What is public education and how we should pay for it are questions every resident should be asking themselves. The debate on education funding rages on, fueled by the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling that the Governor’s ‘veto’, which created additional funding of $325 per student annually through property taxes or state aid until the year 2425, is lawful.
Yet support for public education in its current form is far from solid. A recent study shows that 68% of likely Wisconsin voters support school choice programs. It is a mathematical certainty that two systems will cost more to maintain than one.
It is far past time that instead of just talking about dollars, a conversation is had about the erosion of support of public education.
There is no polling to back up my next thoughts to my knowledge but roll with me here. If a poll asked if taxpayer dollars should pay for mathematics education for all students, my guess is that the answer would be a high percentage of people would say, “yes.” That would be because there is not a lot of interpretation about numerical calculations. Similarly, one would suspect a high approval to fund reading and writing, but we do have some evidence about a philosophical teaching approach which transitioned education away from phonetics, resulting in lower test scores. How about the subject of history? It is much more subject to ideology. The same goes for science. What about sex education? The further we go down the rabbit hole, the more subjective the answer of whether it is a class for everyone, or just for ‘some’ while the rest of the students are forced to consume it.
Thus is our dilemma. This is perhaps most recently demonstrated by the School District of Beloit’s recent Board of Education meeting. Rather than a hard look at real education priorities in the face of another failed referendum, this recent meeting turned into more than an hour of subjective philosophical discussion regarding which flags should be flown at district buildings.
I’m not here to make a case for people on either side of this issue. However, whenever one upholds one group within a whole student community and wishes to demonstrate their need for prominence, there will always be those who feel shut out and object to such practices.
In Beloit, the argument was made that the situation could be ended by simply allowing only the U.S. and State flags to be flown. In this writer’s opinion, that’s the education system we need. One that is broad, and less subjective. One that says we are all American and all Wisconsinites. Beyond that, the public must ask themselves if it is necessary to fly flags of any other sort. What does it accomplish in the baseline mission of providing children with an education to succeed and prosper? The same questions can be asked of DEI policy, gender studies and a myriad of subjective and opinion-based discussions that have filtered their way into classrooms. Is the mission of education – to teach a myriad of opinions, or is it to present a factual curriculum that leaves religion, politics, gender identity and other such discussions between family members?
One thing is certain, if a majority of voters believed the system was truly serving the needs of their children and families, they would offer the needed financial support.
The question we need to ask ourselves is what we are truly unified in seeing in our public education system and what is causing the divisions that are setting districts back.
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