Madison Teachers’ Inc. Backs “Penny for Kids”

Madison Teachers’ Inc. recently endorsed a new campaign called Pennies for Kids, which has been picking up steam as public school budgets are being cut further into the bone.

The new Pennies for Kids campaign, under the organizational umbrella of the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES), proposes an increase in the sales tax of 1 percent. The new campaign arose as an emergency response to the drastic cuts throughout the state during the last state budget.

The teachers’ union has a long history of advocacy for school funding reform and MTI’s executive director John Matthews, along with assistant directors Doug Keillor and Ken Volante, have attended WAES meetings around the state for more than a decade.

Madison was particularly hard hit with a 15 percent cut in state aid. This outrageous cut came on the heels of a decade and a half of revenue limits which continue to starve our community’s bulwark against inequality – the public schools.

The situation in school funding is dire but the WAES proposal comes at just the right time to stabilize funding for our public schools. Recent news reports depict the horrific budget situation facing Madison in the 2010-11 school year. With no increase in local property tax Madison faces a crippling $30 million in cuts – on the heels of seventeen years of Republican party-led starvation of the public sector.

Wisconsin has a relatively low sales tax in comparison to regional rates. Illinois’ rate is 6.25% (plus all those tolls!), Iowa is 6%, Minnesota is 6.875% and Michigan is 6.0%. Wisconsin’s state tax rate is 5% with an additional .5% that can be added by individual counties. The WAES proposal of an additional one cent on the dollar would serve to generate $800-$900 million in additional revenue for schools.

While advocacy for an increased sales tax is generally avoided by progressive groups because it’s “regressive” (impacts lower and middle income families harder than higher income), the WAES proposal has measures in place to increase monies to the Homestead Tax credit which benefits low income home owners and renters. The proposal also includes closing loopholes (no sales tax) on some professional services including advertising, public relations, salons, etc.

Elected officials have provided no answer to reform school funding. It is time to support a school funding option that allows public schools to survive intact. Go to http://www.apennyforkids.org/ and sign their petition in support of a “Penny for Kids.”

– Madison Teachers’ Inc.