Money in the Classroom

         Governor Scott Walker has proposed a budget repair bill that will require government workers to contribute fifty percent more to their pensions, pay at least twelve percent of their annual health insurance premiums, and will take away all union bargaining rights, except for the right to negotiate wages. Essentially, the bill will save the state $300 million over the next two years, but on average, public workers will take a cut of about $3,000 take home pay annually.

            I feel sympathy for all of the public workers who will suffer from this bill, but I especially am concerned about the pay cuts for state educators. As a high school student and the daughter of a kindergarten teacher, I will see first hand the affects of this bill.

            It is common knowledge that teachers will not be getting rich anytime soon. They have very low salaries, especially considering that they have gone to college for four or more years, they are required to take additional classes for recertification every three to five years, and they put in many hours off the clock to grade papers and plan lessons. Many teachers say that they come to school every day for their students, but at the end of the day even the most selfless teacher needs to bring home an income to support themselves and their family. To take away another $3,000 take home pay from our state’s educators means that Scott Walker is taking away the value of teachers in Wisconsin, and taking away value from the people our state trusts its youth with for thirteen years of their lives.

            I am graduating this year, I have wonderful teachers, and I am not predicting that this bill will have any affect on my education. But I am scared of what this bill will mean for education in the near future. If the occupation of teaching is being devalued and there is no motivation for the future workforce to peruse a job as a teacher, where is the education system going to be in ten years? In twenty? I understand that in light of our current economic situation, budget cuts are necessary. What I don’t understand is the fact that so many cuts are being made in education, the thing that is most important for the future of our state. In recent news we have been hearing that the United States has been falling behind other countries in education, especially in math and science. Right now, education should be a top propriety if our country wants to remain competitive in the global economy. 

            In Scott Walker’s address to educators, he underlined the fact that the bill “will keep more money in the classroom,” but what he doesn’t understand is that the tangible is not the most important thing in a school system. New textbooks, shining facilities and fancy computers have no value to a student if there is not a motivated and inspiring teacher there to use them. I hope that in the next few days Governor Scott Walker sees the obvious flaws in his budget repair bill, because otherwise he will be seeing the affects of his bill in the education system for many years to come.