Simpson’s Soliloquy on Words of Reason

This weeks Herald Independent, the paper of record for the Monona Grove School District, had an interesting column from their latest Cottage Grove columnist Tom Reason. Mr. Reason covered two topics and unfortunately both of them poorly.

The first topic that Mr. Reason covered was the success of the “budget repair bill”.

I don’t think there could have been a better headline to open the new version of THI than we had last week: “MGSD expects decrease in 2011-2012 mill rate.”

In light of all other things governmental, that is pretty amazing news and I must commend the School Board and MGSD Administration on a job well done. I was a little harsh and sarcastic a bit back about some of their rules of orders, so now, when there are good things to be said, they should be said.

By what I know, accomplishing this has been no easy task. And, regardless of all those other things one might feel or believe about the “Budget Repair Bill,” having my (and your) MGSD taxes go down is a good thing.

I expect some might say that we’d be better off if that hadn’t happened (Budget Repair Bill). But then I’m not sure at all that things would have been looked at with the critical eye they have been had that not passed.

Unfortunate, yes, that such a draconian approach was undertaken, but maybe that was the only way for the ship to turn. There is certainly much to be played out with all of this and time will tell.

There is an old coaches’ adage though that comes to mind: “If what your doin’ ain’t workin’, do somethin’ different.” One cannot deny things are being done differently. All else aside, taxes going down is a really good thing!

I can think of many better headlines, here is one for starters, ‘Walker Administration says no to Alec and yes to Bipartisanship” or maybe ” Legislature actually works on creating jobs during special jobs session” but i digress. After reading the column, I sent the following email to Mr. Reason:

Do you really think the price that was paid to pass the “budget repair bill” was worth a few dollars on your taxes? Just for a refresher, we paid for it with higher class sizes, demonizing of teachers, services drastically cut, massive retirements, forced pay cuts on teachers, lower moral, crumbling schools, decreased bus services, etc… Of course it does not stop there, in order to “balance” the budget, it resulted in increased fees, a divided state, decreases in property value(see last weeks paper), an estimated $2 billion dollars being taken out of the economy in discretionary spending, foreclosures increasing, poverty exploding, and this list goes on…. If you want to sacrifice our children’s education for a few dollars savings that’s your prerogative (I believe you have mentioned your kids are out of school right?) but please do not presume to think that we all think this is a ” really good thing.”

Mr. Reason then responded:

Don’t want to get into a great debate, but here goes a bit.

1. This amounts to $120 on a $200,000 house. (Think my math is right.) That’s more than a few dollars.
How much in total does that put back into the economy?

Do I think everything is perfect with the “Budget Rpr Bill”? Am I a big fan of Scott Walker and the gang? Not really. Do I think we had a problem in WI that wasn’t being fixed by anyone (Doyle as predecessor?)? Yes. Something had to change. Has what happened occurred in the best way? Probably not, but it wasn’t happening any other way either. Will changes and modifications need to be made? Sure, that’s the process.

I don’t think teachers have been demonized. Where some might think that, how much have some of their own actions (some teachers) and/or those representing them, and/or through unfortunate circumstance those who might have been associated to them (the beer dumping incident) been responsible for that demonization?

Yes, I have grown kids. But I also have grand-kids and family who work in the education field, as I did. I resent the suggestion that because my kids are grown I would no longer give a hoot. That’s insulting and is the kind of thing that really has a way of polarizing people. That’s helpful? An interesting reality that both extremes on so many of these issues seem to be failing to recognize is that there are a lot of people planted in the middle on a lot of this.

As I said months back, I presume to speak for no one but myself (although I don’t think I’m alone on this) and I do think that $120 less on my prop tax bill is a good thing.

So as to not “get into a great debate” here is my response.

* How much does an extra $120 saving on a $200/k house put into the economy? well when property values are dropping, all public workers(who aren’t elected) have taken am 8-12% pay cut(personally it will affect my family to the tune of about $600/month), local businesses go under, etc… The answer would be a very major NET loss.

* Did we have a problem in WI that wasn’t being fixed by anyone? Not sure what that problem is, but apparently, if the budget repair bill is the answer, the problem was we were spending too much money on education ($1.6 billion cut) and not enough on tax breaks for corporations($2.2 billion total).

* I dont think the teachers have been demonized. Mr. Reason have you been paying attention? Maybe you just missed THIS, THIS and especially THIS! Handing out pacifiers to teachers who wanted a say in their working conditions is NOT another day in the office.

* how much have some of their own actions (some teachers) and/or those representing them, and/or through unfortunate circumstance those who might have been associated to them (the beer dumping incident) been responsible for that demonization? The answer to that is simple. It has made been responsible because irresponsible journalists and columnists have pushed that meme. When in reality the beer on Robin Vos had absolutely NOTHING to do with the teachers or education. Again Mr. reason have you been paying attention? Maybe you missed:
– Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald yelled so badly at someone on Senator Mark Miller’s (who represents you) staff so badly that she felt the need to call the police to feel safe.
– Supreme Court Justice David Prosser literally choked a fellow justice because they were not rubber stamping the budget repair bill fast enough to make the legislature happy.
– Leslie Amsterdam was attacked from behind, and thrown into a door, by a knife wielding unhinged DOA member for the crime of carrying a red balloon.
– Many, many, many more examples here!
– I know there is nothing as serious or as dangerous as a spilled beer, but when will someone bring up the violence and crazy rhetoric of the Walker gang and ask if that is hurting their cause?

* Yes, I have grown kids. But I also have grand-kids and family who work in the education field, as I did. I resent the suggestion that because my kids are grown I would no longer give a hoot. That’s insulting and is the kind of thing that really has a way of polarizing people. That’s helpful? An interesting reality that both extremes on so many of these issues seem to be failing to recognize is that there are a lot of people planted in the middle on a lot of this.
* let’s look at the facts. Your kids were probably able to not only get educated in smaller class sizes, were able to enjoy the building of a new state of the art high school, an awesome middle school, busing, electives, etc.. Now as Board Member Peter Sobol pointed out:

Speaking of budget cuts – the administration reported that there are 29 class sections in the high and middle schools that exceed class size guideline of 30 students. Last year that number was 4.

Plus next year my 1st grader will be expected to walk 2 miles to school. Seriously. you can act offended about my question but the results speak for themselves. I presume to speak only for myself(And I don’t think I am alone on this) the $120 is NOT worth it.

Due to length I will address the second point, Mr. reasons ridiculous claim that the Village of Cottage Grove has an increasingly “liberal,” “Madison-esque” village board soon.