You don’t know me. But after you read this, I dearly hope that you won’t forget me.
Who am I? I am a public school teacher. I’m passionate about teaching and learning, but most of all, I am passionate about working with Wisconsin’s kids. I have spent seventeen years laughing, crying and learning with them.
I have rejoiced in their successes and shared their frustration in their defeats. Some days they’ve driven me out of my mind. Other days they remind me what’s really important in life.
Through it all, I have loved them and the work that I’ve been called to do in their service. I can’t imagine doing anything else.
All I’ve ever wanted to do is teach Wisconsin children about the German language and culture. It’s in my blood, and more importantly it’s in my heart. But today I find myself writing you seventeen years into what I have felt has been a very rewarding career, wondering if I will be forced to give up the job that I consider to be my life’s work.
I now am in my eighth year of teaching in the Mequon-Thiensville School District, by far the most cutting-edge district in which I’ve had the privilege to be employed. My world language department is exemplary. My colleagues and supervisors work harder than anyone I know and continue to challenge themselves professionally.
And yet, one by one, they are disappearing to more financially healthy districts. We’ve closed an elementary school and lost a number of talented professionals over the past eight years. French and German are on the chopping block. More cuts are to follow in the years to come.
I am a team player. I have always viewed my role as an educator and in every district for which I have worked as that of a community member rather than as an island. Right now, my district is in dire financial straits and I feel a sense of responsibility to contribute to the financial well-being of the organization of which I am a part. To expect that I and my teaching colleagues will remain unaffected and insulated in this unprecedented economic crisis is unrealistic, and I believe that the vast majority of us are up to that challenge. I’m ready to take one for the team and I think my colleagues feel the same way.
But where is it written that the entire solution starts and ends with us?
I don’t relish writing my property tax check every year. Yet I also recognize that it’s my job to support the greater good, so I pay taxes for schools that I don’t use just as someone did for me so many years ago. The people who supported my education recognized that a good school system is key to the success of the community. Yet some residents deride potential tax increases – tax increases that go directly to the schools – that would amount to one cup of specialty coffee a month. In the meantime, 34 7th graders are stuffed in a tiny Spanish classroom. The same scene repeats itself all over the district, manifesting itself in a variety of ways. How is this serving our children?
I’m baffled that the state sees fit to continue placing such strangleholds on school districts, forcing them to make such difficult choices. As I sit here giving more than passing consideration to working in a different state or perhaps outside of education altogether, I can’t help but wonder how many talented educators in the state might be thinking the same thing.
I’m scared for the future of public education in Wisconsin. I’m scared for what’s in store for Wisconsin’s children.
You rode a wave of discontent to victory. Nobody was ever elected on a platform of raising taxes, and your message resonated clearly. But now that the campaigning is over, doesn’t that cup of tea you’re sipping taste just a little bitter with the knowledge that continuing this flawed school funding formula may well produce overcrowded classrooms and the further loss of programs in schools across the state?
Some things are more important than campaign slogans and sound bites. As Albert Einstein said, “What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.”
I hope that as you consider the future of school funding in Wisconsin, you will help make it possible for me and my colleagues to continue to serve Wisconsin’s children doing the work we love. I’m ready to do my part. I hope that the community in which I teach is ready to step up as well.
What about you?
