Walker's Feast of Education Funds

The person who said, “The more things change, the more they remain the same,” was probably an individual with a very good (B+) understanding of education reform. Those of us with excellent (A+) understanding of education reform policies are likely to express this sentiment more negatively and more honestly: “The more things change ― especially when they are changed for political reasons, the more likely they will become worse. Education reform is a prime example.” And Governor Scott Walker’s education reform policy is its glaring illustration. His education policy isn’t “just bad;” it’s beyond bad.

It is so bad that it’s analogous to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: One didn’t need to look below its surface to realize the damages and destruction it was causing. The hints of these horrors were very apparent in the oil’s voracious appetite, as it rapidly devoured everything on the surface. Plants, animals, shorelines, and the blueness of the water were quickly gobbled-up; and devastations sat on the Gulf’s waters so pervasively that they could be spotted from distant aerial views.

Similarly, Walker’s education reform has the impolite ravenousness, the insatiable appetite, and the big-mouth-Barbarian bite that enables it to pig out on all that is good in Wisconsin’s Education System. In just a short-few months Walker’s reform feast on public school funding, chow down on collective bargaining for teachers, wolf down a large chunk of the funding for the University of Wisconsin’s education system, gorged on the reputation of Wisconsin’s teachers; and, using the utensils of school choice, ravaged Green Bay, Racine, and Milwaukee School districts.

What’s even more disturbing is the fact that the governor’s meal, though wide-spread, is still in its early stages. In the 2012 to 2013 school year, the real impact of the amount of education resources, which the governor and his rich republican buddies chewed off, will begin to reach ultimate realization. That’s when many of the cub boards, which held the banquet’s contents will begin to go bare.  

Now, so far I’ve discussed the good things that the governor’s reform plan removed from education. Tomorrow I will begin to discuss the good things I wished the governor’s plan included.