From Pat Skogen
Monroe
To the editor:
No doubt you saw Channel 15's report on Thursday, Sept. 8 about the average 13.5 percent decrease in state funding to rural schools in Wisconsin over the last five years according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Monroe, Belleville, and Lodi will be voting on referenda to raise money this November, joining just about every other rural school district that voted last April to increase taxes to fund their school. Every district but one in our area recognized the importance of a school in their rural community. Some school budgets have gone from 52-percent-state funded to 11-percent-state funded. Meanwhile any promise we have of reduced state taxes translates to an increase in local property taxes. In the past, funding for public education has been a top spending priority in our state budget - 66 percent of General Purpose Revenue went to K-12 public education. In 2015, K-12 education was funded at 35 percent of GPR.
The PTA of Pecatonica Schools is hosting a candidate forum with Todd Novak and Jeff Wright on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the Pecatonica High School in Blanchardville at 7 p.m. These candidates for the 51st Wisconsin Assembly District will be available for questions from us regarding their positions on school funding, rural school strengths and needs, vouchers, open enrollment and solutions.
Wisconsin Farmers Union members have a long history of "Investing in rural schools" as a priority. We have some practical ideas of what our legislature can do, including rural broadband expansion, attracting and retaining teachers, and returning to a state funding level closer to the previous two-thirds of a rural school's budget. As vice president of our south central chapter, I will be at Blanchardville high school on Sept. 21. I hope you will join me and bring your own questions for our candidates.
The best way to know what's going on is to show up.
Monroe
To the editor:
No doubt you saw Channel 15's report on Thursday, Sept. 8 about the average 13.5 percent decrease in state funding to rural schools in Wisconsin over the last five years according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Monroe, Belleville, and Lodi will be voting on referenda to raise money this November, joining just about every other rural school district that voted last April to increase taxes to fund their school. Every district but one in our area recognized the importance of a school in their rural community. Some school budgets have gone from 52-percent-state funded to 11-percent-state funded. Meanwhile any promise we have of reduced state taxes translates to an increase in local property taxes. In the past, funding for public education has been a top spending priority in our state budget - 66 percent of General Purpose Revenue went to K-12 public education. In 2015, K-12 education was funded at 35 percent of GPR.
The PTA of Pecatonica Schools is hosting a candidate forum with Todd Novak and Jeff Wright on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the Pecatonica High School in Blanchardville at 7 p.m. These candidates for the 51st Wisconsin Assembly District will be available for questions from us regarding their positions on school funding, rural school strengths and needs, vouchers, open enrollment and solutions.
Wisconsin Farmers Union members have a long history of "Investing in rural schools" as a priority. We have some practical ideas of what our legislature can do, including rural broadband expansion, attracting and retaining teachers, and returning to a state funding level closer to the previous two-thirds of a rural school's budget. As vice president of our south central chapter, I will be at Blanchardville high school on Sept. 21. I hope you will join me and bring your own questions for our candidates.
The best way to know what's going on is to show up.
