Principals decry loss of funding, local control under Scott Walker
In a letter addressed to Gov. Scott Walker and state legislators, 35 principals from southern Wisconsin have decried state budget measures they say underfund education and wrest local control from districts.
Some area superintendents had been outspoken about the need for adequate education funding during state budget negotiations this spring. But the joint letter from high school principals underscores concerns — at the school building level — about the reduced power of school boards to control issues such as curriculum and funding.
The principals from high schools such as Waukesha North, Waukesha West, Arrowhead, Oconomowoc, Pardeeville, Milton and Lake Mills said they're concerned about how changes passed under Walker forcing schools to compete will result in more segregation. The model will result in an exclusionary system between the "haves and have nots," they wrote.
And they point to how Walker has pledged to reduce big government, yet they feel power "of the people, by the people and for the people" is less in the people's hands than it once was.
"The people in local communities have far less voice today than they did only a few decades ago," the letter states, saying that school boards have less power now to make policy, funding and testing decisions.
The message from high school principals comes as Wisconsin schools have undergone major changes under Walker's tenure. The Act 10 law signed by Walker in 2011 curtailed the power of unions and actually gave school boards more control over setting work rules, wages and benefits for employees.
But they could not control other changes in state education policy. For example, the latest state budget signed in July further expands programs that send public money to private, religious schools, while holding funding mostly flat for public schools.
"Since the onset of revenue limits in 1992, our school districts have been reducing and eliminating programs and resources," the letter says. "We are burdened by the cumulative effects of budget cuts resulting in increased class sizes, cut programs and deferred maintenance plans."
The 2015-'17 budget also allows for more state agencies to authorize independent charter schools that operate independently of local districts.
GOP leaders and other proponents believe making the education landscape more competitive creates more options for parents, and can lead to higher academic achievement. Critics say forcing schools to compete for kids and dollars hurts districts in the long run.
Mark Rollefson, principal at Jefferson High School, said the budget changes and funding model hurt school districts.
"There was an era where neighboring school districts worked with each other," Rollefson said.
Schools face changes at national level
Wisconsin has been responding to other pressures nationally. For the past several years, schools have been implementing nationally aligned expectations for what kids should know and be able to do in reading and math, known as the Common Core.
The annual state achievement test was replaced this year to align to those new expectations. But the latest Principals decry loss of funding, local control under Scott Walker: