Rock County forum
calls for a cost-out
January 27, another large crowd turned out to talk about
school-funding reform in Wisconsin. This time, the venue was
Blackhawk Technical College, between Janesville and Beloit,
where 150 people showed up for the “Rock County School-funding
Reform Community Forum.”
Those attending urged the Governor to increase the state’s
investment in public education—a message similar to
that delivered at other forums around
the state. The Rock County crowd, however, emphasized the
need for a cost-out study to actually determine the needs
and costs of Wisconsin’s school districts.
The focus of attention, January 27, was a table of five Rock
County Legislators. Three — Representatives Chuck Benedict
and Mike Sheridan and Senator Judy Robson — agreed with
the call for a cost-out.
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Beloit
Superindendent Bette Lange reviews her notes,
while husband Tom Evert, superindendent
of Janesville, listens to Tim Cullen. |
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Husband and wife team Tom Evert, the superintendent at Janesville,
and Bette Lang, superintendent at Beloit, began the evening
by showing the changes in the student body-and, therefore,
in education-in their districts.
Both explained that the percentage of students with disabilities
has been steadily increasing, as have the numbers of students
for whom English isn’t their primary language and those
children who come from families in poverty.
In all these cases, Lang said, these children bring to school
physical, emotional, and behavioral barriers to learning.
Schools are losing the ability to deal with those barriers,
she said, because the needs and the costs keep growing.
Tim Cullen, former legislator and a member of the Governor’s
Task Force on Educational Excellence, underscored the concerns
of Lang and Evert, adding that these and other challenges
have led to what he called the “un-child.”
When schools seek more money to help the un-child-un-hugged,
undisciplined, un-read to, and un-put to bed, and un-prepared
to learn-they get caught in the “property tax wars”
that the state finds itself in today.
Jack Norman, research director for the
Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF) and WAES
staffer, outlined the fiscal problems faced by Janesville,
Beloit, and school districts all over the state. He talked
about larger class sizes and reduced programming in some areas,
teacher lay-offs and fewer student services in others, and,
in some cases, entire school districts on the verge of consolidating,
dissolving, or closing early due to the lack of adequate revenue.
Norman explained that there are solutions to the problem,
both long-term and short-term. He explained how an adequacy
model is the ultimate solution because it would change
the system to one where funding actually links to resources
to the needs of children and the academic goals of students.
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At the
Rock County forum, many people signed up
to be on an email
update list to stay informed about school-funding
issues. |
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Focus of the evening, however, was a panel of five legislators
from Rock County: 43rd District Rep. Debi Towns (R-Janesville);
44th District Rep. Mike Sheridan (D-Janseville); 45th District
Rep. Chuck Benedict (D-Beloit); 80th District Rep. Brett Davis
(R-Oregon); and 15th District Sen. Judy Robson (D-Beloit).
Jon Erpenbach, Democratic Senator from the 27th District,
was out of the state.
Bob Daily, general manager of WCLO/WJVL radio, served as
master of ceremonies for the evening, while Virginia Wyss,
Janesville school board member, made comments, and Ann Sitrick,
executive director of the Beloit Memorial Hospital Foundation,
moderated the legislative panel.
The Rock County event was co-hosted by WAES, the school districts
of Beloit and Janesville, and the Janesville Area PTA Council.
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