David Madland and Alex Rowell of the Center for American Progress reviewed the impact on education of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s infamous Act 10, enacted in 2011, which crushed unions.
Some teachers left the profession or the state. Salaries and benefits declined. The average age and experience of teachers declined. Teachers moved from district to district, seeking higher pay.
They wrote:
“Six years ago, the state of Wisconsin passed the highly controversial 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which virtually eliminated collective bargaining rights for most public-sector workers, as well as slashed those workers’ benefits, among other changes. These attacks on public-sector workers are spreading throughout the country. Iowa recently passed an Act 10-inspired law with similar policies affecting public-sector workers and their unions.1 Other states and members of Congress are considering enacting such policies, and with its ruling on Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the U.S. Supreme Court may act to weaken public-sector unions and teachers’ ability to collectively bargain.
“This issue brief examines the impact of the law on Wisconsin’s K-12 public education system and state economy. While this brief focuses on Act 10’s impact on Wisconsin teachers based on the data available, the same forces driving changes in the teaching workforce can also affect the broader public sector. Proponents of Act 10 insisted that reducing collective bargaining rights for teachers would improve education by eliminating job protections such as tenure and seniority-based salary increases. As Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) argued, “We no longer have seniority or tenure. That means we can hire and fire based on merit, we can pay based on performance. That means we can put the best and the brightest in our classrooms and we can pay them to be there.” However, the facts suggest that Act 10 has not had its promised positive impact on educational quality in the state.”
Teachers have lower pay, lower pension and health insurance benefits. There is more turnover as teachers move from one district to another seeking higher pay. Act 10 had its intended effect of smashing unions, which represented 14.1% of workers in 2011, but only 9% now.
What kind of country thinks the way to get better teachers is to cut their pay and benefits?
Scott Walker is a puppet of the Koch brothers. His vision of the future is mean and stupid.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I grew up in Madison, and many of my high school classmates became educators. They can’t take their retirement fast enough in the environment Governor Walker has created out there. This legislation appears to have driven the best and the brightest from Wisconsin schools.
It’s no coincidence, I guess, that a couple of years ago Governor Walker floated the idea of placing uncredentialed (i.e. no college degree) and unlicensed teachers in classrooms in Wisconsin.
After all, if mean and stupid are your guiding principles, why not go whole hog?
Sadly, in our state the best and brightest are being methodically blamed, labeled and driven from the classroom, but our governor is a “Democrat” often referred to as a “progressive…”
Wisconsin has been on the decline as a result of Walker’s regressive policies. Poverty is increasing; education is a mess, and unions are on the decline when compared to Minnesota, Wisconsin’s more progressive neighbor. http://cepr.net/blogs/cepr-blog/wisconsin-vs-minnesota-what-the-data-sho
Voters in Wisconsin have to decide what kind of state they want to live in.
I agree but we are dealing with gerrymandering
Unfortunately, the whole state has been so gerrymandered it is nearly impossible to reverse. Republicans hold an extremely high number of seats when compared to state-wide races (for president, for example). Additionally, they have now implemented a new voter ID law which is further disenfranchising some voters. I sincerely hope they can turn it around before 2020 or it could get even worse! I live in Minnesota, across a bridge from a blue county in Wisconsin, but they have become outliers. My parents and siblings live near the Twin Cities and are pretty disgusted with the way the rest of the state has dragged them into this slide. These are the school districts which are losing their teachers to Minnesota in large numbers.
Mean and stupid and venal and evil, yes, but it certainly is profitable for the plutocrats.
The authors of this study acknowledge that “These negative impacts are likely caused at least in part by Act 10 and associated budget cuts”. The “likely caused” and “at least in part” could have been nailed down a bit more by doing what economists call a difference in difference analysis.
Compare the last 7 years of teacher salary changes, benefits changes, rates of leaving the profession, etc in Wisconsin to neighboring states that did not pass Act 10 type legislation. The differences between Wisconsin post Act 10 and the neighboring states after Act 10 was passed in Wisconsin might reasonably be attributed to Act 10.
All other variables being equal?
Yes, that is right. The claim that A caused B necessarily entails the claim that if not A, not B. We would see evidence of not A resulting in not B in neighboring states.
And you plan to do that how?
Speduktr,
As I said, a difference in difference analysis is pretty standard. Here is a link to a video about diff in diff analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRrjU4kKyzY . There are many other sources of information about this technique.
Any statistical analysis requires the use of numerical data being used as surrogates for factors which may or may not be easily and accurately rendered as numerical data. Not being a statistician I am not aware how one accounts for the interaction of factors confounding the analysis or even how one determines that the model fairly represents all pertinent information. An error analysis just doesn’t cut it. Isn’t there a phrase “Garbage in, garbage out”? A statistician is probably well aware of the problems in attempting to quantify intangibles, but apparently too many are willing to take such analyses as gospel rather than an exercise that may or may not produce questions for further inquiry.
Speduktr,
The subject of this post, the Center for American Progress review of the impact of Act 10 in Wisconsin, IS a statistical analysis, just not a very good one. If you are saying that the Center for American Progress analysis is bunk, I think that is a bit too harsh. They could nail down the “likely caused” and “at least in part” if they had done a bit more work.
I should have been more specific, and now I can’t remember exactly what has been said. I think what I was responding to is the notion that the results should be compared across state lines. Maybe, but the systems are different, which makes comparisons harder.
Plus as far as I can tell the “statistical analysis” they did can hardly be considered weighty. There is nothing in the report that a middle school student couldn’t generate.
Speduktr,
The question that they are trying to address is about a difference in systems. Wisconsin passed Act 10, other states did not. Has that difference in systems had an affect on teacher retention, recruitment, etc?
I will not defend the analysis done in The Center for American Progress report. Perhaps Dr. Ravitch will. She chose to highlight the work here.
I was responding to your comment about comparing Wisconsin with other states. The paper presented was on Wisconsin (despite a slightly confusing title): “This issue brief examines the impact of the law on Wisconsin’s K-12 public education system and state economy.” It is not an article on other states although the title implies other states may want to examine what has happened in Wisconsin. It might be fair to look at other states that have enacted similar legislation to see if possible trends develop, but even so one must be aware of the difficulty of accounting for variables that do not lend themselves to numerical representation.
Read the whole article. There is a rather alarming section which implies the authors’ acceptance of VAM ratings. the further discussion of student success/teacher success based on test scores is alarming.
Wow… Unsurprising. Studies are required & helpful as evidence-based input for other states considering similar policies… but all so predictable. Did voters/ supporters in WI really believe Walker’s hype that this policy would improve ed outcomes for the state’s kids? Unlikely. They were just going along w/ the lowered expectations of rust-belt states in financial downturn… ‘We’ve lost jobs, we’re hurting– let’s try cutting taxes to attract new biz… our kids’ ed & all our other public goods will suffer, but let’s cross our fingers & hope the tax cuts will bring in a biz revolution… then maybe we can again afford ed, infrastructure, etc public goods…”
It’s all so reminiscent of a link some commenter here shared (which I can’t find!), laying out the agenda of the elites: we’re past our prime, there’s only so much $ to go around, so let’s convince the middle/ wkg classes to lower their expectations, while we continue feeding off their taxes to propel the 1% to ever-greater heights…
Here’s the link:
http://haveyouheardblog.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-the-corporate-education-agenda/
Thank you jcgrim!! This was a striking discussion, & I’d lost track of it. Jennifer Berkshire interviewing Godon Lafer. I also found a transcript of the podcast:
Click to access Have-You-Heard-29-Corporate-education-agenda.pdf
And lest we forget, while taxpayers couldn’t find the wherewithal to increase or even retain the compensation for the “greedy teachers” they DID find the money needed to “attract new businesses” to Wisconsin by offering incentives to one corporation to the tune of $3,000,000,000… because it’s always important to attract new businesses! New teachers? Not so much!
But fear not!, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the GOP in the state have a better idea! Lower the standards for certification! https://wp.me/p25b7q-20q
I’ve printed out a hardcopy of the linked article (landscape mode and minus the reference pages) and copied/pasted Diane’s synopsis, here, in landscape so that it fits on one page.
Both hardcopies are posted, side by side, on our UFT bulletin boards at our sites, next to a short description of the Supreme Court “Janus” case. Most will read Diane’s summary, some will take in the Janus description, and a few will look through the full description of the situation in Wisconsin. Any information absorbed will be worth the effort.
This is serious business and the sooner we get the word out on just how important it is to support our unions, the better. Rank and file needs to see a real life example of what will actually happen to our profession without strong union representation.
It’s also important that our colleagues get an idea of the national (and, in many ways, “international”) scope of this attack on our union and profession.
Thanks for all you do, Diane. Passing the word along.