Tonight is the night that folks in Monroe will gather, and in a scene right out of a group process textbook, will form sub groups, after the proper instruction of course, and set about to cut 2 million dollars from the Monroe school budget.
I love these "listening" sessions." I have been conducting them at home recently with the family on how to address the energy crisis. I proposed that since balancing the budget is one of the essential needs, we cut the heat back to 45 degrees at night. Well, hang on Loretta! The rebuttal came fast and furious. "What about the parakeet?" So, I finally put my foot down. Under the rubrick of the authority of the realm. Which was it going to be, me or the parakeet? OK, I will not go over the result.
I relate this, since I am unable to get to the Monroe meeting tonight. But, I can predict what will happen. The folks will break up into sub groups and determine that their very own favorite programs are the most important thing to be preserved, and at the end of the evening, the Superintendent will be the Maytag repairman of the group, the lonely person who has to make the cuts.
Recently the editor of the Monroe Times had reflected that at the same time a curriculum sub-group was meeting to "enhance" language learning by adding language in the early grades, in a different part of the building meetings were exploring the cuts to come. That is the "Twilight Zone" of the school budget crisis of 2005.
Recently one of the bloggers asked, "Why are we looking at Monroe?" Good question. At last year's annual meeting, Supr. Heidi Carvin wrote in the written report, that the results of the year were good for taxpayers, in that the school tax levy went down, but bad for school children. That is it in a nutshell. In the case of Monroe, cutting 7% in addition to the 1.8million they cut last year is going to mean staff layoffs. Painful ones.
Citizens need to be proactive with their legislators to let them know that further delay on fixing the formula on school aid is harming our communities. The Twilight Zone is spreading.
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I think if you would notice Mr.Woulfe
ReplyDeletereports on news from madison, monroe, Albany and Janesville and surrounding areas. You just seem to have a problem with Monroe.
I am stating a fact Clarice regardless of your opinion, he reports on new from all areas not just Monroe.
ReplyDeleteI think there has always been some pressure on schools, but I think it has intensified, due to the tax cuts we have seen over the last five years, which have been worsened by a war of choice. Bush's polls are sinking and we are at a crossroads. It is time to push our politicians to decide between investing in a war that makes us no safer againsts terrorism coupled with tax cuts or choosing to fund social programs, including education that are good in the long run for the the general welfare of the country.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this will happen unless we change the way we fund elections. Democrats may not be guilty of being tied to the Jack Abramoff scandal, but they are just as guilty of taking corporate money as the Republicans are. Why do you think our Democratic Senator from Wisconsin (Kohl) voted with the Republicans for CAFTA, The bankruptcy bill etc. It all goes back to corporate political money. We need to change the way elections are funded. If elections were publicly funded there would be more of a level playing field and politicians could run on the merits of their ideas and they would have to be more accountable to the constituents they represent. It may cost more in the short term as far as election cost, but if we cut the corporate giveaways out of the equation the public would most certainly benefit in the long run.
Maybe if the Republicans lose both the House and Senate the Dems can be pushed into changing the way elections are funded due to the current spotlight on political corruption. If not, maybe it is time to form a new party.