Progressive Thinking

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout writes about the 2017-19 biennial budget proposal by State Superintendent of Schools Tony Evers. How will the recommendations help public schools, particularly small rural schools?

MADISON - “Over the past four years, we have seen an increased reliance on referenda to keep the lights on,” State Superintendent Tony Evers announced as he released his school budget proposal.

“Around the state, local communities took the lead on funding reform through the ballot box, but the state has to be a good partner and do our share to help small town schools.”

Indeed. This year, Wisconsinites passed a record number of school referenda.

In the recent election, 82% of school referenda passed. Over the last four years, citizens in more than half of Wisconsin’s school districts voted to raise their property taxes to pay for schools.

Why? Because state spending for public schools this year is less than it was eight years ago, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. This does not include public spending for the variety of private school options.

Mr. Evers created a blueprint to fix the funding of local schools. No district in the state will be hurt by his plan.

He proposes repairing the historic budget cuts of the past few years, including cuts to a special aid I added to the school formula in 2007 known as sparsity. The proposal would expand the number of rural districts eligible for sparsity aid.

The plan provides grants to assist in recruiting and retaining rural teachers. Wisconsin is awash with stories of rural schools struggling to find and keep teachers.

Many rural superintendents point to the impact of transportation costs on their budgets, noting the state pays less than a tenth of the cost of bringing students to and from school. This leaves rural students with fewer resources to learn, as more of the school’s budget goes to fuel and buses.

Mr. Evers addresses this problem in two ways: by increasing funds for transporting students over 12 miles away and by helping schools with unusually high busing costs.

Childhood poverty increased dramatically statewide over the past ten years. Teachers share stories of bringing extra food and clothing for students in need. However, the needs go beyond the physical. Children living in poverty can succeed but they need extra support from the school.

Mr. Evers’ budget recommendation provides extra support by adding a new poverty factor to the general aid formula. This change will assist many rural districts hurt by the current funding formula, which equates wealth with property value instead of income. Rural districts in tourist areas suffered for many years. Pepin, for example, last year received only $1,381 per student in general school aid.

As Mr. Evers’ budget reads: “The State Superintendent believes that property value alone is no longer an adequate measure for the ability to pay, as it doesn’t serve areas with high-priced vacation homes and large populations of year-round residents that live in poverty. The State Superintendent believes that local family income should also be a factor in measuring a district’s ‘wealth’ in determining the distribution of state general equalization aid.”

In addition to accounting for income, Mr. Evers proposes raising the general aid minimum to $3,000 for every student.

Creating a minimum aid for all districts will reduce the need for low-aided districts to ask voters to raise their property taxes through referenda. Equally important the new plan adds an inflationary increase in state funds available to schools districts to keep up with rising costs.

Another problem facing a majority of school districts is declining enrollment. The loss of students translates to a loss of state aid. Many small rural schools are losing students faster than the district can cut costs. Mr. Evers makes several changes that ease the impact of declining enrollment.

Mr. Evers offers many other changes in the way Wisconsin pays for schools, including aids to schools with a high number of English Language Learners, like Arcadia whose elementary school enrolls over 70% ELL students. He assists students struggling with mental health challenges, which he estimates effects one in five students.

I am encouraged by Mr. Evers’ thoughtful and comprehensive proposal. His blueprint for Wisconsin schools gives every child, regardless of background or zip code, an opportunity to succeed.

We now need our governor and legislators to share the same goal and pass Mr. Evers’ 2017-19 biennial budget for schools.

Media pundits are over analyzing election results. Republicans showed there is nothing they will not do to get power. Democrats insisted on nominating exactly the wrong person and have written off large swaths of rural Wisconsin. We live in dangerous times.

ALTOONA, WI - What’s perhaps most shocking about the turn our country has taken is that so many were shocked. Media pundits and the professional operatives and party insiders they count on as sources have a habit of over analyzing elections and over complicating politics. What just happened is not that complicated.

Anti-establishment feelings are running sky high, making 2016 a change year and November 8 a change day. Donald Trump was seen as the change candidate. Hillary Clinton was seen as the stay the course, more of the same candidate. Clinton emphasized her experience and qualifications and readiness for the job. Trump talked of draining the swamp. If voters had been in a stay the course state of mind, Clinton is elected. A huge number were in no such mood. Tens of millions felt the urge to extend a middle finger to the powers that be. Trump was the biggest middle finger they could find.

Some things became apparent in this election. Republicans showed there is nothing they will not do to get and hold on to power — from voting suppression and voter internment (also known as “packing” and “cracking” in the parlance of those practiced in the dark art of partisan gerrymandering) to nakedly visible appeals to bigotry and scapegoating of some of the most vulnerable among us. Democrats showed they possess the greatest weakness of all: An inability or unwillingness to recognize their most glaring weaknesses much less do anything about them.

Democrats insisted on nominating exactly the wrong person at exactly the wrong time. They chose a consummate insider at a moment when anti-establishment fervor was reaching a boiling point. Curiously, in talking to both party insiders and mainstream Democratic voters, they all seemed to think they were playing it safe. They couldn’t see they were making about the riskiest choice imaginable.

Democrats either don’t understand or don’t care how hated they are by voters who live in small towns or out in the country. Judging from what I’ve encountered over the last year and a half since Blue Jean Nation formed, the party’s name has become a dirty word in most rural areas. By all appearances, party leaders have written off large swaths of rural Wisconsin and rural America. What they don’t seem to realize is this strategy makes it all but impossible for them to construct governing majorities any time in the foreseeable future.

The disastrous results of the 2016 elections have many Democratic foot soldiers and worker bees calling for heads to roll. A favorite target of their wrath is the party chair. Being party chair has to be one of the worst of all possible jobs because everyone presumes the position has great power when it has nearly none. The real power rests with the political industrial complex made up of professional consultants and vendors of campaign services who make huge sums of money win or lose. They have party leaders under their spell, and with the smoke clearing from this year’s elections there are no signs as of yet that attempts will be made to break that spell.

We live in interesting but dangerous times. Putting power ahead of principle, ruling Republicans have made the classic deal with the devil, swapping essential pieces of the party’s soul for temporary supremacy. And exiled Democrats not only do not appear to have a plan to stage a comeback, they seem reluctant to even acknowledge they have a problem.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout writes about the upcoming deer hunting season and some of the changes hunters will experience as new regulations go into effect.

ALMA, WI - “See that scrape?” Lisa pointed to a large area of bare dirt. “That’s not made by a tractor tire.”

“And look at the branches above,” she said. “They are all broken. The buck was standing here pawing his hooves and tossing his head.”

We were on the edge of one of our hay fields, just where the field dropped into a ravine. I could see over several pastures and fields to the northwest and through the woods to my neighbor’s pasture in the southeast – a commanding spot.

Lisa and I were tracking a big ten-point buck. I saw him many times - even running after a doe right outside my study window as I wrote last week’s column. He was muscular and alert with wide, heavy antlers – a deer hunter’s dream.

We were following a line of scrapes and rubs, which is deer hunter’s lingo for pawed earth and scraped up tree trunks. Bucks use these methods to mark their territory. Early in the year, bucks rub against the tree trunks to remove the velvet from their antlers. But during the rut – the breeding season – bucks mark their territory by rubbing their antlers against tree trunks - the larger the tree trunk, the bigger the buck.

Deer numbers have increased in most areas of Wisconsin. Two mild winters helped population growth. This summer two does camped out in the tall weeds behind our machine shed. Three fawns spent the summer eating our lawn, tasting our newly planted apple trees and occasionally munching on our pots of inpatients on the front steps. As they munched on these tasty delights, I couldn’t help but think about the testy venison we will be preparing this fall.

Hunting season is upon us and deer hunters need to be aware of changes this year. New laws do not require a back tag. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has a new computer system that allows you to print your license and tags at home. (www.GoWild.wi.gov). There is a new DNR app, which gives you loads of information including the exact hunting times. You can find the app, called the Wisconsin Pocket Ranger, at the app store or at www.dnr.wi.gov and search for “mobile app.”

I have a slow Internet connection and no cell coverage at my farm, so websites and mobile apps aren’t helpful. I was delighted to discover that I could still buy my license and pick up a paper copy of the 2016 Wisconsin Deer Hunting Regulations at my local Kwik Trip.

The ladies were helpful and friendly. The shiny green tags and license have been replaced with ordinary printer paper. Tags must be cut out of the normal sized paper. The ladies suggested I put the tags in zip lock plastic bags and cover the license with clear packing tape.

The tag requires a confirmation number. You receive this number when you register your deer.

Registration is required and must be done by 5:00 pm the day after harvest. Like last year, registration is completed on-line or by phone. You can register online by going to www.gamereg.wi.gov or by calling 844-426-3734. There are some in-person registration sites and you can find these sites at www.dnr.wi.gov and search for “registration sites.”

Unfortunately, chronic wasting disease continues to be a problem across the state. Testing for the disease is available at many of the in-person registration sites. If you do kill a CDW infected deer, DNR will issue a replacement tag to you.

Officials are asking hunters who observe sick deer to contact the local game warden or biologist. You can find a list of contacts on the DNR website by typing “sick deer” in the search field.

As the sun went down, we watched as two heifer-sized deer and an older doe headed for the hay field. I turned to say “good-bye” to my friend, and saw another large doe lurk from the woods to my lawn.

The forecast calls for cold, rain and sleet opening weekend. This means getting out the long underwear in addition to the plastic bag and clear packing tape. But like many Wisconsinites, I will be prepared and ready to go.

I wish everyone a safe and successful hunt!

In January, Donald Trump will start his new government job. He can expect no more loyalty or support than President Obama received. It will be his job to win us over using only the dull tools we give to our President in a democracy.

GREEN BAY – On November 8th, we held an election for the job of President of the United States and Donald Trump won. In January, barring anything unforeseen at the Electoral College in December, he will start his new government job.

The current holder of the job, President Barack Obama, has met with Trump and begun the process of showing him the ropes. About half of people with a vote in the selection process are happy with the choice, and the other half are not. We will see how he works out.

Despite all of the talk in the media about electing a world leader and the most powerful man on earth, it is important to remember that it’s just a job and a government job at that. We did not elect a King, and Trump Enterprises did not buy a controlling interest in the U.S. government.

Working in government is quite different than the private sector and often frustrating. In any Executive job, like President or Governor or Mayor, you have a lot of bosses and they are the people you serve. Our founders set it up that way.

Donald Trump will probably get real frustrated in his new job fast. He is used to being his own boss, the king of his domain, who can hire and fire and pretty much do what he likes. That’s the private sector model we still use based on the days of lords and kings.

Most successful businessmen understand the difference, and that’s why most are not interested in running for any government job. They don’t need the hassle, and for what?

Donald Trump has a new job, and being successful in it will require a whole set of skills he has yet to demonstrate. Can he convince bosses he cannot fire that his idea is the one they should follow? Can he rally their loyalty? Can he convince foreign leaders that his word can be trusted? Can he do the job?

President Obama started his new government job with very little support from nearly half of the American people and even less from the opposing political party in Washington. Donald Trump should expect no more.

It will be his job to win us over using only the dull tools we give to our President. Will he appoint people we can trust to his cabinet? Will be propose policies we agree with and can follow? Will he demonstrate he is there to represent us and not promote himself?

If not, we have the power to fire him, and not just by waiting four years and voting him out. That is our right, and responsibility, as our founders envisioned.

Mike says we can be better than the bullies, love our country, love thy neighbor. Failure can be a great teacher, and America is never finished.

ALTOONA, WI - We don’t need to leave the country. America is never finished. It is always in the making. We can get to work making our country what we want it to be.

We don’t need hate to fuel us. We can follow the Golden Rule. We can love thy neighbor. We have love of country. We can lean on each other, look out for one another.

We don’t need to tear someone down to build ourselves up. That’s what bullies do. We can be better than bullies.

We don’t need greatness. We do need goodness, now more than ever.

We don’t need any unjust laws repealed in order for us to make change. When we make change, then those unjust laws will be repealed.

We don’t need what all that money buys the politicians. We don’t need pollsters to tell us what to think. We can think for ourselves. We don’t need speechwriters and teleprompters to put words in our mouths. We can speak for ourselves. We don’t need public relations firms and ad agencies to mold our images. We can just be who we are. We don’t need political professionals to do the work for us. We can do the work of citizenship. Not many of us have the time, but we can make the time.

We don’t need to be afraid of the dark. Darkness is no match for millions of people shining light.

We don’t need to fear failure. Failure can be a great teacher. Failure can be the key to success.

We don’t need to leave the country. America is never finished.

Democratic Party Chair Laning disappointed by last night's results, but now it is time to come together to move our state and our nation forward.

MADISON - After last night's elections, I have some thoughts I want to share with you.

Like so many of you, I am disappointed by last night's results. However, while these were not the results we hoped for, the people have spoken, and now it is up to us to come together to move our state and our nation forward.

Despite our disappointment, we must not get discouraged and walk away from the process. We must unite and work for the American dream we all believe in.

As Democrats, we will forge onward and continue to fight for hard-working men and women who want a fair shot to get ahead. We will continue to advocate for future generations of Americans who deserve the opportunity to live the American dream. And, in an election year marked by divisiveness and hate, we will continue to stand up for inclusiveness and respect for all Americans no matter their race, color, or creed.

We will also work to hold President-Elect Trump accountable to the people who elected him. Like many, we are deeply concerned that his policies will be harmful to the millions of hardworking Americans who most need help in these challenging times.

I want to thank all of the fantastic Democratic candidates who had the courage and vision to run for office in this election: From HillaryClinton, to Russ Feingold, to our amazing candidates up and down the ballot. Their passion and dedication was an inspiration to so many around this state. Win or lose, we were proud to stand with each and every one of you. As Secretary Clinton said only moments ago, this loss hurts, but we must all continue to fight for what we believe in. As Democrats, that’s exactly what we intend to do.

Businessman turned politician wins state with 48% of the vote after all the political professionals, pollsters, and national media under estimated an appeal that did not fall into the comfortable patterns of past campaigns. Victory sweeps along GOP politicians down the ballot.

GREEN BAY - Republican Donald Trump won a stunning upset victory Tuesday in Wisconsin, part of a series of Rust Belt victories that propelled him to the White House.

The Associated Press called Wisconsin for Trump just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, immediately triggering a projection that Trump would win the national election after he was already declared the winner in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

With 3615 of 3620 or 99% of Wisconsin's Precincts Reporting, Donald Trump had 1,404,869 or 48% of the vote, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton followed with 1,377,880 or 47% of the vote.

To say that these results are stunning is an understatement. As little as two days ago, the Marquette Law School poll had Clinton holding a six-point lead. Based on polling, most political observers thought she was positioned to win the state's 10 electoral votes despite becoming the first major-party nominee since 1972 not to set foot in the state.

UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said Clinton's decision not to visit or invest heavily in the state proved to be a mistake.

"This is one of the only states where the Trump ads outnumbered the Clinton ads," Burden said. "This may have been the only state where her ads were drowned out by his."

Trump campaigned hard in the state, making five visits over the past three months. In the final month his campaign spent nearly $2 million on advertising in the state. Clinton spent nearly $3 million in the state during the last week, but it was too little too late.

The Trump surge across the state also swept along GOP politicians down the ballot. Incumbent Senator Ron Johnson defeated Russ Feingold in Wisconsin's U.S. Senate race, and in NE WI's 8th Congressional District Mike Gallagher easily defeated Tom Nelson with a vote of 227,732 (63%) to 135,648 (37%). Green Bay's Democratic State Senator Dave Hansen was an exception with a win.

It is clear that all the political professionals, pollsters, and the national media under estimated the appeal of the businessman turned politician in Wisconsin and across the nation. Trump managed to grab the mantel of change in the minds of many, and the statistical models used by pollsters were based on trends of the past. Donald Trump surprised many, because he was a new media phenomenon that did not fall into the comfortable patterns of past campaigns.

Democratic Party insider loyalty to Clinton had given her the nomination, but never gave her much grass roots support in Wisconsin, where Independent Bernie Sanders had won 71 of 72 counties in the primary.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout writes about the need for a divided state and nation to join hands with people whose beliefs are different from our own to the challenges we face.

ALMA, WI - “We try very hard to not have political discussions at our family gatherings,” my friend told me over dinner.

“How sad,” I replied. This comment – one I’ve heard many times in past months – stood in sharp contrast to the enthusiastic spirit of community I felt the night before.

I joined many neighbors in celebrating the release of a new album of local music. The accomplishment is a collaboration of three local musicians – Yata, Sinz and Orfield - in a delightful compilation entitled Dancing in the Light.

The crowd was enthusiastic, clapping in time with the music. One couple joined hands to dance even among the standing-room-only crowd.

As we left the concert, neighbors reminded each other of the dinner coming up in Alma. Parishioners at St John’s Lutheran Church will join hands to host a fundraiser for the victims of the flood in Buffalo County.

Somehow, we must figure out a way of taking the “joining of hands” from our local neighborhoods and apply it to the big decisions we make at the state and national levels.

By the time you read this, the election will be over. However, I am writing before Election Day. I do not yet know the outcome. What I do know is that we must find way to unite a divided state and nation…to join hands with people whose beliefs are different from our own.

To understand something of how we can join hands while respecting our differences, I turned to the French Nobel Prize winning author Albert Camus:

“Yes, the essential thing is to leave room, however limited it may be, for the exchange of views that is still possible; the essential thing is to bring about an easing of the situation, however slight and temporary it may be. And to achieve that, each of us must preach pacification to his people.” … “After all, Gandhi proved that it is possible to fight for one’s people and win without for a moment losing the world’s respect.”

Mr. Camus wrote these words during the struggle for Algerian independence. Colonialism was ending. It was a time of terrorism and difficult Arab-European relations. His words are still relevant.

“Problems must be seen in relation to the future, without endlessly going back over the errors of the past.”

We share much. For example, we share our love of our community; of music that reflects our neighborhood; of our concern for flood victims.

In addition, we share a concern about the future: of economic imbalance, of needs unmet, of public dollars unwisely spent.

“When fighting for your truth, you must take care not to kill it with the very arms you are using to defend it.”

Force will never convince another of the truth. Minds are changed with honest dialogue that respects the opinion of others.

“I shall not try to change anything that I think or anything that you think (insofar as I can judge of it) in order to reach a reconciliation that would be agreeable to all. On the contrary, what I feel like telling you today is that the world needs real dialogue, that falsehood is just as much the opposite of dialogue as is silence, and that the only possible dialogue is the kind between people who remain what they are and speak their minds.”

We join hands to celebrate the music of our neighborhood. We collect needed funds for our neighbors suffering tragedy. Can we move this “real dialogue” to the next level?

Somehow, we must begin.

As Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

STOUGHTON, WI - These are troubled times. The glass is half empty and democracy is draining out of America. In a democracy the main power is the power of our vote – to throw the bums out OR to vote in folks we hope do NOT become bums. But our vote is becoming meaningless because swindlers are on the loose in both parties, while the prosecutors and courts along with elected officials sit on the side lines wringing their hands or stuffing handfuls of money in their pockets. Money dominates state and national politics – big money that expects big profits from the winners.

If you are not depressed and outraged by the last year of this pathetic democratic circus, you are not paying attention. We have two main candidates for president consumed by the greed for power and money. Everyone is a fool but them. They apparently believe the public can always be conned if big lies are repeated often enough. Many US papers read like Pravda, full of lies, during the height of the USSR empire.

But I think Studs Terkel’s book Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Troubled Times is right. We must live with hope for without it we will wither and die – emotionally, morally or physically. Only by fighting back can we sustain hope for the future. No fight – then maybe no future.

Most Americans have a great capability to say well that didn’t work, let’s try this. They hope things will be better for their kids and grandkids than they were for themselves.

Right now a couple of days before the election we can see that we have major candidates who are duds as leaders. We have an option on the ballot. We can start fresh with Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Will she win? Let me ask, would you have voted for Fighting Bob La Follette in 1924 or Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 if one of them was on the ballot as an independent next week? I would. They both fought against their own corrupt Republican Party though the Democratic Party was just as corrupt and controlled by Wall Streeters and corporations.

Many voters may have thought La Follette or Roosevelt would lose but vote for them they did. Would you be voting for Bernie Sanders as a Green Party candidate if he had chosen to join the Greens? I bet many of you would. Both Clinton and Trump are pro war. Obama was anti-war until he sat in the Oval Office. Sanders now says vote your fear of Trump by voting for Clinton. Then after she’s in the White House we’ll pressure her to change her policies which will be like pressuring a tiger to change its stripes.

If you wish to live by fear and false hope, the choice is yours.

But if you wish to make a positive statement on the direction America needs to go, then vote Green. Help build a third party that will hopefully in 2020 and beyond start actually building a new America rather talk about doing so for decades. Who knows America with a Green president may even stop all the illegal wars, killing, destruction, torture and spying Bush, Cheney and Obama became ‘so good at’ or should that be ‘so bad at”?

In this election November 8th, as in life, you can choose to do nothing, to go with the crowd or to fight back to protect your principles. The choice is yours, so please vote while you still HAVE the right to vote in this county.

John Humphries, a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has been creating conspiracy theories that school report cards are rigged. Sen. Kathleen Vinehout examines his false claims related to changes to the School Report Cards.

MADISON - Recent voucher-convert John Humphries has been busy spending his days writing pieces for Right Wisconsin, retweeting voucher leaders, and creating conspiracy theories that school report cards are rigged.

But here is the problem: the report card changes were proposed by Gov. Walker and passed by the Republican legislative majorities--not the Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

Gov. Walker's February 2015 Budget in Brief says that report card changes will "improve transparency and authenticity by using g letter grades as well as weighting school performance to account for student poverty rates, students disabilities and the length of time a school has had to influence a student's academic progress."

The Governor proposed these changes, and it turns out there was a powerful voice behind the scenes: School Choice Wisconsin chief lobbyist Jim Bender.

Bruce Murphy's Urban Milwaukee recently reported "one reason [Bender's] group was able to take the lead is because of his clout in the Capitol."

He quotes Bender saying, "In working with legislators to improve [the report card], we certainly took the lead.... If there was no choice program, we would likely have the old system" of report cards.

Just the Facts: the Governor proposed these changes, championed by School Choice Wisconsin, and adopted by the Majority members in the state Legislature.

Meanwhile, DPI provided feedback and analysis on the impact of these changes. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau budget paper on accountability outlined the potential impact of report card changes on urban and rural schools, based on DPI's analysis.

DPI also provided this information to legislators on the Education related committees. They worked with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to pass a bill correcting report card drafting and calculation errors adopted in the budget. Hardly seems like DPI is a villain in this story.

To paraphrase the Statesman Senator John Patrick Moynihan: You can have your own opinion, but not your own facts.

Voters in many communities across the State will face referenda questions on the on-going operational costs for their local schools versus new construction. Sen. Vinehout shares the reasons why school districts need to turn to voters for revenue to keep their schools open.

ALMA, WI - From Arrowhead to West Salem, voters across the state are considering the future of their school districts when they go to the polls. Citizens in 46 districts will be asked to approve referenda.

Some questions relate to the building of new facilities. However, 46% of this year’s referenda are for the on-going expenses of operating local schools.

I received many calls about school funding, property taxes and the problems underlying the questions voters face on the ballot.

“Aren’t referenda usually passed to build something new?” an Eau Claire man recently asked me. For many years, most school referenda asked voters to approve new construction. About ten years ago, there began a steady rise in the number of referenda to increase property taxes to pay for school operations.

Referenda for operations include the usual costs related to the daily operations of a school: keeping the lights on, heating the building, transporting students and paying for staff. Personnel costs make up 70% to 80% of a school’s budget. Logically a school that needs money to pay on-going expenses needs that money for staff costs.

Many constituents tell me they are unhappy about paying salary costs through referenda. Somehow, they can justify a new gym but not a new math teacher.

Early in 2011, a law known as Act 10 eliminated most union protections for teachers. Consequences of losing those protections led to increased costs. Teachers retired early. Fewer college students graduated with a teaching degree. The resulting teacher shortage caused competition between school districts for the few teachers left to fill critical positions.

Also in 2011, majority party lawmakers made deep cuts to state support for public schools in the 2011-13 state budget. They also diverted more state money to private schools.

The result is that today the actual state dollars going to public schools is lower than the amount public schools received a decade ago. This little known budget fact combined with increasing costs helps explain the increase in school referenda for operations.

Not only are there fewer dollars, but those dollars are flowing through a decades old formula that does not match today’s world.

Schools are paid by the state on per student basis. This method does not match the pattern of expenses – or cost structure – schools experience. In other words, there is a fundamental disconnect between what drives school revenue and what drives school costs. For example, when three students leave from a class of 20, district revenues are cut by 15 percent. But the cost of teaching a class of 17 is almost the same as teaching a class of 20.

In addition, the school general aid formula assumes that every student costs the same to educate regardless of background, capability or language skills. Consider, for example, that over 70% of primary grade students in Arcadia are English Language Learners. Consider, for example, that child poverty doubled in Wisconsin over a decade. Students from a difficult family background can perform at the same level as their peers upon graduation – but these students cost more to educate.

Finally, the school formula assumes every district has the same cost structure regardless of whether it has 300 or 3,000 students, and regardless of whether it covers 15 square miles or 150 square miles. Any rural superintendent will tell you the state pays only about 10 cents of every dollar of transportation costs.

Fewer state dollars, higher costs, fewer teachers, children who need more resources – all these factors add up to needs at the local school that are increasingly not met by state resources. So voters are asked to pony up through their property tax bill.

Property tax is an antiquated measure of wealth. Property rich farmers in 1848 might have been the wealthiest of folks. However, no longer does property value match real wealth.

Passing referenda will stop the hemorrhaging at our schools. However, the fundamental problems in school funding must be fixed. Real reform must accomplish three things: reduce our reliance on property taxes; recognize some students cost more to educate; recognize that school districts face different challenges and therefore different cost structures.

Until we have enough votes to pass those changes, please vote to support your local school.

It Depends on Whether Republicans Maintain Control of Both House & Senate! Republican Congressional members are interested in PRIVATIZING the VA, veterans are NOT.

STOUGHTON, WI - Within days over 22 million veterans will have the opportunity to vote in America. How veterans vote for Congressional candidates will be a key factor as to whether the House or Senate flips from Republican control to Democratic control.

Why? Because in 2014 over 54%, or nearly 12 million, vets voted. This is a far higher percentage than the number of non-vets who voted (41%). It is likely that the 12 million vets and their 12 million or more voting family members comprised over 26% of all the votes cast in 2014! Vets and their family members count big in American politics.

In 2014 6 out of 10 vets voted Republican. With the help of veterans, Republicans expanded their majority in the House and gained control of the Senate with the result bringing near political grid lock for the last two years.

What is stunning is that most of those Republican Congressional members are interested in PRIVATIZING the health care vets receive from VA hospitals across America.

Yet veterans themselves DO NOT WANT THEIR VA HEALTHCARE PRIVATIZED.

We hope veterans & their family members get the facts BEFORE

they vote for House or Senate candidates on Nov. 8th

1. The VA Choice program enacted by Congress in 2014 is a major step toward privatizing VA healthcare --pushing millions of vets out of the VA hospitals and into private sector healthcare. The Choice program gave every vet who lives more than 40 miles from a VA facility or who is given a VA appointment that is 30 or more days into the future, the right to go to the private sector for healthcare. Studies show private sector healthcare will cost approximately 30% more than VA care.

2. A 2015 opinion poll conducted jointly by Democratic and Republican polling companies, reported:

64% of all 22 million veterans oppose privatization of VA healthcare while 29% support privatization and 7% don’t know.

3. Vets who actually use VA healthcare know more about the issue than vets who do not use the VA for healthcare. When only vets who actually have used the VA were asked the same privatization question, the results were:

72% of vets who actually use VA healthcare oppose its privatization, 21% supported it and 7% don’t know.

The Need for Action

Nov. 8th. We urge veterans and their family members to vote for candidates for the U.S. House and Senate who support what veterans want and need: a fully funded and staffed VA with the modern healthcare facilities veterans deserve.

Regretfully, America has reached a divide – that, in general, to support veterans, it means a person must vote Democratic in House and Senate races. Sadly, the Republicans support pushing vets into private sector healthcare:

· Which is less able to provide the substantial care many vets require,

· Which will cost taxpayers approximately 30% more and

· Which will eventually require veterans to pay more for the physical and mental wounds they suffered during their service to America.

All citizens can take action today by asking their House member to co-sponsor Rep. Mark Takano’s House Resolution 918 which calls for “robustly” funding VA healthcare -- not privatizing it. Read the resolution here ** and contact your House member here.***

And most importantly all citizens can vote Nov. 8th to help veterans get the healthcare they need by voting for Democratic House and Senate candidates.

****

This commentary written by Buzz Davis & Ian Smith.

Buzz Davis, of Tucson, AZ, a long time progressive activist, is a disabled veteran, a member of Veterans for Peace and a former VISTA volunteer, Army officer, elected official, union organizer and state government planner. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ian Smith, an Army Veteran, a native of Madison, retired from a successful career with the VA spanning 40+ years, and is a long time, staunch Unionist having served two terms as President of a 1,400 member VA Hospital Local 1732 and remains a delegate to SCFL and WI AFL-CIO. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

* http://www.vetvoicefoundation.org/press/VVF-Polling-Memo-151109-Veteransv2.pdf

** https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/918/text?resultIndex=94

*** http://www.house.gov/representatives/

This election may end with both of the parties in splinters, leaving American politics more up in the air than it has been in living memory.

ALTOONA, WI - Someone will be elected. But it’s possible no one will win.

In a presidential election featuring the two most unpopular major party nominees ever, it looks increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton will become our next president. It’s just as likely that winning the White House will actually hurt the Democrats’ overall standing with the public.

Some hate Hillary. Some can’t stand Bill. Some don’t care for political dynasties and resent another Clinton presidency. Some despise Democrats in general. Some are turned off by how the Democratic establishment treated Bernie Sanders’ candidacy as an unwelcome intrusion and stacked the deck to assure Hillary got the party’s nomination. Some are just exasperated by the choice they were given, between two intensely disliked celebrities. Some are in an anti-establishment mood and see Hillary as the living embodiment of the political establishment. All will hold it against the Democrats for not showing any respect for these kinds of feelings.

There is a very real possibility either or both of the parties could splinter.

Today’s Republican Party has become an uneasy alliance of wealthy capitalists, the religious right and working-class whites. What these three factions want the party to be is very different, and keeping any of them satisfied without granting them their every wish is growing more challenging by the day. Lose any of them and the party’s governing majority across the country starts to crumble.

In cobbling together this fragile coalition of strangers, Republican leaders and right-wing media personalities created a monster that has gone on a rampage and is tearing their party limb from limb. Both Wall Street and Main Street Republicans have to be hoping and praying for Trump to lose. It will be hard enough to stitch the mangled body back together if Trump goes down to defeat. If Trump wins, it’s his party. That would be the death of it.

The Democratic Party has lost much of its blue-collar following and is now left with a composite of highly educated professionals, racial minorities and progressive populists. The party’s leadership clearly has cast its lot with the professional class, as evidenced by the favored status of corporate Democrats like the Clintons within the party, and has actively sought to snuff out populist impulses. The teens and twenty-somethings of the millennial generation — the party’s future — were outraged by what party insiders did to sabotage the Sanders campaign. Sanders won far more votes from millennials than Clinton and Trump combined, and these young voters will not soon forget how the skids were greased for Clinton. Minority voters are taken for granted, but young black millennials in particular appear to be increasingly questioning their elders’ loyalty to the Democrats. All of this leaves the Democratic Party vulnerable to upheaval or even disintegration as well.

All of this leaves American politics more up in the air than it has been in living memory.

MADISON - For a while now, I’ve been trying to interest reporters in Wisconsin in one of the most under-covered story of the last year: the fact that we now have 78 communities – second only to Massachusetts – that have voted overwhelmingly that they want to amend the U.S. Constitution to proclaim that corporations aren’t persons and money isn’t speech.

On Nov. 8, Wisconsin citizens in 19 more communities can express themselves on this vital idea. Check it out here:

A crucial vote November 8 you haven’t heard about

In another promising development on the reform front, Assembly Democrats held a press conference last week laying out their ideas for redoing the disastrous campaign finance bill that passed last fall. We’ve added a couple of our own ideas, as you’ll see here:

Assembly Dems point way toward reform

Meanwhile, we keep reporting on the role of big money here in Wisconsin.

For instance, we discovered that outside groups – from the left and the right -- are outspending the candidates themselves by a long shot:

Special interest electioneering groups outspending legislative candidates

We also found out that an outside group that was created for Gov. Walker’s failed presidential run is still bringing in money, including $100,000 from one New York company:

Who’s still donating big bucks to Walker’s presidential support group?

And we noted that the vast majority of Republican legislators received a 100% on their report cards from Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce:

WMC honors legislators in its pocket

I hope this info is useful – or at least mildly interesting – to you.

Talk to you soon.

Senator Kathleen Vinehout writes about voting in the upcoming election. She provides important information for voters related to the voting process with links to help those with questions and contact information for her office if someone is having problems.

MADISON - On a beautiful October Saturday afternoon, my college-student son and I went to vote. Afterwards, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Just between you and me, I worried about my son voting. Would he come home before Election Day? Would he know the rules about mail-in ballots?

Mail-in early voting is complex.

You must request the ballot by mail by downloading the ballot request form. Get the form here. You fill out the ballot request form and make sure you mail it so your clerk receives it by 5:00 pm November 3rd 2016.

Then you watch for the ballot in the mail. Complete the ballot, have it witnessed – with the complete address of the witness – attach a copy of your ID, and mail the ballot so your clerk receives it by 8:00 pm Election Day.

As a Mom, I saw how easily any step of this complex process could go wrong. Call me “Nervous Nelly” when it comes to young family members voting, but it is just too important. Fortunately, Nathan came home over the weekend. I called the clerk, who said, “Sure come on over. Bring your ID.” Together we completed our civic duty.

Voting on Saturday afternoon was illegal in both the April and August elections. But a federal lawsuit knocked down the restriction on weekend in-person voting.

Weekend early voting is good news for anyone who works away from home on weekdays, or works long hours, or usually votes after church on Sunday.

Early in-person voting is happening all across Wisconsin. Check with your municipality for early voting hours. Rural voters usually must call their clerk and set up a time convenient for the clerk and the voter.

Voters must be age 18 by Election Day, be a U.S. citizen, not in prison or on parole or probation for conviction of a felony, treason or bribery. You also must have an identification card. Much legal attention has been paid to the nature of the identification card and what the state should do for folks that do not have and cannot get an ID.

Acceptable identification cards include a driver’s license, state issued ID, tribal or military ID, veterans ID, US passport or Wisconsin college ID. A valid college ID for voting purposes must contain your signature, the date issued and be valid for not more than two years after the date the ID was issued. In addition, students must bring documentation to prove they are currently enrolled.

Changes in state law due to lawsuits challenging Wisconsin’s strict voter ID made it easier for people who cannot get an ID because they are missing required documentation. For people without the required documents to get a free photo ID, you can petition the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to verify your identity. It is important to file a petition as soon as possible.

One new law not changed by the courts: local clerks must receive mailed ballots by 8:00 pm on Election Day. Because of the new law, officials are urging voters to mail their ballots at least six days prior to the deadline and some have suggested no later than November 1st to ensure the clerk receives it by the official deadline of 8:00 pm Election Day.

In some rural areas, getting absentee ballots from the clerk to the voter and back to the clerk is delayed because the United States Postal Service closed local processing centers. As a result, local mail is slower, sometimes taking several days to travel a few hours away.

All registered voters can vote early, either in person or by mail. Voters can register in person on Election Day. If you are not sure if you are registered, you can check here: https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/UpdateMyNameorAddress

You can also use that website to change your name or address, find your local clerk, find your polling place and see a sample ballot.

If you have trouble with the website, let me know. My office will be glad to help look up your polling place. You can contact my office toll free at 877-763-6636. You can also contact the League of Women Voters for help at http://www.lwvwi.org/Vote2016.aspx

Now go vote!

Power to draw new legislative district boundaries after 2010 election gave GOP 60% of State Assembly seats with only 46% of the votes and resulted in restrictive voter ID laws, environmental laws written by corporate lobbyists, John Doe changes to protect politicians and attacks on labor.

WITTENBERG, WI - You want to talk about rigged elections? Look no further than Wisconsin. Five years ago, Republicans in Madison spent two million taxpayer dollars in secret meetings to approve new legislative district boundaries. These elected officials were not involved in deciding on the new boundaries, they were simply given the new maps-after they signed an oath not to discuss the maps with the pubic that had elected them. The new district boundaries had immediate results in the 2012 election. There were 1.4 million Democratic votes cast that year and 1.2 million Republican votes. Yet Republicans won 60 of the 99 Assembly seats while the Democrats won only 39. That means Democrats cast 54% of the votes but won only 40% of the elections. Gerrymandering at its best-and worst.

The federal judges in the lawsuit that resulted from this process said “the people of Wisconsin deserve better.” What the people of Wisconsin got was hundreds of millions of dollars cut from public education, hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for corporations, a state jobs agency that catered to political donors, some of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the nation, environmental laws written by corporate lobbyists, John Doe changes that protect politicians in Madison (and only them) from being investigated for bribery or corruption, a mandate that sex education in our schools teach abstinence only, and attacks on labor. That is just the short list. Republicans even eliminated language in state law that said workers should receive wages that provide for an adequate standard of living.

These changes were not made at the request of Wisconsin voters. They were taken by Republicans from the playbook of the American Legislative Exchange Council. A former Republican state senator, who was there, said our legislators were “pawns awaiting bills written by special interests.”

This is what rigged elections look like. And this is the direction Wisconsin will continue to take unless we vote out of office the very people who rigged the elections in the first place. We don’t even have to meet in secret to do so. Let’s just pick a day to meet in public to cast our votes. How about November 8th?

Lincoln defined government as “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We need Lincoln’s spirit now more than ever.

ALTOONA, WI - No dictionary ever captured the essence of democracy’s meaning better than Abe Lincoln did in his legendary Gettysburg Address. Lincoln defined it as government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

For a century and a half after the Civil War the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln. Today’s GOP, however, has separated from Lincoln and the relationship seems destined to end in divorce. Modern-day Republicans have rejected Lincoln’s commitment to equality as they flirted for decades before eventually jumping in bed with white supremacy. They also have renounced Lincoln’s idea of democracy. For years now the likes of Rush Limbaugh have been saying over and over again that America is a republic, not a democracy. And dittoheads across the country dutifully repeat the mantra.

It’s silly to argue over whether America is one or the other when we were so obviously intended to be both. The U.S. was set up to be a democratic republic. The republic the founders gave us also can accurately be described as a representative democracy or a constitutional democracy. The founders wisely and ingeniously struck a balance between majority rule by elected representatives of the people and protection of individual and minority rights by rule of constitutional law. To say we are a republic but not a democracy is to not only disregard the true meaning of these words but also to disrespect the founders’ delicate balancing act.

They understandably wanted no more to do with monarchy and sought to replace a king’s rule with democracy. But they also were rightly fearful of mob rule and felt the need to temper the democratic will with “inalienable” rights for individuals that could not be voted out of existence. They did a better job designing the system than we have done taking care of it. While some among us waste time bickering about whether America is a republic or a democracy, evidence mounts that we may no longer be worthy of either name.

At a time when the republic faced perhaps the greatest threat to its continued existence, Lincoln gave the country not only the perfect definition of democracy but also reason to believe a new birth of freedom in America was possible. In our time, all of us — whether Republican, Democrat, independent or something else — need to channel our inner Lincolns and dedicate ourselves to a new birth of democracy and equality. We need to figure out how to restore government of the people, by the people and for the people. We need to imagine an economy that is of the people, by the people and for the people and strive to make it so.

We need Lincoln’s spirit now more than ever. The party of Lincoln has waved goodbye to Abe. The rest of us need to summon him back.

Public school leaders are concerned about the $12,000 cost of special needs vouchers and the quality of education provided under them at private schools. The money comes from local public schools and is paid to private companies.

MADISON - “When you write about tax money going to private schools, please tell people about special education vouchers,” a rural school board member told me. “Because of a change in state law, our school district is paying for special education students to sit at home in front of a computer.”

October is budget time for school districts. The rural school board member just saw the new budget and learned of the high cost for special needs students who are now attending an online school with $12,000 per student of school funds. The school board member asked that I not mention the district or his name to protect the privacy of local students.

The story of how school districts are paying private or online schools $12,000 per special needs student with little guarantee to parents or taxpayers of the quality of that education reads like a litany of everything wrong with state government.

The plan originated in secret. A budget amendment was made available to the public well after midnight. The vote was speedy and partisan. The document was long and complex. Many other controversial actions were included in the same amendment. The motion passed in the wee hours of the morning. Few paid attention to the details related to special education vouchers and open enrollment.

Now the cost is hitting local school board budgets.

Late last May, GOP leaders introduced a 29-page amendment to the state budget. One of the provisions, scheduled to go into effect this September, allowed special education students to attend private schools with a $12,000 public subsidy. Another provision nearly doubled the cost of open enrollment for a special education student and barred the child’s home school district from stopping the transfer due to financial reasons.

The latter provision opened the door for local special education students to attend on-line schools like “Wisconsin Virtual Academy.”

However, press attention at the time focused on controversial changes like allowing persons without a college degree to be public school teachers or forcing public schools to accept private school students on their athletic teams. Much attention focused on the plans to take control away from the Milwaukee School Board.

A group called “Stop Special Needs Vouchers” made up of concerned parents worked against the plan. These parents raised critical questions about sending tax money to private schools. They saw risks for students who attended private schools and a drain on sorely needed resources for students who stayed in public schools.

The group warned parents that children in a private school would lose rights and protections under federal law. Special education students are guaranteed needed services. Services might include speech therapy, assistance from a reading specialist, or occupational therapy. Private schools are not required to hire special education teachers or therapists. Nor are they required to follow a student’s Individualized Education Plan.

The families of “Stop Special Needs Vouchers” warned legislators that taking $12,000 per student away from public schools meant less money would be available for special needs students who remained in the district.

I spoke with one local superintendent whose district loses $12,000 per special education student but only received $2,400 in state aid per student. The district’s money goes to Wisconsin Virtual Academy. WVA is operated by K12, Inc. a publically traded company co-founded by William Bennett former Secretary of Education under President Reagan.

With so much money leaving a district through a variety of private school subsidies, it is hard to balance the budget.

“Why are schools going to referenda? To survive,” the superintendent told me.

Superintendents and school board members are worried the move to isolating special needs children in special schools or virtual schools changes forty years of policy to educate special needs students in the least restrictive environment.

“The biggest problem is that the kids aren’t getting much in terms of education,” said the rural school board member. “The special education student is going to suffer the rest of their lives because of a poor education.”

Conservative Republicans and talk radio hosts are falling over each other in their effort to distance themselves from Donald Trump, but as parents have been saying for generations, you made your bed and now you’ve got to lie in it.

ALTOONA, WI - A weird political year got weirder still when the flamboyant conservative radio and TV personality Glenn Beck said voting against Donald Trump is the “moral, ethical choice” even if it means Hillary Clinton is elected president.

Beck is hardly alone among conservative pundits having pangs of conscience about what the Republican Party is turning into. Milwaukee’s conservative radio host Charlie Sykes recently owned up to his role in creating an environment where the likes of Trump could thrive, acknowledging that he and other right-wing media personalities have “created this monster.” And then Sykes announced he is ending his radio show.

Most of Sykes’ conservative media peers have gone to great lengths to deflect responsibility. Acting as if he and right-wing commentators like him had no hand in making the Frankenstein that is now laying waste to the GOP, Jonah Goldberg self-righteously proclaims Donald Trump’s supporters “oblivious to the fact that he needs more than his base to win. And once again, conservatives who’ve made a career thumping their chests or their Bibles about the importance of character and morality found themselves making excuses for a man who personifies everything they claimed to oppose.”

Other conservative heavyweights like George Will and David Brooks also have expressed horror in recent days at the ugly turn American conservatism has taken. Brooks says “Trump breaks his own world record for being appalling on a weekly basis” and his “performances look like primate dominance displays — filled with chest beating and looming growls. But at least primates have bands to connect with, whereas Trump is so alone, if a tree fell in his emotional forest, it would not make a sound.”

Brooks concludes: “It’s all so pathetic.”

Will calls Trump an “arrested-development adolescent” with “feral appetites and deranged sense of entitlement.” He goes on to say Trump is a “marvelously efficient acid bath, stripping away his supporters’ surfaces, exposing their skeletal essences” without displaying a hint of awareness of his own culpability as an intellectual architect of modern “conservatism” that has now morphed into Trumpism.

Will then grasps for straws, wishfully speculating that maybe “Trump is the GOP’s chemotherapy, a nauseating but, if carried through to completion, perhaps a curative experience.”

As parents have been saying for generations, you made your bed and now you’ve got to lie in it.

That would be all well and good, if not for the fact that the rest of us are going to have to suffer the side effects of their sleep disorders.

Judge orders Walker Administration to help people seeking voting credentials wade through the complicated process and undertake a public education campaign.

MADISON - Judge James D. Peterson ordered the Walker Administration today to take immediate action to remedy clear voting rights violations in the implementation of the Photo ID requirement. This includes helping people seeking voting credentials navigate the complicated process and undertaking a major public education campaign.

Judge Peterson said this morning he did not have the authority to enjoin the Photo ID law. A written order detailing the steps the Walker Administration must take is expected later today.

Judge Peterson’s action was in response to a motion by plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by Citizen Action’s charitable arm, Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund and Citizen Action community organizer Anita Johnson. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include One Wisconsin Institute, Renee M. Gagner, Cody R. Nelson, Jennifer S. Tasse, Scott T. Trindl, Michael R. Wilder, Johnny M. Randle, David Walker, David Aponte, and Cassandra M. Silas.

“We believe that the Photo ID law inherently disenfranchises voters, and will ultimately be struck down as unconstitutional,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “However, this close to the election, any interim action that will help more citizens get the credentials they need to vote is a step forward. We applaud Judge Peterson’s efforts to make sure that as many people as possible are able to exercise their fundamental right to vote.”

“We will continue giving hands on assistance to people trying to navigate the complicated system at the DMV for obtaining voting credentials,” said Anita Johnson, Community Organizer for Citizen Action of Wisconsin who works full time on enfranchising voters and is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “There are still thousands of people who need help if they are going to be qualified to vote. Any assistance the State of Wisconsin can provide, in accordance with Judge’s Peterson’s orders, will be greatly appreciated.”