The CEO's lies come full-circle

Well, I'd like to thank Rep. Peggy Krusick for outing herself as the Jeff "Pay to" Plale of this legislative session. Peggy from Stallis (OK, SW Milwaukee, same thing) decided late last night that she would sponsor a race-baiting amendment removing race as a factor from consideration for the Talent Incentive Program. This program gives small college scholarships to people who come from several types of disadvantaged groups, with racial minority groups being among those (but not the only ones, as the J-S story points out that one-time imprisonment, first in family to college, and disabled are also groups that can get Talent Incentive scholarships).

After the Robin Voses of the world and the Wauzaukington County Republicans threw their wholehearted support behind the bill, every other Assembly Dem took the measure apart for the next several hours, so much so that the session was still live when I checked Wispolitics.com this morning.

This is culmination of that absurd study by the Koch-funded group trying to tear down affirmative action at the UW-Madison, which only succeeding in galvanizing massive protests on campus and confrontations against these Koch puppets, and it made me even more glad to be a Badger than I usually am (which is saying something). But you can see Koch's strategy- come up with a Big Lie (UW-Madison lets underserving minorities get into school at the expense of white students), try to let the narrative take hold in angry-man media and sucker in "both sides of the story" media to make your side seem legitimate, then use it as an excuse to have one of your legislative lackeys come up with a law that tries to take care of this "problem". This then allows the current power structure to stay in place, and if it REALLY works, dispirits minority students so much that they decline even more in achievement, which means the rich white folks don't have to work as hard to stay on top. That last part (not having to work as hard if you're rich) is the real intelligent part of the design, and the ultimate Koch goal of feudal oligarchy.

Let me reiterate one shocking stat I pointed out 7 weeks ago in a story on Wisconsin racial disparities in schooling.

The percentage of 2011 graduates prepared for college-level core subject areas also varied greatly by race, with 36% of white students in Wisconsin considered ready for college classes compared with only 4% of black students.

But the typical black student has the same chances as a white one in his or her K-12 schooling. Suuuuuure.

I hope Peggy's got a lot of cash coming to her as the "token Dem" for the Charles Sykes show after that pathetic performance, and we'd better see a nice primary challenge to her in the 7th Assembly District next year, just like how Dems ran Plale out of the 7th Senate District last year and got Chris Larson in return- a key move, as Plale would never have had the moral compass to be one of the Wisconsin 14.

These numbers also illustrate how absurd it is for the GOP to try to pass a bill allowing students' low test scores to be a main factor in getting teachers fired. When poverty/race, social environment, and a student's family's educational achievement are the largest factors in determining success in school, why are teachers supposed to be the only ones responsible for how a student does in school. I've got no problem with looking at test scores as a way to identify a school's deficiencies and room for improvement-finding ways to improve student performance and skill sets should always be the top goal in educational policy, and I think test scores might have a part in that. But the words of Milwaukee teachers' union president Bob Peterson are on the money when it comes to how attaching incentives to those scores changes teaching for the worse:

"There's no research that demonstrates that linking student test scores to teacher dismissal and discipline improves teaching and learning. In fact, it has been shown in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. - where these kinds of actions are taken - it narrows and dumbs down the curriculum, and encourages deceit and cheating," Peterson said.

Teachers can do a lot for a student, but those teachers' 7 hours a day in the classroom can't completely offset the other 17 hours a day and 3 months in summer that those same students are at a disadvantage. Anyone who believes that teachers are the sole determining factor in a student's test scores are clueless people that have no business making educational policy. Test-based compensation and retainment also leads to the classic adverse selection problem where some teachers may choose not to take jobs at challenging schools with at-risk kids because that teacher fears the students' low scores may lead to the teacher's reprimand. So guess who's left teaching the students who need the most dynamic teachers? Far too often, it's the low end of the barrell.

It's unwise at best to install test-based firings into law, but it's more likely that it's part of the scheme that CEO and Scooter Jensen and much of WisGOP want. These people want the end result of the privatization of education, both at the K-12 levels, and in universities. This allows for taxpayer funds to be funneled away from public, independent, fact-based education, and moved over to the voucher school lobby and the organizations that support them. And those lobbies, headed up by organizations like the Koch Brothers and the Bradley Foundation, are more than willing to sacrifice American competitiveness for a few dollars and legislators in their pockets.

That's a sacrifice Wisconsin and America can't afford to make. We gotta expose these sleazy groups, and take them down.