January 26, 2009

New Year, New Legislature, New Possibilities

The state Legislature kicked off the new year with a swearing-in ceremony on January 5, ushering in a new era in Wisconsin politics. We finally have pro-education majorities in the Assembly, the Senate and in the Governor’s office, presenting opportunities to advance MTEA priorities such as school funding reform, voucher school accountability, and a fair bargaining law. We also continue our efforts on issues like prohibiting a residency requirement for MPS employees.

This historic opportunity brings with it great challenges. We are in a recession and our state faces an estimated $5.4 billion deficit.

While the state’s fiscal troubles will make it more difficult to achieve our priorities, it is incumbent upon each of us to be a strong advocate for change.

Isn’t it time that Wisconsin developed a more effective school funding system? Without it, opportunities for our students will continue to erode, our communities will be hurt, and our state’s economy will weaken.

Isn’t it time that schools in the taxpayer-funded voucher program are held to the same standards as the public schools, which serve all children. Both academic and financial accountability are need to make sure children are safe and are receiving at least a sound basic education.

Isn’t it time that our students in MPS have access to the best and brightest teachers, without regard to where they live? The residency requirement hurts students by contributing to excessive teacher turnover in MPS, and shrinking the pool of qualified applicants for newly created positions in MPS.

Isn’t it time that a fair bargaining law is adopted? Without it, competitive teacher salaries will elude us and we will continue to lack the bargaining leverage to negotiate education issues such as class size and preparation time.

Our time for change is now. Are we up to the challenge? Will we be impassioned and commited enough to keep up the pressure on our lawmakers and urge our colleagues to do the same? We CAN make change happen. Yes, we can!