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Milwaukee schools to lay off 354 teachers

It will be interesting to see the reverberations graph here in graduation rates, SAT scores, etc.
 
AZ had major budget cuts to education. Does our Gov hate education? Of course not. In my city, Tucson, several schools were shut down. Were the kids thrown to the wolves to raise? Of course not. Schools were merged, everything is fine for the little ones. People lost their jobs. Terrible for them, but that is where we are at right now. The kids are fine, and if they start to hurt some new tax will be proposed, said it is for kids and police and fire........ like they always do, and the kids will be fine...

The kids are fine.. just like cuts in welfare, medicaid, whatever-- the cuts can easily be made without hurting the recipients of the programs. Gov't screams bloody murder when anything is shrunk. Stinks for them if their lives are disrupted, but it is a bald faced lie that people are going to die, or be uneducated, whatever, because they lose their jobs. People will be cared for, waste and duplication will be eliminated. Just the way it is, and we should all hope it does not get worse than this.
 
We should never be making cuts to education unless there is proven wast in some area of the education budget. Cuts do have to be made, but it's where they are made that is important.
 
Our kids have already had the horrible cuts. When was the last time kids could get art, music, PE, FREE?? Not for a long time. Streamlining the schools will not hurt any worse, not in MY state. Want to help education in AZ?? Get rid of the illegals and their ESL kids. THAT is where our money goes. Get rid of free breakfast and lunch for kids already on food stamps-- make their parents feed them, which we pay them to do-- with food stamps. And can the free after school programs, too. Let their parents take care of them, like the rest of us not on welfare do. Deal with it. No more free stuff.
Hey, I'm in Arizona, what can I say?
 
I think cutting teacher at this rate will mean that our children will be less well educated than ourselves. This is just crazy notion. We are sacrificing our future for some immediate gain. very unfortunate decisions.
 
Disagree. Get rid of bad teachers, keep the good ones, kids will be fine. Better, maybe, if they lose a bad teacher.
 
krickitt said:
Our kids have already had the horrible cuts. When was the last time kids could get art, music, PE, FREE?? Not for a long time. Streamlining the schools will not hurt any worse, not in MY state. Want to help education in AZ?? Get rid of the illegals and their ESL kids. THAT is where our money goes. Get rid of free breakfast and lunch for kids already on food stamps-- make their parents feed them, which we pay them to do-- with food stamps. And can the free after school programs, too. Let their parents take care of them, like the rest of us not on welfare do. Deal with it. No more free stuff.
Hey, I'm in Arizona, what can I say?
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I think you are over-exaggerating the economic change that will come if there are fewer illegals in your state. In many non-border states where illegal immigrant population is much less than AZ, the education system is still having trouble paying the teachers. Just recently: "Pink slips were sent out to 22,000 teachers in California, 17,000 in Illinois, and 15,000 in New York. The jobs of 8,000 school employees in Michigan, 6,000 in New Jersey, and 5,000 in Oklahoma may also be axed."

On a whole, the economy of the entire US isn't doing too well whether the state has many illegals or not. The economy is in a bad shape because our financial institutions and politicians had made mistakes and quite a few bad decisions: like trading housing debt as a financial instrument w/o fully understand its risks. Those decisions ultimately created the housing bubble and its decline in 2008. None of this has anything to do with the illegals, blaming all our problem on them isn't going to help. And the facts does not support this.
 
jding said:
I think you are over-exaggerating the economic change that will come if there are fewer illegals in your state. In many non-border states where illegal immigrant population is much less than AZ, the education system is still having trouble paying the teachers. Just recently: "Pink slips were sent out to 22,000 teachers in California, 17,000 in Illinois, and 15,000 in New York. The jobs of 8,000 school employees in Michigan, 6,000 in New Jersey, and 5,000 in Oklahoma may also be axed."

On a whole, the economy of the entire US isn't doing too well whether the state has many illegals or not. The economy is in a bad shape because our financial institutions and politicians had made mistakes and quite a few bad decisions: like trading housing debt as a financial instrument w/o fully understand its risks. Those decisions ultimately created the housing bubble and its decline in 2008. None of this has anything to do with the illegals, blaming all our problem on them isn't going to help. And the facts does not support this.
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It sounds like the states are making good decisions in cutting public sector union jobs. I applaud them all. Now we need to shut down the Federal government as well and start getting our government back under control.

The economy is in bad shape because of government. Not because of banks. Not because of corporations. Because of the desire of politicians to use our money to buy our votes.
 
Boo Radley said:
(CNN) -- In a budget-cutting move likely to be echoed around the country, Milwaukee Public Schools said Wednesday it will lay off 519 staff members -- including 354 teachers -- because of $84 million in state cuts and the system's efforts to control costs.

Milwaukee schools to lay off 354 teachers - CNN.com


Cuts have consequences.
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Can anyone see the correlation between cutting teachers and the increase in say, Medicaid and other welfare payments down the road?
 
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my state cut hundreds of millions in education funding. that's one of the last areas that i would cut.

a school is not like a corporation. a corporation can discontinue a poorly performing product; schools cannot and should not. teaching to the test for merit pay will not result in better students; it will result in teachers who don't want to take on the students who need the most help.
 
krickitt said:
Disagree. Get rid of bad teachers, keep the good ones, kids will be fine. Better, maybe, if they lose a bad teacher.
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I don't anyone who would disagree with this, the problem of not having enough in some areas not withstanding.
 
The Barbarian said:
I get so sick of hearing this sheeezz …. you do realize that we spend more per student then any country in the world don't you ? We should have the best educated students shouldn't we ? Why don't we if it's just a matter of money ??

I just fail to understand liberals who's ideas are always the same .. just throw more money at a problem, thats always their first fix, don't they realize (obviously they don't) that this is one of the causes of our spending woes in both state and federal government?

Sometimes it's best to take a step back .. and find out what the problems facing us are .. then find the best ways of fixing them …. Just spending (or as you like to use investing) in our education system hasn't helped the students … yet as a liberal your first response is to spend more .. I happen to agree with tessaesque on looking first to what can be cut that won't in any way hurt the education of the student, make those cuts first then see what if anything is still needed. This laying off of teachers is nothing more than a vialed attempt to vilify Walker, and has nothing to do with budget cuts or concern for the students.

Both sides need to get off their collective bottoms and find solutions … solutions that work for the good of whatever we are trying to accomplish, for years and years our answers have been just keep spending it has to get better …. well .. it hasn't … and our spending has caught up with us.
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Not the point. Listen carefully. Spending money more wisely would not be objected to. Having a plan to do better would not see me complain. But just cutting teachers with no plan to spend more wisely, well that **** is only about what you value. You invest not only money, but time and effort into what you value. If you value the rich, you fight to make sure they never see a tax increase. Start all kinds of threads defending those poor, por abused people. And you demonize working folk and those who teach. It is about what you value and what you don't.
 
tessaesque said:
It is the responsibility of the districts to plan for spending increase and cuts. It is the responsibility of the districts to decide how to handle a decrease in funds. The state government didn't tell the districts to jump to lay-offs before trying to negotiate cuts or freezes in pay, or cutting administration, or any other number of possible scenarios. The school systems are playing us to create outrage. They're taking it no more seriously than you think the government is.
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Passing the buck? If you're going to cut funds, and you're concerned about education being top heavy, you don't just cut the funds. You attack the organization and seek to target cuts. And if our leaders are too stupid to properly address an issue, and can be so abused by schools systems (administrators?), then they don't deserve our support either. At the end of the day, actions have consequences and those who govern have to not merely weild the clever to cut monies, but have a plan as to how to do so effectively. Anything less is poor leadership.
 
PeteEU said:
and the GOP plan of making American's even dumber is going strong.. hey soon people will actually believe that Jesus rode dinos, the world is flat and the sun revolves around the Earth....

Cutting education is the single dumbest thing any government can do. Children are the future and having a massive uneducated population has never helped any nation.. unless of course you want to be like India and China...
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The GOP hasn't controlled our education system for the last 40 years. Nice try though, silly commentary like this is laughable.
 
MrVicchio said:
The GOP hasn't controlled our education system for the last 40 years. Nice try though, silly commentary like this is laughable.
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Control? Interesting choice of words. I'll choose some different words and say the GOP has exerted influence over and harmed education, needing to go no further than NCLB as an example. :coffeepap
 
digsbe said:
Cuts do have to be made
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true, but rather understated

HUGE cuts have to be made

but it's where they are made that is important
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kaukauna in wisconsin points the way (which all must naturally follow, from cuomo's new york to moonbeam's CA)

teachers' contributions towards health care and pensions are upped significantly

negotiations for health coverage are opened up beyond the unionist monopoly

reduction of teacher prep (in my district, due to block scheduling, teachers get ONE HUNDRED MINUTES prep per day)

lengthening of work week

etc

you didn't open the link, it appears

Union curbs rescue a Wisconsin school district | Washington Examiner

no problem
 
Boo Radley said:
Listen carefully
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LOL!

But just cutting teachers with no plan to spend more wisely, well that **** is only about what you value
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cutting just to cut...

values...

leadership...

Cuomo budget: $10 billion deficit cut, no new taxes, layoffs likely

Jerry Brown Budget Cuts | California budget: Gov. Jerry Brown approves cuts to services for poor, sick and elderly - Los Angeles Times

MA House votes to restrict unions - Boston.com

New Jersey Assembly Passes Bill That Requires Public Workers' Unions To Pay More For Benefits - WPIX

Emanuel Unveils Major Budget Cut On First Full Day « CBS Chicago

Governor Pat Quinn signs Illinois education reform bill into law, new rules effect school days, teacher strikes, tenure | abc7chicago.com

Detroit Moves Against Unions - WSJ.com

Union Deal Defeated; Gov. Malloy Pledges To Cut State Workers - CTnow

think much?
 
The Prof said:
LOL!



cutting just to cut...

values...

leadership...

Cuomo budget: $10 billion deficit cut, no new taxes, layoffs likely

Jerry Brown Budget Cuts | California budget: Gov. Jerry Brown approves cuts to services for poor, sick and elderly - Los Angeles Times

MA House votes to restrict unions - Boston.com

New Jersey Assembly Passes Bill That Requires Public Workers' Unions To Pay More For Benefits - WPIX

Emanuel Unveils Major Budget Cut On First Full Day « CBS Chicago

Governor Pat Quinn signs Illinois education reform bill into law, new rules effect school days, teacher strikes, tenure | abc7chicago.com

Detroit Moves Against Unions - WSJ.com

Union Deal Defeated; Gov. Malloy Pledges To Cut State Workers - CTnow

think much?
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I wish you would think just a little. But, what's a poster to do.

Anyway, try actually addressing me. And maybe explain why you think these links speak to me at all. I mean, if you can.
 
 
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Well, I knew you couldn't. :2wave:
 
but CUOMO could

LOL!
 
buck said:
Well, first, the mismanagmeent in WI occured under Doyle, a democrat. Walker and the republicans had to come in and bring the house back in order.

Second, the MPS administrators have tried to get concessions from the unions, in which their members contribute 5.8% to their pensions (You know that thing all the unions claimed they agreed to?). If the union agreed, it would save over 200 teacher's jobs. What do you think the union's response was? No way! In other words, so much for putting the children first.

Third, why do you think the MPS system rushed through a contract agreement instead of waiting for Walker's budget repair bill, which would have allowed MPS to save many millions of dollars and avoided all teacher cuts?

Lastly, other schools in WI are seeing the opposite, since they waited for the budget repair bill to go through prior to agreeeing with the unions. For example, Kauakauna schools went from a 400K deficit to a 1.5 million dollar surplus due to the changes provided in the bill.
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And I will say it again. I hope every teacher that wasn't laid off either leaves the state or goes into another line of work.
 
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