their numbers wouldn’t hold, or justify operation,” said Superintendent Stan Mack.
The school district is asking voters to let it exceed its revenue cap by $4 million a year for the next seven years. It says the district’s budget is under “continued pressure… due to inadequate state funding that does not keep up with inflation nor increasing educational costs.”
Stories like this are the direct result of the Republican infatuation with tax cuts and their irrational hatred of the public education system.
I think it’s time for some school districts to start cutting team sports. I can’t think of anything else that will wake up enough people in this state, though I realize even that won’t close budget gaps that many districts are facing.
Note to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin: make yourself relevant in rural and suburban Wisconsin by running on education issues like this or environmental issues like CAFO manure pollution of fresh water.
It seems to me Walker, Voss, Fitzgerald, and their legislative crew are in violation of Article X of the Wisconsin State Constitution, to wit, “…The legislature shall provide by law for the establishment of district schools which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable; and such schools shall be free and without charge for tuition to all children between the ages of 4 and 20 years;…”;
http://bcpl.wisconsin.gov/docview.asp?docid=22545&locid=145
There are other Sections on funding, but clearly the legislature is responsible for addressing that issue also so as to comply with SECTION 3 which contains the basic intent and requirements of ARTICLE X.
Many public schools districts cannot sustain the crushing tax burden; clearly the Republican controlled Legislature and Walker are going to have to stop their tax cuts or payback to the Koch people, private school profiteers, the sand mines or their other special interests…NOW!