The Wisconsin Chain Saw Budget Massacre

The budget repair bill, which touched off a firestorm, has now been surpassed by Governor Walker’s proposed Biennial budget. (And just when you thought it was safe to go outside.)

To describe Governor Walker and his Republican minion’s approach to the state’s budget is not unlike that of an over-served Tasmanian devil with a chainsaw; anything in its’ path is going to get cut. And unfortunately our children and this state’s future are in the miscreants’ path.

If Republican Scott Walker’s budget becomes reality, RUSD’s deficit this year becomes $25 million (up from a projected $5.9 million,) as part of a total of $800 million cut in education for the entire state. This approach, soon to be known as the Wisconsin Chain Saw Budget Massacre, dooms education, dooms our children, and dooms our future.

This Republican governor wants to place the entire burden for the state’s finances on public employees, teachers in particular and our children. All the while tax cuts are going to business owners and people of means under the guise of creating jobs, (by the way, where are these jobs?) yet those in RUSD must bear the burden of the Walker’s radical and misguided plans. This will affect the teachers, administrators, support staff, parents, and most of all our children.

If this budget gets put into place as is without any alterations, Wisconsin businesses in the not too distant future will bemoan the lack of depth in the labor pool, using it as an argument for further outsourcing and off-shoring. Cutting education in such an irresponsible way will put Wisconsin into a death spiral. Draconian cuts of this magnitude will virtually guarantee a course correction of higher taxes somewhere down the road to fix this mess.

Education is not a nice-to-have item on the budget, it is a must have. Republican ideology does not flow this way. Look at what is being said by the members of Walker’s party in other states and at the federal level (some want to do away with the department of education completely!) It is another glaring example of a redistribution of wealth, with Governor Walker playing the reverse Robin Hood; steal from the middle class and poor, (keep them there) and give to those of means.

Like a young child that has yet to learn to color within the lines, the Walker Republicans continue to make a mess out of the pages in Madison. This is politics above governance. It is Republican ideology over pragmatism. It is not only irresponsible but suggests gross incompetence and malfeasance.

Education is an investment. We pay now for the benefits later. Who benefits from keeping children ignorant? It has always been the responsibility of the adults to educate the young. It would seem that the lesson being served up by those in power in Madison is one of “let them eat cake.”

Aristotle once said, “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”  Soon, there will not be fruit for anyone. Republican Governor and your Legislative minions, at least pick on someone your own size.