Three hundred educators from Wisconsin are joining 10,000 representatives around the world, as the National Education Association annual gathering continues. Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell says money will of course be a focus as the economic downturn has affected not only the private sector but state revenues, something education funding heavily relies on.
Budget shortfalls, Bell says, have resulted in districts across the Badger State including layoffs of staff and teachers, programs being cut, as well as communities taking up referenda to meet fiscal challenges.
The union leader says federal stimulus dollars helped out quite a bit last year, but this time around schools can’t rely on such help from Washington.
