Education
La Crosse teachers’ union co-presidents Schams, Martinez on $53.5 million referendum, cellphones in schools
Jill Schams and Jesse Martinez, the co-presidents of the La Crosse Education Association (LEA) — or the teachers’ union — in studio, discussing the district’s $53.5 million referendum on the November ballot, school funding in general and how a cellphone ban in schools has worked.
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Schams is a K-5 music teacher at Southern Bluffs Elementary School, while Martinez teaches 7th grade math and social studies — and Spanish emersion — at Logan Middle School.
We began the show with a quick overview, but also getting to know Schams a bit, as she’s never been on before and she teaches music, which is fascinating to some talk show hosts.
After that (8:20), we got into the La Crosse School District’s $53.5 million referendum and whether LEA supports it. The overview of that plan would be to:
- Create eight new classrooms and a new gym at State Road Elem.
- Tear down the Hogan Administrative site
- Close Emerson and Spence elementaries and move those students to a new school, built on the Hogan Administrative site
- Close Hintgen, consolidate most of those students to State Road’s school
The school district will be hosting public sessions on the referendum once a week through October.
We also talked about school funding in general interweaved into that conversation.
Lastly (33:15), we discussed the cellphone ban that Logan MS had last year, how that went. The school, along with Logan High School have cellphone bans this year.
walden
September 11, 2024 at 12:03 pm
“75% of eligible employees belong to the union.” “An overwhelming 80% of members back the referendum.”
So, 80% of 75% indicates only 60% of eligible employees are on the record in support of taxing themselves and their neighbors for $54 million for the next 20 years to build redundant capacity.
The state surplus has been reduced from over $7 billion to only $3.1 billion by June. Much of that decrease results from providing record increased funding for public schools. The surplus is likely to be exhausted soon and an income tax increase will be needed to achieve a balance budget.
The State funding mechanism is not broken; it’s just inconvenient for the administrators to have to justify more money instead of automatically receiving it. This mechanism provides the taxpayers with more control over the district. Unfortunately, a laissez faire La Crosse District Board of Education defeats much of the opportunity to exercise that control.
Libertarian Guy
September 11, 2024 at 6:38 pm
Very well said Walden. Could not have said it better myself. There is no active, observable resistance to this referendum. As usual, those in power seem to have all the control. The teachers unions always support greater taxation because it benefits them personally in terms of salary and nicer facilities in which to work. The school board is ineffectual as demonstrated by their willingness to vote Juan Jimenez back into the role of president, thereby abdicating the power of the new board members. Deb Suchla ran on the idea that there is never enough tax money so we must work with and appreciate what they have rather than raising taxes. Her voice was quickly silenced by the president and the big spending board members. Tim Alberts informed me at one of the first information gathering meetings that he is not a conservative. I was sorely disappointed as I voted for the man. And they’ve all cowed under the direction of Juan Jimenez to speak with one voice as in don’t disobey me because it makes us look fractured and that’s not good for public perception. And Adam Manka, well, he’s just a kid and probably hasn’t paid real estate taxes before. We know the superintendent strongly desires to put a new school/feather in his cap to further his career while leaving La Crosse district residents with 20 years of debt and interest payments on top of existing school debt and previous tax increases. And don’t think for a minute, I haven’t noticed that the board and superintendent have scheduled numerous “informational meetings” whereupon they will promote “support the referendum” propaganda. They need to get their fiscal house in order by cutting expenses and cutting them now by eliminating positions and closing schools. They absolutely should not be building brand new shiny buildings at taxpayer expense when such a new building is not needed because they have too many buildings already. The city of La Crosse is also planning on raising taxes. People in our community are leaving because of high taxation. Some people would like to retire. Some are on fixed incomes. Some do not have children. Some are already having trouble making ends meet because of runaway inflation and high taxes elsewhere. Those are the people I am concerned about. But the school board and superintendent do not care about any of that. In their mind, it is OK to raise taxes on the residents because they think it’s just good for the kids. They have said that in board meetings. Libertarians call this legalized theft. None of them would steal from their neighbors directly, but they are all willing to let the government steal for them. One can only hope people see through this and vote NO on the referendum.
walden
September 11, 2024 at 9:05 pm
Yes, Libertarian Guy, it is my feeling the effort to improve the school board composition to include some folks with the drive and acumen to question and improve District finances has been an abysmal failure. The last 3 election cycles have been a bust and utterly disappointing.
Ditto for any plans to actually improve student education outcomes. It is remarkable (and unacceptable) that the details of educating students is seldom discussed by Board members because their official position is that such a discussion is an intrusion by the Board into the domain of the Superintendent. The Superintendent actively misrepresents and obfuscates on matters of importance and the board members facilitate the entire show by failure to engage.
The entire Board function is seemingly a meaningless dog and pony show…the Board may now check the dog and pony show box as having been completed.