Talk Won't Cook Rice

The issue of spouting lots of empty rhetoric and actually doing nothing has been a common theme recently.  The reasons for it are unimportant, but we were recently seeking some singular, rallying quote to call attention to the issue.   What we came up with was,

Talk doesn't cook rice.
-Chinese proverb

Talk doesn't cook rice!

It was--is-- perfect.  On a number of levels.  And even the fact that it's a Chinese proverb makes it ring even louder when you consider the state of the Sun Prairie School District.

Talk doesn't cook rice.  It's a proverb that has morphed into "Actions speak louder than words" in our culture.  Nike became famous for twisting it just a tad with their whole, "Just Do It" campaign.  And so many on the school board and the school district are so great at being just talking heads.  They spout "statistics" that are stretched dangerously beyond limits.  They talk about "facts" that aren't facts.  In fact, they have nothing whatsoever behind them for support.  But what they hope is that you, the community, will listen to them, believe them, and open your wallets to them.  And largely...you do.  Good thing Bernie Madoff or Nevin Shapiro never got your numbers.

On October 17th, the school district will hold its annual meeting.  The school board has approved a 3.5% tax levy increase over last year.  Many in the community (a majority?) feel this is unacceptable given the state of the economy as punctuated by the number of foreclosures this year.  Senior living on Social Security have been truly living on a fixed income for the past 3 years.  While there is hope for a small increase this January based on "the [CPI linked] formula", our elected leaders in Congress are talking strongly about changing said formula...which would slap down on that raise as fast a mallet in a game of Whack-a-Mole  State employees have seen salary CUTS for each of the past 3 years.  Wisconsin Act 10 permanently cut the take home pay of state, county, and municipal workers...and even (gasp!) teachers and other school district employees by 6-10%

So...THIS is the time for a 3.5% increase?  Or a 2% raise for Dr. Culver?  We don't think so.

Jim McCourt likes to point out that, "There's a 1.2% increase from debt levy alone, and we need 2.3% because of the increased enrollment".
Nice try, Jim.  We agree there's no use crying over built buildings.  But not every school district that has an increasing enrollment is simply raising its tax levy.  How do you pay for things at home when food and utility prices go up and your salary does not?  You reach into reserves...savings...don't you?  OR you cut back on sea bass dinners and settle for catfish, maybe?

Phil Frei likes to point out that Sun Prairie is "rare" among school districts in that we tax below what state law would allow.  Sure.  IF you define rare as 25% or more of school districts!

Dr. Culver has recently told us that "quality school districts develop Mandarin Chinese programs".  But offers no data or facts to support that position.   Talk about a poker bluff!  He's calling us out when he's holding diddly--and we don't mean Bo.   In fact, in Dane County, only his buddy in Verona has developed a Chinese program.  Why won't Culver give us numbers of school districts in WI that have such a program?

McCourt and John Whalen whine that "Sun Prairie is falling behind" and cite the reason for this as "the lack of new initiatives by the district in recent years".  SheeeAHHH! What about PBIS?  What about "Grading for Learning"?  What about the whole new math curriculum?  To name just a few.  And how many initiatives are REALLY changing the outcomes for kids?  We still do not test as well as our peer districts.  We still do not have nearly as many state or National Merit Scholars as would be expected for a school district this size.  We moan about diversity issues and then quietly try to start a Mandarin Chinese program in the name of diversity.  How about the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, huh?  

Even in this economy, talk is still cheap.
Instead of talking, why don't you start DOING?

The community is hurting.  Stop talking about it and DO something about it...like make some bold adjustments, scale some things back and reduce the levy.  Cutting $225,000 would reduce the levy to 3%
Cutting $450,000 would drop it to $2.5%.  There IS room in the budget.  You just have to stop citing ridiculous figures and do it.

Of course, if you won't, you run the risk of the community cutting it for you on October 17th.
And let's not forget that, 2 years ago,  when all the gasping and whining was over after the taxpayers cut your desired tax levy by $2,000,000...in the end you had a $1.3 MILLION DOLLAR SURPLUS!!!!


Don't TELL us there's no fluff in the budget.