LTE: 'Quinn Fought For My School, Bewley Didn’t'

Letter-to-the-Editor

"As a father and a taxpayer living in Chetek, I care deeply about the Chetek-Weyerhaeuser School. I am fortunate that I live in a district that cares about its students and staff and has the funding necessary to provide a quality education along with supporting services. However, just a few years ago our district was at serious risk.

"When two schools consolidate, the state gives them extra money for a five-year period.  After that five-year period, the funding falls off.  Because both Weyerhaeuser and Chetek were geographically large districts with a lot of property value, combining puts the now Chetek-Weyerhaeuser district at a disadvantage when it comes to the school funding formula.

"Luckily for us, Representative Quinn had just been elected. In his first year in office, he managed to put a change in the budget to allow our district to keep 75% of the consolidation aid. If this didn’t happen, our district would have had to make cuts totaling near 1/5 of the entire budget. Can you imagine a school having to lay off nearly 1/5 of its staff? After some further research, I found that the Chequamegon School District was also in the same situation as Chetek-Weyerhaeuser, and they too were helped by Quinn.

"Fast forward to this state budget, our district got an increase of over $620,000. That is real money that can be put to good use right in the classroom for either supplies, additional staff, or raises for the teachers that do an excellent job. Another big thanks to Representative Romaine Quinn.

"What I found disheartening after further research was that Romaine Quinn was alone in Madison during this fight for my local school district. Not only did our state senator, Janet Bewley, vote no on the recent budget increase, she also voted no on our consolidation aid fix!  Any politician that puts politics before the survival of a school district they are supposed to represent does not deserve our vote.

"Both Bewley and Quinn say they support our local schools, but real actions speak louder than words.  Any parent or taxpayer living in the Chetek-Weyerhaeuser or Chequamegon School District should now have an easier time voting this November. We need to stick with Quinn, and retire Bewley on November 6th!"

Tyler Nazarenus - Chetek, Wis.