200 call for changes to school-funding system

Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts (D-Verona) hosted a press conference, April 19, for school-funding reformers from around the state. The object of the event was support for Assembly Joint Resolution 35 and Senate Joint Resolution 27 calling on the Legislature to change the system by July 1, 2009. Among those speaking, in addition to Pope-Roberts, were (left) Sen. Roger Breske (D-Eland) and Jacinth Sohi, president of the Madison Metropolitan Student Senate.

Wisconsin needs to change the way it funds public education now if we are going to protect our children and their futures.

That was the message, April 19, when over 200 reformers gathered for a press conference in the Capitol’s Assembly Parlor. They spoke about, listened to, and cheered for Assembly Joint Resolution 35 and Senate Joint Resolution 27 that call for school-funding reform by July 1, 2009.

Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts (D-Verona) co-authored the resolution. She said, “This is about doing our job as legislators, a job that is given to us by the State Constitution. It is about recognizing education as an investment instead of an expenditure to cut.”

Speakers at the press conference included Pope-Roberts, Sen. Roger Breske (D-Eland); Ruth Page Jones, Project ABC Waukesha; Kelly McMahon, Milwaukee Teachers Education Association; Ken Bates, superintendent of the Green Lake School District and a representative of the School Finance Network; Jacinth Sohi, student at Madison West High School; Art Rainwater, superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District; and Dan Brereton, president of the Florence County School District Board. Also on hand were many of the 60 legislators who signed the resolution.

Over 200 school-funding reformers packed the Wisconsin Legislature’s Assembly Parlor, April 19, for a press conference touting Assembly Joint Resolution 35 and Senate Joint Resolution 27. The resolution puts changing the system in the hands of lawmakers but puts a July 1, 2009 deadline on the action.

“Our school-funding system is broken and we’ve known it for years,” said Sen. Roger Breske (D-Eland), the resolutions’ other co-author. “At the state level we’ve put Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid and left the rest to local referenda. It’s time to set a deadline to get the real job done.”

The resolutions say that the present funding system is not working, problems are aggravated by declining enrollment, more and more referenda are being held to exceed revenue limits, and it is the job of the Legislature to change it. Because of the urgency of the crisis, the change, the resolutions say, should be effective on July 1, 2009.

Pope-Roberts said the resolutions did not back any specific school-funding change, although it does lay out principles for reform. She did say, however, that there are at least three plans available to the Legislature to begin its work.

“This resolution is a call to action for my colleagues and me to come together and create a school-funding formula that will work. We need to pool our ideas, talk to school-funding experts, and come up with a plan that addresses the needs of all children in Wisconsin.”

Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) Superintendent Art Rainwater said he was proud to be speaking for the children of his district. “More importantly,” he said, “I’m speaking for … every single child (in Wisconsin). Every single one of those children is being denied and will continue to be denied the kind of education that is going to allow them to participate in the economy they are going to walk into.”

Dan Brereton, president of the Florence County School District Board, wanted to make sure legislators know the present formula doesn’t work and that he won’t stop crusading for change. His district in northeastern Wisconsin has passed a referendum, a supposed relief valve for revenue limits. Brereton said, however, Florence is almost back to the crisis point it was at a couple of years ago, and that is because lawmakers haven’t changed the system.

“Let me be the first to clue (legislators) in: I am not shutting my mouth and I am not staying up north. Florence is still right smack in the middle of the same perfect storm that put us in our financial situation. The only thing that has changed is now many other districts are in the storm with us.”

Madison West High School senior Jacinth Sohi, president of the Madison Student Senate, drove home the actual impact of the present funding system. She noted that since 1993, the MMSD has cut $52.7 million out of its budget, including 615 full-time equivalency staff positions.

“Thirteen years (since the caps were implemented) and millions of dollars later, we’re seeing the terrible effect these cuts have had on the education of our students,” Sohi said.

Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine), chair of the Senate Education Committee, stood with the funding reformers. He said he would work with his counterpart in the Assembly, Republican Brett Davis of Oregon, to hold hearings on the resolutions later this year.

Among those groups represented at the press conference were: Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators; AFT Wisconsin; Southeastern Wisconsin Schools Alliance; Wisconsin PTA; Wisconsin League of Women Voters; Janesville PTA Council; Wisconsin Retired Educators Association; WAES, School Funding Network, Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association; Racine Interfaith Council; Dane County SOS Senior Council; and the school districts of Janesville, Columbus, Madison, Park Falls, Baraboo, Washington Island, Evansville; and Cochrane-Fountain City.

Read the entire testimony of those speakers indicated:

Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts — 79th Assembly District
Sen. Roger Breske — 12th Senate District
Ken Bates — School Funding Network
Dan Brereton — Florence Country School District Board
Art Rainwater — Madison Metropolitan School District
Jacinth Sohi— Madison West High School
Ruth Page Jones — Project ABC Waukesha
Kelly McMahon — Lancaster Elementary School (MPS)

See additional pictures from the press conference.

Video of the press conference.

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