Column: Democratic Senators Inaction Hurts RUSD

Governor Scott Walker will roll out the new biennial state budget today and speculation has run rampant in school districts and municipalities throughout the state.  Unfortunately, without the Emergency Budget Repair bill passed and in place, all entities that participate in shared revenue and receive state aid, will have to make deep cuts.  These cuts will in most cases result in mass layoffs across the state and 14 Wisconsin Senators hiding in Illinois are to blame.

According to David Hazen, Chief Financial Officer for RUSD, our school district could lose up to $20 million in shared revenue and state aid. This could mean layoffs of at least 385, mostly teachers.  This will, without a doubt, hurt education in our district.  This comes on the heels of another RUSD financial blunder with regards to the purchase of a new administration building that is already projected to cost $4 million more than budgeted.

Many are quick to point the finger at Walker, but he did his job.  He is mandated by law to balance the budget.  He did just that, and the majority of the legislature is in favor of both the temporary and permanent fix.  Walker could not balance the budget with the voodoo budgeting strategies of the past administration.  There is no more money from the tobacco settlement; no more money to raid from the transportation fund; and there is no more money from the federal stimulus.  Those tools are gone. 

Walker, recognizing that there were dire cuts pending to fulfill is constitutional duties, put new tools into play.  The same tool that President Obama has, no collective bargaining for benefits and wages, is similar to what he is asking of our public workers.  Truth be told, Walker’s proposals do not go as far as the President’s powers.  Unlike Obama, the Walker plan only limits collective bargaining to no negotiations for benefits, however just puts a limit on wage increases.  In other words, Walker still won’t be able to do what the President just did and freeze salary and benefits by executive order.

Meanwhile, 14 state senators refuse to fulfill their constitutional duties.  They have gone AWOL and have forced the hands of school districts and municipalities to face this crisis with no tools in place other than laying off thousands of workers statewide.  Their job in the minority is to offer amendments if they disagree.  They vote their opposition on the floor of the senate chamber, not in a hotel room in Illinois through the media.  They don’t have to like the outcome, but at the end of the day, they have to vote. 

What these senators are doing cuts against the very fabric of what this country stands for.  Their continued absence will force the layoffs.  There is no other choice.  Any other conclusion has no merit.  Dare I add; deserves no merit.