Referring to the special referendum newsletter sent out by the Hudson school district, I hope readers took the time to read the letter from Superintendent Nick Ouellette. In his letter Ouellette states that since 2011 the state funding per pupil has gone down from being $1,166 above the national average to $754 below the national average.
It's no coincidence that 2011 was the year that Republican Governor Scott Walker and the Republican legislature took control of our state government and declared war on teachers and public schools. It was also the year that the state legislature gerrymandered our voting districts to ensure that Republicans would keep control of the state legislature. So, of course, since Tony Evers was elected governor, he has tried to increase school funding, only to be shot down by the Republican controlled legislature.
While it is necessary to pass the referendum no. 1 allowing the school district to maintain its high-quality programming now and into the future, a more permanent solution would be to elect representatives who also value public education and are willing to fund it with state dollars. We have a generous state budget surplus, why not allow state public school funding at least to match the 2011 level? Ask your state representatives to support Governor Evers' school funding. In the meantime, do your part to support our public schools.
(8) comments
The School District Admin and Board should take a look at why parents are fleeing the school District which is what brought the funding down in the first place. Solve the core problem.
I hope you commenters are intimately involved with seeing the realities of local eduction budgets rather than armchair quarterbacks!
This is not acceptable. Our Wisconsin Assembly does not serve the people who elected the Republicans. Why? Why withhold money from our schools?
Additional money will not address the cultural and ideological problems afflicting our public schools.
100% agree
Nailed it Ron. Look to the west. MSP schools have huge budgets and schools are in shambles and kids have been failed by administration.
Ron is spot on.
The solution is not for the state to take more money from us, filter it through its bureaucracy, and then send it back. The true long-term solution is for both the federal and state governments to get out of the education business, and let the school boards, which are near to, and accountable to the taxpayers, run the schools.
Welcome to the discussion.
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