Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Zilber's Gift: It Is More Than The Money

When it was announced that Milwaukee business and civic leader, Joseph Zilber, was giving $50 million to fund neighborhood initiatives the response, as expected, expressed gratitude and hope.

Zilber gives $50 million Philanthropist hopes to revive low-income areas in city, encourage others to give

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called the action "an unbelievably generous gift from Joe Zilber to this city."

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article focused on something just as important as the size of the gift, it's scope:

The Zilber Neighborhood Initiative, as the effort will be called, will work with local organizations to support specific efforts to improve the quality of life in up to 10 neighborhoods...

...A key early step will be creating or selecting a "central intermediary," an organization to oversee the effort and make decisions on where money should go, while giving neighborhood organizations and representatives a strong voice in what goes on.

The gift to the people of Milwaukee measured in dollars is obvious.  Not so obvious is the thought and planning that went into the structure of the gift. As Zilber noted:

...There are a great many individuals and foundations prepared to invest resources to strengthen our community. For months I have worked behind the scenes with these entities. My mission is to mobilize them with good ideas, strong proposals and the promise that our shared commitment to our great city will yield positive results...

Joseph Zilber and his advisers gave careful thought to the structure of neighborhoods, how neighborhoods change, and the importance of building upon neighborhood assets:

We can (and must) act quickly and decisively to support programs that work, replace those that don't, bring proven and promising solutions to scale, sustain them long enough to gain traction and provide them with sufficient resources to get the job done.

The selection of Susan E. Lloyd of the Program on Human and Community Development to direct the effort is just one more indicator that this is a well planned gift. The money is important, but the context makes it even more valuable.

Kevin Barrett: Someone Else's Billy Goat

My old friend, AFSCME union leader, Dode Lowe, used to have an appropriate saying for the occasional loose cannon among his members.  When confronted with a questionable individual that the union was forced to defend, Dode used to say, "He may be a billy goat, but he is our billy goat."

Those of us who defended the University of Wisconsin from narrow minded assaults this past year, often had Kevin Barrett held up to us as an example of a misguided teacher who was a waste of taxpayers' money. This is the Barrett who doubts that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center was the work of foreign terrorists, but offers suggestions that perhaps domestic operatives were responsible for the attack.

Barrett is now running for Congress, as a Libertarian in Wisconsin's Third Congressional District.  As John Nichols notes in The Capital Times column on Friday:

Barrett will shake up District 3 race

...Barrett, a convert to Islam who has argued for a number of years that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon "had nothing to do with Islam" and that "the war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape."

...A Republican legislator, Whitewater state Rep. Steve Nass, condemned the university for a man critics describe as "a conspiracy nut."

...A 10-day review by UW Provost Patrick Farrell of Barrett's teaching record and his plans for the introductory class determined that Barrett would fairly represent a variety of viewpoints in his course -- and was thus fit to teach.

Those of us who believe that professors should be left alone to teach as long as they are open and fair, will continue to defend his right to espouse his bizarre world view.

On the other hand, now that Barrett has solidly aligned himself with the Libertarian Party, it gives me great comfort that everyone knows he is someone else's billy goat. It was last year that I repudiated Barrett and Ward Churchill as not being part of the political left.

The Libertarians and the conservatives can have him.

So there.

Faculty Salaries Elevated In Public Debate

University of Wisconsin System faulty and administrative salaries are the lowest in the Big Ten but the problem is starting to gather more needed attention around the state.

On the day that UW-Madison Commission on Faculty Compensation and Economic Benefits issued its report Report: Faculty flight a 'crisis situation' at UW-Madison , the La Crosse Tribune published a thoughtful editorial based on a story from the previous week.

The La Crosse Tribune editors wrote, Public higher education needs more support from Legislature:

...there are some signs of legislative antipathy toward higher education, which also could be a real problem in the future...

... Faculty salaries also are below peer institutions, and the university system has faced larger than average state budget cuts since 2001, making it more difficult to make up any shortfall, and guaranteeing that tuition increases will have to make up some of the differences...

...Higher education does not just help students. Universities can contribute to economic development in states — and the number of adults with advanced degrees also affects the state economy.

Legislators need to be more supportive of it.

Yes they do. Both parties. Perhaps this can be the 'signature issue' for the November, 2008 state legislative races. And while we are at it, let's include the public schools.

As I wrote on April 18, 2008 The Value of Education the knowledgeable and thoughtful business leaders in this state are all saying the same thing, "I need a trained, intelligent, thoughtful, creative workforce," or words to that effect.

Faculty salaries may not be going up but at least the issue is rising in public forums and the newspapers.

University of Wisconsin System - Two Headed Huebsch

The University of Wisconsin System has six campuses  searching for new chancellors. Two of the chancellors are retiring and four are moving on to higher paying positions. UW System chancellor exodus could grow/

Wisconsin ranks last in faculty salaries when compared to other Big Ten schools and the entire system does badly when compared to to its cohort of institutions. Republican Party Winning Battle To Destroy University of Wisconsin System. Led by Republican Mike Huebsch, the Wisconsin Assembly underfunds the schools.

Its very simple. You cannot retain good people when you do not pay them.  You do not have to pay them extraordinary salaries, just something competitive that ranges towards the mean. The private sector knows that.

In Wisconsin we have one of the fiercest opponents of public education chairing the state committee that overlooks our schools. He uses every opportunity to attack the UW System.

Steve Nass is not the issue. The responsible party is the man who put him in power.

Last December the La Crosse Tribune published an editorial commending their local legislative delegation for supporting the UW- La Crosse campus. Local leaders, students leading way on UW-L’s plan for growth

On Thursday, our entire legislative delegation was represented at a Board of Regents committee meeting to show support...But perhaps most striking was the presence and vocal support of Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem.

To say that UW-L’s plans haven’t exactly been the darling of Huebsch’s caucus would be an understatement.

It is five months later, the UW system is hurting and hurting badly. It is unfortunate, but the more powerful, more effective Huebsch is the one backing Nass, not the one who showed up at the UW Regents' meeting.

More on Colorado As Budget Role Model For UW

For several years, Republican leadership in the Wisconsin legislature led by Assembly Speaker Michael Huebsch (R-West Salem) and architect of the attack on the University of Wisconsin, Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater), used Colorado as a role model. When they wanted to drive Wisconsin into economic ruin by adopting TABOR, they used Colorado's adoption of deadly spending restraints as their example of horrible fiscal management.

Now we get word from Denver that, Regents hike CU-Boulder tuition 9.3%

The decision for undergrad residents comes atop a 14.6 percent hike last year. A lack of state funds is cited:

University of Colorado Regents approved the tuition hike Tuesday, saying they had no choice but to raise the price instead of cutting programs. "None of us likes to increase tuition," Regent Paul Schauer said. "But in light of the situation we are in now, we are not left with too many options."  Last year, tuition increased 14.6 percent....

...University of Colorado Regents approved the tuition hike Tuesday, saying they had no choice but to raise the price instead of cutting programs...

... Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Gov. Bill Ritter, said the state and the university need to do more to increase higher-education funding.

None of this is new to UW students. As we noted last week, Republican Party Winning Battle To Destroy University of Wisconsin System.

Wisconsinites have two options.  The first is send a clear unequivocal message to the leadership in the state legislature that we understand the value of education and want the UW System properly funded. The other option is to hope that other states outperform us in the race to the bottom.

The Value of Education - The Silly Right Wing Approach

Earlier this week I made reference to the value of education, Republican Party Winning Battle To Destroy University of Wisconsin System which brought a cynical response from one right-wing commentator:

Higher education systems do not grow state economies. When somebody gets a degree, he/she can easily leave the state. Furthermore, why should government subsidizie (sic) higher education for anyone?

Even if we forget about the value of the education to the individual, and the family, there is no question that society is repaid from the cost of public education at all levels.

• Eighty percent of all of our college graduates remain in Wisconsin, and, of course, many graduates from out-of-state come to Wisconsin.
• A high school graduate, in his or her life time, does not make enough money to repay the cost of their education, but that high school graduate is still more productive than the high school drop-out by not being a drain on society - in the tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars during their life time.
• The student who finishes at least two years of higher education more than pays back society for the cost of their entire education. The four-year graduate of a school of higher education enjoys increased earnings of more than $20,000 a year over a period of forty years; just about the best investment society can make. Figure out the taxes on those additional earnings and it is evident that society benefits.

Of course, there are the additional benefits to the family and subsequent generations that show up in a higher standard of living, better health, and might I dare say, greater happiness?

Why the hell do we have to measure everything in dollars? There are values to learning, to an education that goes beyond any right-wing economic valuation that is riddled with fraudulent assumptions about a caring society.

Every knowledgeable and thoughtful business leader I talk with says the same thing, "The most important thing I need is not lower taxes, it is an intelligent, thinking workforce."

And out-of-state university students pay more than 110% of the cost of their educations in the extremely high tuition they pay. The state makes money on those students.

Republican Party Winning Battle To Destroy University of Wisconsin System

It was a struggle to maintain the great faculty assembled by the University of Wisconsin - Madison and its sister campuses throughout the state. In the early 1960's state budget deliberations over the higher education budget were peppered with such homilies as, "A champaign university on a beer budget."

While the UW salaries ranked at the bottom of Big Ten universities, it managed to assemble and retain an outstanding faculty. Despite the lower than average salaries, the UW retained many wonderful teachers and researchers. Then two things changed:

• Leaders in the legislature launched relentless attacks on the faculty.
• Then other institutions with big dollars like the University of Texas, decided to enter the marketplace with a commitment to upgrade their institutions.

When new UW Chancellor Donna Shalala and her successors, David Ward and John Wiley, committed to recognizing the importance of a quality faculty, the trend slowed and reversed.

But even the best of intentions cannot undo the damage of a hostile legislature, attacks on academic freedom, a refusal to provide benefits to partners, and a general nastiness led by the Assembly Republican leadership.

All of which has now received prominent notice in the latest issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Wisconsin's Flagship Is Raided for Scholars

The problem is money. Wisconsin's stagnating state higher-education budget has forced the university to keep faculty salaries far below average. When professors get feelers from elsewhere, they learn that a move can easily mean a whopping 100-percent salary increase — sometimes more...

...As the faculty pay gap between public and private institutions widens nationwide, lots of public universities are having a hard time competing. But Madison is having particular problems, losing faculty members not only to well-off private institutions, like Chicago, but also to lower-ranked public universities. In the past few years, professors in a variety of disciplines have left Madison for Arizona State, Florida State, and Rutgers Universities and the University of Minnesota, among others.

As the article notes, the UW is at the bottom in average salary ranking of the twelve universities that are in its peer group. In addition, every time a faculty member leaves there is the additional cost of recruiting and finding a replacement. That can be as much as 25% of the annual salary.

How not to grow a state's economy.

Why not let Speaker Michael Huebsch and his co-pilot in bombing the UW, Representative Stephen Nass, know that they are succeeding and you do not like it.

Lack of State Support Hurting Students, University of Wisconsin System

This week the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents are meeting. A major issue on the table is tuition, including plans to vary tuition based on campus attended, family income, and adjusting aid formulas. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW System to look at tuition restructuring

An advisory group recommended Thursday that the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents consider new ways to increase tuition revenue at a time when less of the system's funding comes from the state.

I recently read where a financial advisor said that paying off student loans has changed since I went to school. My generation had a reasonable expectation of ending the debt within five years of graduation; this generation has to treat the student loans like a mortgage with a twenty year payoff.

Which brings us to the central point. State government is reducing its participation, driving up the cost to students, driving down faculty salaries, and deferring plans for needed improvements.

In recent months I met with many business leaders from throughout the state. They echo or paraphrase what Northwestern Mutual Insurance CEO Ed Zore said some time ago, "The issue is not taxes, it is workforce development."

Here are facts to consider- this is not just about tuition, but the impact on the entire UW System budget:

• In the early 1970's the state provided 50.7% of the budget for the UW System. In 2006-07 that number dropped to 24.2%.
• As the MJS reports, "A quarter of Wisconsin residents 25 and older hold bachelor's degrees, a figure that lags behind Illinois and Minnesota. "
• UW-Madison faculty salaries are among the lowest in the Big Ten. Combined with the refusal to provide health care benefits to domestic partners, a nominal cost, it is difficult to recruit and retain the best professors.
• College graduates more than repay the cost of their education, because the taxes they pay back as a result of their greater earning power are more than twice that of a high school graduate.

Time Magazine Gets An 'F' on Merit Pay for Teachers

The line, "It's hard to argue against the notion of rewarding the best teachers for doing a good job." in the Time Magazine article, How To Make Great Teachers jumped out at me.

It is very easy to make the argument.

There is a false assumption, an unarticulated premise, that workers, particularly teachers, perform better if they are financially rewarded with additional compensation.

We all work to make a living. We do better work for a variety of reasons. Actually most people do better work when motivated by pride in their job, not additional compensation.  That is why educators recognize that the most successful schools are the ones where the principal motivates the entire faculty to work as a team. 

If any kind of financial incentive is given, it should be to the entire faculty, not to individuals.

The Time article needs examination in other areas:

• We never forget our best teachers - those who imbued us with a deeper understanding or an enduring passion... Wrong. I did not like Mrs. Gertz and frankly, I do not think she liked me. My sixth grade teacher was most unpleasant, especially when it came to adjectives and adverbs. She taught me how to write, she was not what I would call a great teacher. But she did her job.
• ...the nation will need to recruit an additional 2.8 million over the next eight years...Finding and keeping high-quality teachers are key to America's competitiveness as a nation. The solution is not a merit pay system; the solution is recognizing the value of educators and paying them what they could make in the private sector.
• Research suggests that a good teacher is the single most important factor in boosting achievement, more important than class size, the dollars spent per student or the quality of textbooks and materials. I am not sure which is most important, but the studies I read indicate that the quality of the faculty, the amount spent on education, which is reflected in class size, and parental involvement are the three major factors.
• Why do teachers bail? One of the biggest reasons is pay. U.S. public-school teachers earn an average annual salary of less than $48,000, and they start off at an average of about $32,000...And there's evidence that the best and brightest are the first to leave.  Hello, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), are you listening?
• It's too soon to say if ProComp (an incentive pay system) will raise achievement in Denver, but a pilot study found that students of teachers who enrolled on a trial basis performed better on standardized tests than other students. Great, but do the kids who performed better on the standardized test learn anything?  Now we have teachers teaching for the test,' not teaching so that the kids learn to think.

Name for New Madison School: Four Finalists

The Madison School Board will get four names tomorrow as finalists for the new westside elementary school: Jeffrey Erlanger, Paul J. Olson, Howard Temin and Ilda Thomas.  All excellent choices by a thoughtful committee that had to have worked hard to cull many fine choices.

Last October, Waxing America's editor thought Jeff Erlanger was the best choice.  Paul disagreed, and argued for Anna Mae Mitchell. Now Waxing America is united behind Erlanger. 

There will be a School Board public hearing on February 26, and then a vote two or so weeks later.

This time, whichever name is chosen, we can't go wrong.

- Barry Orton