Frank Lasee Needs to Go back to School

Wisconsin State Representative Frank Lasee (R-2nd) needs to go back to school. I suppose it is an intended public service that he tells us that,  "Education is by far the single biggest expense of our state budget."

O.K. Interesting information, but he never tells us what is the proper level of spending, or for that matter, why home owners should pay more so that businesses can pay less for education.

He makes additional observations such as the fact that, "Total spending divided by the number of teachers works out to nearly $150,000 for each teacher."

Huh? What does that mean?  Lasee thinks that the cost of busing kids to school or the cost of school books is to be measured by the cost per teacher.  A figure as useful as knowing the cost of postage to mail a letter to the moon.  Most of his comments continue with measures and data that are meaningless,  either with no context or a useless context.

Even when he gets to comparative per pupil costs by state, there is no regard for variables such as the cost of special education or heating our public schools in winters that are colder than Kentucky or Oklahoma.

The ultimate insult is reference to the legislature "protect(ing) local tax payers." A sop to the far right but an insult to every parent with a kid in school. Nowhere in the analysis does he address the need for quality education and protecting the bright minds of our children. 

Comments

[Mike Mikalsen]

Of course, when a conservative provides data to support his views, it's always without context. When a liberal uses data to support their view for more spending, it's good, solid research. Even in liberal Madison, the average homeowner and taxpayer feels they pay enough to operate the Madison School District. Yes, kids are important, but it's also important that families keep their hard earned money to support their children. What a progressive notion - letting families financially support their children, instead of waiting for more government assistance. Did John Matthews help you write your post? Face it, you support more money for unionized teachers and you hide behind little school children. That's the real insult.

[Dan Sebald]

Mike,

What would you classify as hard earned money? CEO pay? Upper management? I'd go with farm work, construction work, chef, marine, etc. A progressive tax costs the lower income class less, the people who truly work hard for their money. And people in that class often recognize that the best way to support their children is through a good education. Isn't that part of being a parent? I mean, one's hard earned money can support a child for only so long and then she or he has to make it on her or his own. Government making education available and affordable through college is a good thing.

If one looks at the population as a whole, I'd say money isn't as hard earned as it once was. Also, if not education, what does one's hard earned money get spent on for their children? X-boxes? Noah's Ark? Pepsi Family Day at Arlington racetrack? America's got it pretty good for the time being, if you ask me.

You're viewing money as some sort of fixed asset, but it's not. George Bush and friends have taxed us so much, it's just that they've done it in a subversive fashion, i.e., driving debt to all-time highs. The result has been a drop in value of the dollar by 30% against world currency. Today's children will be paying for the Iraq war for a long time. Money is something that gets churned around financial networks hopefully in a way in which allocation goes to things of higher priority. Right now, our priorities appear to be making war and piles of trash.

"Even in liberal Madison, the average homeowner and taxpayer feels they pay enough to operate the Madison School District."

Is this from a survey? I was at a school board meeting in which Marquette School was on the table. Many people spoke for higher taxes. There might have been one or two people speaking about saving money, but nowhere near the enthusiasm as for saving the school.

"What a progressive notion - letting families financially support their children."

This is making a muddled mess of terminology. (Had enough of that from the Bush administration.) Progressivism would be making school available to everyone. In fact, could put that in the "rights" category.

", instead of waiting for more government assistance."

Like injecting money into the savings industry by the Federal Reserve? Or helping out the airline industry? There is a lot of government assistance going to corporations. Let's not forget, in this country it is supposed to be that "we" are the government. So, ultimately government should be about functioning, improving society and accomplishing things we can't do alone, i.e., helping ourselves. In that regard, it's priorities that matter... Fight profligate spending on war with profligate spending on education.

Dan