Kenosha Education Association

Politics and Transformation Plan

Recently, there were two separate stories that addressed the conservative ideology of The Heartland Institute of Chicago, Illinois and The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) of Washington D.C. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote an article on The Heartland institute (Leaked documents detail Operation Angry Badger), and you will find many links to stories on ALEC regarding their plans to reform public education.  Although this Wisconsin State Journal article (source: Phi Delta Kappan) does not mention Koch brother funding of ALEC, this is an important piece of the puzzle to understand.  They are major contributors and sat on the board at ALEC.  Recent comments suggest that the Koch brothers will be even more involved in Wisconsin than they have been already.  The Koch brothers, by the way, also heavily fund Americans for Prosperity, which has run many ads supporting  the current governor, and which is a driving force behind the Tea Party nationally.  

In brief, the KUSD Transformation Plan resembles many of the ideological approaches to reforming public education promoted by these two groups.  Their playbook includes increasing class sizes, reducing the level of teaching staff, expanding vouchers, school choice, and performance pay, (merit pay).  Most telling is what comes right out of the
Heartland Institute’s fundraising projects:

1. Recruit and promote superintendents who support Act 10

2. Explain the benefits of Act 10

3. Document the shortcomings of public schools in Wisconsin

4. Expose teacher pay in key districts

5. Create blogs that shadow small town newspaper coverage of the controversy

As for the Transformation Plan, we’re hearing from many of you as well as parents that the School Board needs to slow this process down.  The reason is that you should have been involved in developing and implementing the plan because you have the most information.  In addition, those who will be affected weren’t included.  Well rounded decisions based on a thorough evaluation of benefits and risks are what are missing from this process.  A thoughtful dialogue should take place that includes parents and teachers.

It is clear that this was considered as a way to cut the budget.  Was there any true measure on the impact on the future, on morale, relationships with the community, teaching staff, parents, and students; or is this just a knee jerk reaction to hurry up and balance the budget?

Rushing through massive changes without appropriate dialogue that only temporarily reduces the budget is not a sound approach to developing educational policy.  We have to work harder to produce long lasting results that are reflective of how well KUSD has traditionally produced great results for Kenosha kids.  We’ve worked hard in this community for years to build relationships that have produced the results that have made KUSD the envy around Wisconsin and the Midwest.

We need to slow down.  We need to take the time to do this right and avoid having to spend time and resources to fix things later.  Let’s work together to review alternative courses of action and make the best and balanced choices.  Let’s encourage full participation and avoid tangled actions by considering the actual effects of the outcomes.  As Steve P. Covey said, “No involvement, no commitment.”  We need to slow down and get this accurate.  We need commitment from all concerned.

Further sources:

On School Privatization Agenda

On Funding of Major Foundations and Think Tanks)

On Politics: David Koch: 'We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend more.' Wisconsin State Journal 2/20/12