Editor's note: The editorial board spoke with Dale Schultz and Carol Beals, candidates for the 17th State Senate seat. The following is the majority view of the editorial board, which consists of General Manager Carl Hearing, Editor Mary Jane Grenzow and News Editor Gary Mays.
In 2006, State Sen. Dale Schultz helped chair a non-partisan committee to fix the state's broken school funding formula. The committee's goals were lofty, elusive and absolutely vital to our future - figure out a way to maximize funding while distributing taxpayer dollars more equitably across rural, urban and suburban districts.
Now, it's four years later, and Wisconsin is faced with a funding crisis that's only grown more pressing with the recession, the attendant losses in revenue, and each local school referendum. Such referenda, said Schultz, should be reserved for building schools and programs, not for "keeping the lights on." Lately, however, Wisconsin taxpayers have been bombarded by requests for money to keep schools afloat, and are growing ever weary of the current process.
There's one other thing. The veteran Republican - Schultz was first elected to the Assembly in 1982 - wants to hold the line on taxes. No tax increases, he told us. We're not sure if that can be done, but the incumbent does deserve the chance to finish the job of devising a better funding formula for education.
And he is endorsed by The Monroe Times for the 17th District State Senate, over opponent Carol Beals.
Beals, a Platteville Democrat and University of Wisconsin-Platteville employee, currently serves on the Grant County Board of Supervisors. She too is concerned about school funding and jobs - two of the biggest issues facing district residents. But it's hard to imagine that a freshman legislator could have as much of an immediate impact on critical state policy as Schultz, the former Senate majority leader. For even in an "anti-incumbent" year, there are those incumbents with the power, knowledge, experience and ideas to bring about change.
Perhaps they just need a push in the right direction.
In announcing her candidacy, Beals accused Schultz of being "out of touch" with the district. Beals also is an advocate for working people and says she knows what it's like to live paycheck-to-paycheck, as many of residents in the 17th District are forced to do.
And Beals may have a point - it wouldn't hurt if Schultz spent more time at home outside the corridors of power in Madison. We applaud Beals for her grass-roots campaign, and for her desire to represent those with little or no voice in state government.
But the Richland Center Republican is no enemy of the people and deserves their continued support as he tries to help the state reign in its budget, boost school funding, and attract desperately needed jobs to southwest Wisconsin.
Beals thinks Schultz has had plenty of time, decades in fact, to help solve Wisconsin's problems. Her campaign for the 17th District seat should be a wake-up call not only to Schultz, but to every incumbent who wins next Tuesday. Constituents are tired of politics as usual and partisan wrangling.
The time to convene committees is over - Schultz and his fellow lawmakers need to get to work.
In 2006, State Sen. Dale Schultz helped chair a non-partisan committee to fix the state's broken school funding formula. The committee's goals were lofty, elusive and absolutely vital to our future - figure out a way to maximize funding while distributing taxpayer dollars more equitably across rural, urban and suburban districts.
Now, it's four years later, and Wisconsin is faced with a funding crisis that's only grown more pressing with the recession, the attendant losses in revenue, and each local school referendum. Such referenda, said Schultz, should be reserved for building schools and programs, not for "keeping the lights on." Lately, however, Wisconsin taxpayers have been bombarded by requests for money to keep schools afloat, and are growing ever weary of the current process.
There's one other thing. The veteran Republican - Schultz was first elected to the Assembly in 1982 - wants to hold the line on taxes. No tax increases, he told us. We're not sure if that can be done, but the incumbent does deserve the chance to finish the job of devising a better funding formula for education.
And he is endorsed by The Monroe Times for the 17th District State Senate, over opponent Carol Beals.
Beals, a Platteville Democrat and University of Wisconsin-Platteville employee, currently serves on the Grant County Board of Supervisors. She too is concerned about school funding and jobs - two of the biggest issues facing district residents. But it's hard to imagine that a freshman legislator could have as much of an immediate impact on critical state policy as Schultz, the former Senate majority leader. For even in an "anti-incumbent" year, there are those incumbents with the power, knowledge, experience and ideas to bring about change.
Perhaps they just need a push in the right direction.
In announcing her candidacy, Beals accused Schultz of being "out of touch" with the district. Beals also is an advocate for working people and says she knows what it's like to live paycheck-to-paycheck, as many of residents in the 17th District are forced to do.
And Beals may have a point - it wouldn't hurt if Schultz spent more time at home outside the corridors of power in Madison. We applaud Beals for her grass-roots campaign, and for her desire to represent those with little or no voice in state government.
But the Richland Center Republican is no enemy of the people and deserves their continued support as he tries to help the state reign in its budget, boost school funding, and attract desperately needed jobs to southwest Wisconsin.
Beals thinks Schultz has had plenty of time, decades in fact, to help solve Wisconsin's problems. Her campaign for the 17th District seat should be a wake-up call not only to Schultz, but to every incumbent who wins next Tuesday. Constituents are tired of politics as usual and partisan wrangling.
The time to convene committees is over - Schultz and his fellow lawmakers need to get to work.
