State funding formula is unacceptable
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor: As a family with kids in the school, we are so grateful for the turnout from our Athens School District residents and the overwhelming support to keep our schools in operation. Thank you to everyone who voted! However, as many people indicated, this is a short term solution due to the nonrecurring nature of the referendum unless something drastically changes to school funding in the near future.
Many people wanted someone to blame for the deficit that led to the Athens School District going to referendum. They wanted to blame current or past administration, current or past teachers, current or past board members, etc. However, in the last round of voting, 82 referendums were on the ballot across 68 districts in the state of Wisconsin. 53 of those referendums asked local taxpayers to raise districts’ revenue limits. Even more startling, 71% of schools, 298 of the 421 districts, are operating on referendum money in the 2022-2023 school year. Clearly there is something wrong with the state funding formula. State funding for schools is FLAT and, like it is for everyone, expenses are steadily increasing. Something needs to change!
Please help flood our representatives’ inboxes and let them know the state funding formula is unacceptable. Call & leave a message, write & mail a letter, or send an email. Then call a neighbor or a friend in Wisconsin and ask them to do the same. Whether you are a Raider, a Bluejay, a Tiger, or a Wildcat, let’s make sure our leaders understand that we want education to be a priority.
For Athens area residents contact: Cory Tomczyk, State Senator District 29, at (608) 266-2502 or Sen.Tomczyk@ legis.wisconsin.gov AND James Edming, Representative to the Assembly District 87 at 608-2379187 or Rep.Edming@legis.wisconsin. gov If you don’t live in Athens, use the “Find Your Legislators” search box at https://legis.wisconsin.gov/ This search will list your legislators along with their contact information.
Demand they work together with other legislators to fix our school funding formula and invest in our future! After all, our children are depending on us today but we will be depending on them in the future.
Let’s make a change happen!
Julie Weideman Future Athens resident
To the Editor: I am an avid deer hunter and I like to consider myself a quality management deer hunter. Although I probably don’t own enough land to properly manage the deer, I need to rely on my neighbors in order to manage the deer population.
I like to pass on shooting any small bucks, even if that means my neighbor may harvest them. If we all get greedy and harvest the small bucks because our neighbor will as soon as it jumps the fence, we might never get the chance to harvest a mature buck.
When I got a call from a wind energy company asking if I would like to sign up my land for some wind turbines to make some extra bucks, I honestly thought about it.
The wind turbine company already had some of my neighbors signed up and I thought if I have to look at them, I might as well be getting paid. But when I started to consider my stances on quality deer management, I quickly changed my mind.
I may not be able to control what others do on their land, but I can control what happens on my land and it’s going to stay that way. Just because my neighbor might harvest all the small bucks in the area doesn’t mean I have to.
If we all work together, we will be able to have a monster deer hanging on the wall and enjoy the beautiful way of life that we have in Central Wisconsin. A few small bucks aren’t worth it to me to give all that up Alex Pinter Dorchester
