Problem is not the teachers, but the way school systems spend their monies. Last year a school board member in our district recommended creating an administrative job for saving energy costs by the district. It basically means writing notes to teachers to shut their lights off and turn the thermostat down in their classroom when they are not being used. It pays I believe, around $75,000 a year plus bennies. Guess who resigned from the school board to take this position? Last year they started 4 year old kindergarten here.....it's basically free daycare for working moms. It also kept staff numbers up because there was declining enrollment at the older levels. They also went from a intramural middle school football program where coaching positions were volunteer with no transportation costs to having TWO traveling teams. Before this everyone who wanted to play got the opportunity to play, now only those kids that make the "cut" get bussed around the state and are coached by paid district employees. Fewer kids get a positive experience and it cost us a 'ell of a lot more. This @ a time when their budgets are being cut? We look @ cost per student, but what about cost per Varsity football payer? My sons both were 3 season athletes during High School. They were a small percentage of the total student population. But still the district deemed the school system needed to fully pay for them to play a sport. Funny, before High School, I paid for them to play "club" sports. I certainly would have paid for them to play on High School teams. I do believe that those that can't afford to play should not be left out, but that's what the Booster Club is for. 20 years ago I helped coach High School Hockey and did it for free. Now all the coaches are district employees and paid a stipend.
We all need to live within our means, same is true for school districts. In my industry in the last few years, many have lost their jobs, have had to tighten their belts and trim the fat, given up some benefits and pay more for health insurance. Why not the school districts? I am all for quality education and teachers receiving fair pay, but in my profession one needs to produce a quality product at a reasonable cost or go belly up. Same thinking needs to be applied to schools. One of the K-6 grade principles here was making over $120,000 a year in salary and bennies. His school had about 200 students in it. That's over $500 a student just for his salary alone. Give me a break.
Walker did not do this alone. The majority of Wisconsinites told him this is what they wanted him to do instead of letting the state get into a Korneyforney situation, or even worse. We now have a balanced budget for the first time in years. How many of us can continue to spend more than we earn, year after year and get away with it? Not me.