Posts Tagged ‘Education’

WEAC Win = Wisconsin’s Loss in Ed Funds Fight


Wisconsin Educational Policy Analyst Asserts State’s Failure in Race to the Top Predictable, Avoidable

[Madison Wisc..] Wisconsin’s failure in the Educational Race to the Top is tied to policy makers’ reluctance to buck the will of the powerful Wisconsin teachers’ union.

Christian D’Andrea, an educational policy analyst with the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy in Madison, says the state doomed its application when it failed create a strong tie between teacher compensation and student performance, a position long-opposed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council.

“Many of the proposed changes lagged behind the Race to the Top standards,” said D’Andrea. “Wisconsin’s reluctance in adopting more strenuous and nationally-recognized student testing likely dropped the state in the rankings, that and their reluctance to adopt a centralized longitudinal data system to track both students and teachers meant Wisconsin’s failed to measure up to competitors.”

D’Andrea said the staggering achievement gap between student groups was also likely a key player in this year’s failure, as the lack of educational progress between students was no doubt a troubling figure for the application’s reviewers.

“The bottom line is other states are pursuing a vigorous reform agenda that includes tying teacher compensation and discipline to student performance and Wisconsin policy makers would not be that bold,” said D’Andrea. “WEAC successfully fought off attempts at more sweeping reforms aimed at increasing teacher accountability, and Wisconsin lost out on these one-time funds.”

Tags:
Posted in mi reports | July 27, 2010 | | 1 Comment

Wisconsin Once Again Fails in Educational Race to the Top

UPDATED

MacIver News Service | July 27, 2010

[Madison, Wisc...]  Wisconsin has failed in its second attempt to receive federal education dollars sent to states that embrace reform and the pursuit of excellence in education.

In the first round of awards, announced earlier this year, Wisconsin placed 26 out of 40 applicants. Nineteen of 36 applicants made the cut in this second round of awards, meaning Wisconsin did not finish in the top half of applicants for the consolation prizes. 

“Peer reviewers identified these 19 finalists as having the boldest plans, but every state that applied will benefit from this process of collaboratively creating a comprehensive education reform agenda,” said US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “Much of the federal dollars we distribute though other channels can support their plan to raise standards, improve teaching, use data more effectively to support student learning, and turn around underperforming schools.”

According to the Department a total of 46 states and the District of Columbia applied for either the first or second rounds –or both.

The 19 finalists in this second round are: Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

The award winners, as well as the complete scorecards for all applicants will be made public later this year.

When Wisconsin was changing state law to improve its chances to win the Race to the Top, critics argued it the reforms were tepid.

“The stranglehold that the union has on the ability to move ineffective teachers out of the classroom still exists today,” said State Senator Randy Hopper at a legislative hearing this spring.

“We’re blaming everybody else except for educators,” Hopper noted in April. “We’re blaming principals, we’re blaming the parent, we’re blaming the superintendent, the president of the school board. We got to put some accountability into the people in the classroom, this doesn’t go there.”

During the first round, Wisconsin lost points in the area of improving student outcomes, noting specifically the racial achievement gap–the disparity between the performance of students of color and their white peers.

Wisconsin also lost points for its failure to fully implement a longitudinal data system, but the biggest knock against Wisconsin, according to the reviewers’comments, was improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance.

“How the plan will deal with compensating, promoting and retaining principals and teachers is not clear nor is information regarding the granting of tenure and full certification or removing ineffective principals and teachers,” read the official comment of a grant reviewer.

Another reviewer noted that “teacher union support for RTTT [Race to the Top] at the local level [is]lacking.”

While the teachers’ unions did back much of this second application, little was done since this spring to to tie teacher evaluation and compensation to student performance.

The MacIver Institute’s Christain D’Andrea reacts, here.

Our earlier reporting on this second application:

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Breaking news | July 27, 2010 | | 2 Comments

DNR Publishes Controversial Climate Change Textbook

MacIver News Service | July 14, 2010 [Madison, Wisc...] Critics claim the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is trying to indoctrinate students into becoming environmental activists by distributing thousands of copies of a textbook called the “Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide.”

“The goal of the project is to give teachers, and through teachers the students, basic information that they use to explore the topic of climate change. Obviously it’s in the news a lot, so they can explore and decide for themselves what they believe about it,” said Mary Hamel, one of the guide’s co-authors.

The book quotes the beleaguered United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and includes images of the planet Earth on fire, a polar bear stuck on an ice-floe and a gasoline pump tied up in knots under the heading: Causes of Climate Change.

Hamel says the guide presents straight facts and allows students to draw their own conclusions about whether or not climate change is even occurring. However, Representative Jim Ott (R-Mequon), who worked as a meteorologist for several decades prior to becoming a legislator, argues the guide only presents one side of the story.

“It completely leaves out the fact that there are some very respected scientists who take the opposite view of the view they call the consensus, the overwhelming evidence,’ Ott said. “Well there are some very respected scientists that take an opposing view. That in itself, I would think is not accurate science.”

Ott says many of the practical exercises in the guide involve students taking up the role of environment activists, aggressively pursuing global warming policy changes.

“They basically are telling students to lobby for climate change legislation,” Ott said as he quotes from the book. “‘‘Everyone, including young adults, can bring about change by being active and engaged citizens. They can encourage lawmakers that alleviate or lessen the impacts of climate change.’ The DNR is telling students they should be calling me and telling me that I should enact policies that will fight climate change that they assume is happening and being caused by us? I have some real problems with that.”

The DNR wrote the 86-page guide two years ago to address a perceived need in the classroom. A grant from the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (from UW-Stevens Point) helped pay for its production.

The DNR does not keep track of how the guide is being used in classrooms. Officials with the department say they are looking for ways to encourage teachers to provide feedback, which has been lacking.

So far, 6,000 copies of the guide have been mailed out or downloaded, although DNR officials said they could not identify which schools were using the guide.

Bill Osmulski has more in this video report from Madison; and, the MacIver News Graphic, seen below, includes excerpts from the text book.

This online and video material is free to be reproduced, with attribution.

Tags: , ,
Posted in News | July 13, 2010 | | 3 Comments

2010 MacIver Wisconsin Educational Choice Census


In the state that pioneered the voucher movement with the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program in 1990, more than 25 percent of Wisconsin’s K-12 students now exercise some form of school choice every day. Our first Educational Choice Census indicates that over 220,000 primary and secondary school students learn in locations other than their traditional local public school. Though Wisconsin is nationally recognized for the Milwaukee program, public and private choice options are prevalent across the state –as well as in its largest city.

The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy’s first edition of their Wisconsin Educational Choice Census documents student populations between traditional and emerging forms of school choice such as private schools, homeschooling, charter schools, and virtual schools. Student counts across these categories were compared against regular public school enrollment as well as prevalent forms of choice within the public school system, including Chapter 220 student transfers, state and city run charter schools, and the public school open enrollment program. The result was an account of more than one million K-12 students, which provides a testament to Wisconsinites’ ongoing commitment to finding the right schools for their children.

The MacIver Educational Choice Census found that many families use different options to choose the path of education that best fits their children. For approximately 130,000 of Wisconsin’s K-12 pupils (12.78%), that choice led them to a private school. Though private schools were the number one alternative to mandated public schools, it was not the only option that housed a significant portion of the state’s student body. Charter schools (3.66% of the overall pupil population), open enrollment and Chapter 220 public school transfers (3.35%), and homeschooling (1.88%) have all emerged as strong options for Wisconsin’s young students.

Total Wisconsin K-12 Population 1,023,655
Number of
Students		 % of
Population
Traditional Public Schools 763,300 74.57
Students Exercising Choice 260,355 25.43
Including those in Private Schools 130,800 12.78
and Home-schooled children 19,269 1.88

Though public schooling made up the bulk of Wisconsin’s K-12 population in 2009 (85 percent overall), the families of many of these pupils were still able to exercise choice.  More than 110,000 students – over eight percent of the entire public school body –attended public schools other than their traditional, geographically-assigned, local public school.

Public Charter Schools 37,432 3.66%
-Open Enrollment transfers 28,025 2.74%
-Online Public Charter (Virtual) Schools 3,635 0.36%
-Chapter 220 transfers 34,311 3.35

Over an eight year span, the state’s choice student population,(excluding intra-district transfers and 3-choice public school enrollment) has increased by nearly three percent thanks to modest expansions in charter school legislation and the continued commitment of Wisconsin parents to find the best educational fit for their children. The addition of public online charter schools, which serve over 3,600 students, as well as the increased presence of traditional charter schools across the state, have given families even more educational options; and parents have responded by taking advantage of these programs. Though the state’s overall student population has fallen in the past eight years, the population of students using school choice programs – whether through public or private institutions –has grown.

2009-2010 Total Wisconsin K-12 Population 1,026,606

Wisconsin 2009 Enrollment Total Students % of overall student population
Traditional Public Schools 7763,300 74.57%
Charter Schools 37,432 3.66%
Public Online Charter (Virtual) Schools 3,635 0.36%
Open Enrollment public school transfers* 28,025 2.74%
Chapter 220 public school transfers
-Interdistrict transfers- 3,111 0.30%
Intradistrict transfers 31,200 3.05%
Three-Choice Enrollment* 6,883 0.67%
Private Schools 130,800 12.78%
Homeschooling 19,269 1.88%
Students Exercising Choice 260,355 25.43%
Total Students: 1,023,655 100%
*Estimate based on MPS reporting of students attending neighborhood schools (District Communications Plan May 2008 – Revised 11.25.09)

.

x

x

2000-2001 Total Wisconsin K-12 Population 1,048,194

Number of
Students		 % of
Population
Traditional Public Schools 856,739 81.73
Students Exercising Choice 191,455 18.27
-Public Charter Schools 10,070 0.96
-Open Enrollment transfers 7,213 0.69
-Online Public Charter (Virtual) Schools 0 0.00
-Chapter 220 transfers 5,454 0.52
-Private Schools 148,336 14.15
-Homeschooling 20,382 1.94

Thanks to open enrollment policies, inter-district transfers, and the growth of charter and virtual schools, schooling options are no longer just between public and non-public entities.

Milwaukee

The MacIver Educational Choice Census indicates that more than 75 percent of Milwaukee’s K-12 population attend a school  other than their traditional public neighborhood school

Thanks to the expanding presence of school options, including the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, charter schools, homeschooling, and magnet/specialty schools, over 87,000 of the city’s students are able to choose an educational option that fits them best. This number far exceeds the Wisconsin’s average, which sees approximately 25% of students taking advantage of public or private school choice programs.

Total K-12 population in City of Milwaukee 115,022

Milwaukee 2009 Enrollment Total Students % of Total Student Population
Traditional Public Schools 27,831 24.20%
Public Charter Schools 17,612 15.31%
Public Online Charter (Virtual) Schools 977 0.85%
Open Enrollment public school transfers 4,562 3.97%
Chapter 220 public school transfers
-Interdistrict Transfers 2,720 2.36%
-Intradistrict Transfers 24,796 21.56%
Three-Choice Enrollment* 6,883 5.98%
Private Schools 28,893 25.12%
Homeschooling 748 0.65%
Students Exercising Choice 87,191 75.80%
*Estimate based on MPS reporting of students attending neighborhood schools (District Communications Plan May 2008 – Revised 11.25.09)

More than 25% of Milwaukee’s K-12 students are able to take advantage of more traditional school choice programs, including private schools and homeschooling. Many of these private school students (19,414) were aided by the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which provides vouchers to low-income families to attend private institutions.

Approximately 15.5% of the city’s students take advantage of emerging public-based choice mechanisms, which include charter schools, open enrollment, online charter (virtual) schools, and Chapter 220 inter-district transfers. These students still attend publicly run schools, but use options laid out for them to choose the state-funded institution which fits them the best – whether that school is a charter school in their district, a public school in another county, or even online classes.

Rounding out the total are a group of students who use choice to remain in publicly branded schools in Milwaukee with alternative curricula or structuring, as well as students attending city schools outside of their own geographic areas. Over 20% of the city’s student population participates in Chapter 220 intra-district transfers to shape the paths of their education. This includes magnet and specialty schools, as well as merged attendance area (school pairing) programs.

This number has expanded significantly in recent years as Chapter 220 regulations expanded transfer options in 1995. This change included students attending schools that serve an entire district, increasing the scope of choice students through the addition of more eligible institutions. As a result, many students who would not be thought of as traditional users of school choice programs are included in the census due to their use of intra-district transfer aid and the flow of funding between schools. This accounts for nearly 25,000 MPS students.

Finally, Three Choice Enrollment allows families in Milwaukee to choose the public school that they want their children to attend. Parents are given the opportunity to list their three top institutional choices, and students are placed in schools according to classroom availability. Over 99 percent of participants are selected to attend their preferred schools – which plays a major role in why only 24.2 percent of the city’s elementary students attend their local public schools.

The results showcase the overwhelming presence of options in the city that pioneered modern school choice. More than three out of every four of Milwaukee’s school children chooses every day to attend schools outside of their traditional geographically assigned public classroom. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee has shown that it is the leader in school choice and educational options, regardless of whether they are public or private.

Conclusion

Beyond Milwaukee’s often-discussed school choice program, more and more parents and families are making it clear that educational options are a priority in Wisconsin. Though 21 percent is a significant share of the total student population, it is likely that this share will grow as blossoming programs such as charter schools and open enrollment continue to expand and add more legitimate options for families across the state.  The MacIver Institute is dedicated to tracking this growth annually with the publishing of their Wisconsin Educational Choice Census each summer.

The MacIver Educational Choice Census demonstrates that Wisconsin families want and expect high-quality options – public, private, virtual or charter – no matter where they live. Rather than limit a student’s opportunity to achieve a brighter future with restrictive enrollment caps or arbitrary geographic borders, policymakers should look for ways to promote more freedom and more educational choice across more of the state.

As the MacIver Educational Choice Census indicates, educational choice is increasingly becoming an important part of the Wisconsin way of life.

______________________

The MacIver Educational Choice Census was compiled by Education Policy Analyst Christian D’Andrea using figures provided by the State Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families and EdReform.com. Updated 7.19.09

Tags: ,
Posted in mi reports | July 12, 2010 | | No Comments

MacIver Educational Choice Census Shows Widespread Appetite for Schooling Options in Wisconsin

[Madison, Wisc…] A new report by the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy shows that more than 200,000 Wisconsin K-12 students exercise some form of educational choice every year.

“When Wisconsinites talk of school choice, they automatically think of the ground-breaking Milwaukee Parental Choice Program that gives low-income parents the freedom to chose the best school for their child,” said MacIver President Brett Healy.  “The MacIver Educational Choice Census shows that choice is widespread throughout the entire state, with more than 20 percent of all Wisconsin students choosing a school other than the traditional neighborhood school.”

The MacIver Educational Choice Census reveals that 222,086 of the 1,026,606 Wisconsin school children are educated in a place other than their traditional, geographically-assigned public school.

Total Wisconsin K-12 Population 1,026,606
 
  Number of
Students		 % of
Population
Traditional Public Schools 801,569 78.30
Students Exercising Choice 222,086 21.70
-Public Charter Schools 37,432 3.66
-Open Enrollment transfers 28,025 2.70
-Online Public Charter (Virtual) Schools
 3,635 0.36
-Chapter 220 transfers 2,925 0.29
-Private Schools 130,800 12.78
-Homeschooling 19,269 1.88

“The MacIver Educational Choice Census demonstrates that Wisconsin families want and expect high-quality options – public, private, virtual or charter – no matter where they live,” said Healy. “Rather than limit a student’s opportunity to achieve a brighter future with restrictive enrollment caps or arbitrary geographic borders, policymakers should look for ways to promote more freedom and more educational choice across more of the state.  As the choice census shows, educational choice is increasingly becoming an important part of the Wisconsin way of life.”

The MacIver Educational Choice Census was compiled by Education Policy Analyst Christian D’Andrea using figures provided by the State Department of Public Instruction, the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families and EdReform.com

Coming soon: The MacIver Educational Choice Census examines Milwaukee’s population.

Tags: ,
Posted in News | July 12, 2010 | | 2 Comments

MPS Shows its Math
How the district will save $48 million, 480 teacher positions if the union agrees to concessions

MacIver News Service [Milwaukee, Wisc...] Milwaukee Public Schools has released its math showing how many teaching jobs could be saved if teachers agreed to a less expensive health care plan, after the teacher’s union accused it of fabricating the numbers.

This year the district was facing a $33 million deficit, and planned on 680 layoffs at the start of the budget process. However, throughout budget meetings MPS insisted it could save $48 million if teachers switched healthcare plans. That would save 480 of the positions to be cut.

The Milwaukee Teachers Education Association disputed that claim, and said the switch would only save $7 million, which it said would only save 50 jobs. The union again blasted the district last week, accusing it of exaggerating the truth.

“District spokespersons continue to stretch the truth, mislead the public, and worst of all, use teacher layoffs as a bargaining tactic. The budget the Board adopted showed that their public proposals would generate only $7 million in savings – no where near the district’s claims,” said Pat O’Mahar, MTEA Interim Executive Director.

MPS then released its math to the MacIver Institute, showing how it calculated the savings.

The difference between the current PPO and the proposed EPO is $4,512 for single plans and $7,380 for family plans. The district current pays for 2,610 single PPOs and 4,810 family PPOs. Based on those figures, switching plans would save MPS $11,776,320 on single plans and $35,497,800 on family plans, for a total savings of $47.3 million. Since each teacher costs about $100,000 a year (salary and compensation), $47.3 million could pay for about 472 positions.

On Wisconsin Public Television on June 18, O’Mahar was asked if the union would accept the cheaper healthcare plan if MPS could prove the potential savings.

O’Mahar answered “I don’t believe our members should ever be asked that question in the context of having no choice.  What we have in the contract now for teachers is the two different choices, and over 80% of our members choose the more traditional PPO plan than the HMO.  The 20% that choose the HMO, that’s their choice, but we know from our surveys of our members, from bargaining, that our members are just like all of the other teachers in the rest of the state.  There is no district has only an HMO option for teachers.  And I don’t believe going forward that this district should not provide the benefits that all the other teachers in the state have, especially when our salaries are at the bottom of the surrounding districts.”

During that same program Michael Bonds, Milwaukee School Board President, explained “The reality is, we can’t sustain the current fringe benefit package.  We’re one of the few government entities in the nation that provide this high level.  And also, there’s no co-payment on a lot of stuff and we just can’t sustain it.”

Here is more of our coverage on MPS.


Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in News | June 27, 2010 | | No Comments

Debating Education and the Bailout

Each week, the Website WisOpinion.com asks our own Brian Fraley to debate Scot Ross from One Wisconsin Now in an exchange of emails. The topics are chosen by the two participants and the views expressed reflect their own personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the official policy positions of the organizations for which they work.

This week the duo discuss education funding, MPS and the upcoming Son of Stimulus bailout of state and local governments.

From Fraley’s entry:

When the MacIver Institute devotes hundreds of hours reporting on and analyzing the mess at Milwaukee Public Schools, we do share these horror stories, but it is hardly cherry picking. MPS is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with public education. Zero attention is spent on assessing value, or return on investment. Instead, the dollars going into the system are the only metric used to determine success. Milwaukee’s per-pupil expenditures far exceed the state average and continue to go up every year. For that, we have a bloated administration, consultants and counselors out the yin-yang and kids who can’t read or do math at grade level. The achievement gap between students of color and their white peers in MPS is the largest in the nation. The number of empty seats on stage at every graduation is staggering. Bad teachers who continually fail their students can’t be fired because they’re protected by a union that celebrates mediocrity. But we conservatives, who believe we shouldn’t keep throwing good money after bad and should instead improve the outcomes at public schools, are the bad guys? 

 

Read the entire exchange, here.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in mi perspectives | June 21, 2010 | | No Comments

State Cherry Picks Unemployment Numbers

MacIver News Service [Madison, Wisc...] The numbers don’t lie when it comes to Wisconsin’s unemployment situation, but they tell different stories depending on who is reporting the news.

Last  week the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, the Associated Press and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel all had vastly different interpretations of May’s unemployment figures.

The State of Wisconsin emphasized 40,000 new jobs were created in May and the unemployment rate was 7.7%. Meanwhile the Journal Sentinel reported the state lost 7,900 jobs and the unemployment rate was 8.2%. The Associated Press asserted that 40,000 new jobs were created and there was an 8.2% unemployment rate.

The reports are different because the organizations were working with two distinct sets of numbers. When the state collects unemployment figures each month, it compiles the data by seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted. Seasonally adjusted numbers take into account seasonal workers (like those who work in tourism or landscaping), while the unadjusted numbers show the total number workers in the state.

Economists prefer to work with the seasonally adjusted numbers, because they say it provides a truer picture of the economy. Those are the numbers the Journal Sentinel focused on in its story about May’s unemployment. The state focused on the not seasonally adjusted numbers, which painted a rosier picture of the state’s economy.

“The Doyle Administration’s spin on the recent jobs report masks a reality that’s all too clear to economists, employers and those underemployed or out of work. Government jobs and short-term stimulus work are no substitute for the private industry prosperity we desperately need to help Wisconsin families and businesses thrive long-term,”said Senator Alberta Darling, R-River Hills.

DWD does not always lead with the not seasonally adjusted numbers in its monthly press releases. Sometimes the seasonally adjusted numbers are more positive, and that’s what the state leads with.

In fact, May was the first month this year that DWD focused on the non-seasonally adjusted numbers. The last time DWD went with not seasonally adjust numbers was in December.

Both sets of numbers usually appear in the state’s press release, but the less appealing numbers are buried in the story.

When we take into account the seasonal adjustment, instead of adding 32,000 private sector jobs, the Wisconsin economy lost 7,900 private sector jobs in May. The net change from a year ago is a loss of 37,400 jobs in the private sector.

In seasonally adjusted terms, 3,700 jobs were lost in in the hospitality sector in May and 6,700 jobs were lost since last year. In non-adjusted numbers leisure and hospitality may have added jobs in the last month, but there is still a loss of 7,500 jobs since last year.

Overall, in May Wisconsin’s economy (both private and public sector) added 1,600 jobs in seasonally-adjusted terms, as opposed to the “tens of thousands” that the governor claimed.

The discrepancy has touched off a political tussle.

“Sadly, the Democrats here in Wisconsin made it clear they’re much more worried about their own jobs than the 100,000-plus jobs we’ve lost under their leadership,” said State Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus. “They’re trying to pretend their actions don’t have consequences, and now they’re finding out that they can’t ‘spin’ the economy into recovery.”

An official with the Doyle Administration didn’t dispute the private sector job loss numbers, but did issue a statement chastising the reporting done on the matter.

“Several media outlets misrepresented state employment figures released yesterday by the Department of Workforce Development,” said Deputy Administration Secretary Dan Schooff on Friday. “The figures reported yesterday relating to state government employment and hiring used by the federal Department of Labor can be easily misconstrued. In the most recent report they indicated that the state hired 2,900 new employees (not seasonally adjusted). They also indicated that the state hired 3,100 new employees (seasonally adjusted), as was reported by several media outlets.”

The MacIver News graphic below shows the first sentence in the Department of Workforce Development’s monthly unemployment press releases for the last six months, which shows the Administration does not have a standardized way of reporting unemployment figures.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in News | June 21, 2010 | | 2 Comments

Nass Says UW Hire Was Political Favor

MacIver News Service [Madison, Wisc...] The ranking Republican member of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee is calling the recent hiring of a top Doyle aide by the University of Wisconsin System ‘innappropriate,’ ‘unethical,’ and ‘immoral.’

State Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) today blasted the selection of Department of Administration Secretary Michael Morgan as the new Senior Vice President for Administration and Fiscal Affairs for the System. 

“It’s immoral and unethical to give somebody a job that cost taxpayers and students about $345,000 annually in salary and benefits without having them compete against other qualified candidates,” said Nass. “Frankly, giving away a public sector job in this manner with compensation amounting to 1/3 of a million dollars annually ought to be illegal.”

Nass is particularly disturbed that the University System president hired Morgan to be a senior administrator over the UW System’s fiscal affairs.

“President Reilly’s decision to hire Morgan, without a formal selection process, is about throwing a life-preserver to a Democrat using taxpayer and student funds,” Nass said. “Mr. Morgan is the second most responsible person behind Doyle for the disastrous management of state finances. He has red ink all over his hands for leaving the state with a $4 billion deficit and financial decisions that will devastate our state’s economy for many years to come.”

Tom Anderes resigned the position to accept an offer from the University of Arizona on April 30th.

A representative for the UW System said when the job became vacant the System wanted to move quickly to fill this critical position and that his hiring was not a political favor.

“It created a vacancy that we weren’t expecting that needed to be filled quickly by someone who could hit the ground running,” said David F. , Executive Director of Communications and External Relations for the UW System. “Michael Morgan did not come looking for a job from the university nor did anyone come to the university looking for a job on his behalf.”

Giroux said Morgan was recruited because of his experience and knowledge of both the UW System and state government.

“President Riley reached out to Michael Morgan personally to see if he’d be interested in this opportunity. He accepted,” said Giroux “We didn’t post the job and appoint a search committee. We didn’t spend tens of thousands of dollars for a national search. We didn’t revisit the salary. We kept the salary frozen at its current level.”

Nass says despite the fact the position officially became open in April, Reilly has known about this possible vacancy since late last year. The Republican lawmaker believes a formal search should have been conducted and that the decision to hire Morgan should be reversed.

Tags: , ,
Posted in News | June 17, 2010 | | 2 Comments

UW System Regents Hike Tuition, Again

Congratulations parents. Your child has just finished another semester of college in the University of Wisconsin System. Your kid just sold this semester’s textbooks for beer money. Now you get to think about how to pay for next year’s tuition. That bill will be in the mail before you can say, “When did you become an English major?”

When you see the new tuition bill, you might want to speak to your child about the virtues of living off macaroni and cheese for a while. Students attending college in the UW System next year will see an average tuition increase of 5.5%. Members of the Board of Regents blamed the $60 million tuition increase on, you guessed it, budget cuts.

Here’s a word problem to ask your college student. When is a budget cut not a budget cut? When it involves the government. Despite the state’s continuing budget crisis, the state managed to give the UW System $39.5 million more than last year. The UW System total operating budget will grow from $4.75 billion in 2009-10 to $5.59 billion.

The UW Board of Regents likes 5.5%. Apparently they have determined this is the level of increase students and their parents will tolerate. This will be the fourth year in a row the UW System will raise tuition that much.

Here’s another word problem to ask your college kid. If Sammy Hagar couldn’t drive 55, how many students will not be able to pay 5.5%? The Regents believe that it is every kid… if they want to take on even larger government-run student loans.

The UW System has a “hold harmless” plan for those families that make less than $60,000 per year that allows the student to avoid paying the increase in tuition. The two-year colleges also will not be seeing a tuition increase.

However, the rest of the students will see tuition increases. At the Madison campus, students will see their tuition rise $638 per year. At the Green Bay campus, students will see an increase of $295.

There were a few protesters on hand as the Board of Regents made their decision to raise tuition. Perhaps the protesters should ask themselves if the Regents got the idea they can raise tuition from the students themselves.

Both student regents spoke in favor of the tuition increases. Student Regent Jessica Schwalenberg said in a statement, “If we get students here but cannot serve them well, it might keep them from coming back in the future, or change the view of education of a whole family, not just one person.”

Ugh.

Examples for the regents can be found at the campus level as well, perhaps most infamously at the UW-Milwaukee campus. Tuition there will increase by $379. Additionally, UW-Milwaukee students agreed to a $25 increase in the student segregated fee to build a new sports arena in a city already with too much event capacity.

The UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball team already has a home, the U.S. Cellular Arena. They also have an on-campus facility available, the Klotsche Center. Neither was good enough for the UW-Milwaukee administration, and they have decided to build a new arena on their campus on the East Side of Milwaukee. It will probably not sit well with the university’s neighbors who already resent the university’s impact upon their neighborhood, particularly as it pertains to parking, noise and crime. They have a point in this case that there really is no reason to build the arena in their backyard. UW-Milwaukee already has the facility and history in downtown Milwaukee. Why would a commuter campus that is already building other facilities around Milwaukee County need to have an arena on the current campus in a community with difficult traffic access and a lack of parking?

Students are given rights of shared governance of the UW System under state statute 36.09(5). The statute was enacted as part of the University of Wisconsin merger in 1974.

Student rights of influence over the system, and the ability to control student activity fees, have gradually expanded under decisions by the courts and the Board of Regents.

Had the students who celebrated the expansion of these rights ever imagined that the students would enthusiastically endorse increases in tuition? Probably not.  Today they might agree with those financing the  the new tuition increases: children should be seen and not heard.

By James Wigderson
Special Guest Perspective for the MacIver Institute

Tags: , , ,
Posted in mi perspectives | June 14, 2010 | | No Comments
« Older Entries

MacIver on facebook @MacIverWisc on twitter MacIver Youtube channel subscribe