The Elephant in the Classroom
This letter to the editor, by Chris Babbitt and Peg Audley appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on January 23, 2025.
in the classroom In the United States, public education began in 1644 when the first taxpayer-supported school started up in Massachusetts. Our forefathers knew the benefits of having a literate population. Today school districts across Wisconsin moved to referenda to raise necessary funds for students. In fact, 80% of the public schools had to resort to this in our state just to cover bottomline operating costs.
What you might not know is the reason they have to do this. It is directly connected to the uncoupling of inflation increases from general education funding processes back in 2010. This was part of Gov. Scott Walker’s wholesale dismantling of the union movement in the State and left public schools in a terrible position.
Taxpayers are understandably upset about their tax bills rising every year, often because of school district financial struggles and the need for them to raise capital. Most citizens don’t know about the history of this issue, so they get angry at the schools, rather than the legislators who have put the state in this position to begin with.
Our Hudson School District continually keeps cutting away from our A+ education system to meet operating costs. While I applaud their tenacity to maintain the budget, if the district continues this way, we will have nothing but a shell of an education system remaining.
This reducing staff, course offerings, benefits, closing schools, bigger classes, all will result in a poorer education, reduced home values and a failure for students to thrive in our district.
Our two representatives — State Senator Rob Stafsholt and State Rep. Shannon Zimmerman — can do something about this. As their constituents, please write to them to demand that in their powerful positions on the WI Joint Finance Committee, that the changes made to education funding back in 2010 are reversed, and that districts across the State are made whole. Whether it’s here in the third wealthiest county in Wisconsin, or in other less financially stable communities, this is a major problem which can be solved if our legislators show the courage to reverse the trend and bring Wisconsin back to the forefront in education.