Politics & Government

Letter on Its Way to State Legislators from School Board Opposing Governor's Controversial Bill

Board has drafted and will send a letter opposing the bill to Wisconsin Sen. Alberta Darling, Rep. Robin Vos.

The School Board voted unanimously Wednesday to send a letter to two key lawmakers, opposing Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, but not before some serious discussion among members.

The letter will make its way to state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Rep. Robin Vos (R-Burlington), the co-chairmen on the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, which is reviewing the bill.

The letter says the district believes the timing and lack of debate, on the proposed bill which would strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights, is cause for concern.

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"Succinctly stated, neither our state legislators nor the public have been afforded anywhere near the amount of time necessary to understand and evaluate meaningfully the measures proposed in the Bill," the letter said.

"Regardless of where one comes out with respect to its merits, we believe that the extraordinary measures contained in the Bill are likely to have substantial consequences for the quality of education in Wisconsin, and implicate myriad social policies."

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Treasurer Michael Mishlove said the bill would actually be of benefit to the district, stripping the right for teachers to collectively bargain for benefits, make greater contributions to benefits and in effect cutting costs for the district, but the state is going about it in the wrong way.

"I happen to believe that those are great things that we certainly like, but that is the wrong way of doing it on many different levels," Mishlove said.

Vice President Ruth Treisman added it is an important and symbolic action from the board.

The board's letter comes after three straight days of rallies at Shorewood schools in which teacher and students staged walk-outs, marched up and down East Capitol Drive and advocated for residents to call legislators and tell them to oppose the bill.

Find the board's letter as a PDF above.


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