Youth ROC takes on Joint Finance Committee

While most high school students are trying to think about school as little as possible this summer, Youth ROC members are doing just the opposite—they’ve actually got school finance reform on the brain and they’re making sure that everyone else does too.

Youth ROC—or Youth Reclaiming Our Communities— is a statewide program for high school students who are committed to access to quality education for all students. It includes students from Milwaukee, suburban, and out-state schools who believe the only way to achieve the group’s goal is through reform of Wisconsin’s school-funding system.

Alycia Kender and Governor Doyle

Group members have been working hard to make sure the people who have the power to fix the school funding crisis understand that adequately funded schools isn’t about politics. Instead, it is about Wisconsin’s young people and their opportunities for the future.

In fact, many of the students have spent the last month lobbying Governor Jim Doyle and legislators in Madison and meeting with University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Allan Odden, co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, who is conducting a study of the cost of education in Wisconsin.

According to members of Youth ROC, the Governor heard their message loud and clear.

“Governor Doyle proposed an $800 million increase for public education. As student’s we went to several Joint Finance Committee hearings to support his proposals,” said Alycia Kender a recent graduate of Germantown High School.

Unfortunately a majority of the members of the Joint Finance Committee apparently weren’t listening.

“It’s hard to understand how someone who is supposed to work in the best interest for all communities around the state could slash $400 million out of the Governor’s proposed budget,” said Montreal Cain, a senior at Milwaukee’s Bradley Tech High School.

Youth ROC has decided not to ignore the Joint Finance Committee’s attack on public education.

“The affect of this budget on our lives means larger classes, higher fees, and lower quality of education. Our legislators need to understand that an increase that falls short of the cost-to-continue is a cut in the real world,” said Scarlet McFarland, of Milwaukee’s Rufus King High School.

On June 14, the students took that message to Madison to lobby their representatives and hold them accountable for their Joint Finance Committee votes. It didn’t go well for Youth ROC members or students throughout the state.

“The meeting with Senator Alberta Darling’s (R-River Hills) education aid was disturbing. He basically said that Sen. Darling wasn’t going to support an increase in the education budget because it would all go to Milwaukee. I’d like to hear her sell that reasoning to the school board members (in Milwaukee) who will have to cut another $1.5 million because of her vote,” said Chris Siudzinski, of Germantown High School.

Brittany Cullin, a recent graduate of Riverside University High School in Milwaukee, said, “At our lobby visits we heard over and over again that restricting revenue limits was a way to get Gov. Doyle to veto the budget, so that any property tax increases could be blamed on him. Members of the legislature are playing political games with our future, and that is just wrong.”

Scarlet McFarland of Rufus King High School with Senator Lena Taylor of the Joint Finance Committee

Youth ROC members plan to kick it up a notch in order to make sure their elected officials understand the importance of school-funding reform. They have discussed organizing in their communities through the use of civil disobedience.

“We told the Governor that we supported his education proposals in all of the traditional ways, but most members of the Joint Finance Committee chose to ignore us. If a legislator refuses to support public education, we are going to make sure that everyone in our community knows it. We are only getting stronger, and we are not going to let student’s voices be ignored again,” said Christina Johnson, of Milwaukee’s Rufus King High School.

Learn more about Youth ROC or request a school funding presentation

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