LETTER: Students, children benefit from Act 10

To the editor:

After reading through all the articles and editorials concerning the recall vote on June 5, I believe most readers have been mislead to a great extent.

When the Unions and their Democrat enablers marched on the Capitol protesting the reduction of collective bargaining in the State of Wisconsin, we were told the Governor was hurting the children. Later, it was termed a "war on teachers", and then it was a "war on unions". Now it's all about job losses although new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates just the opposite, job gains. (Department of Workforce Development)

Let's examine the original issue, Act 10. According to a Washington Post article, Unions collective bargaining resulted in many school districts being required to obtain health coverage through the WEA Trust. It turns out that this insurance company is controlled by the Union. Further, once the WEA Trust had their contract in place with the school boards, they could, and did, raise their rates at will, thus creating an undue burden on the local taxpayers.

Many districts complained about the rates compared to other companies but their concerns were ignored, after all, it was merely taxpayer money. Since the WEA Trust is a non-profit, why would they need to overcharge the school districts? It appears the extra money went back to the Union who in turn funded their favorite politicians, who are, almost without exception, Democrats. (No wonder the 14 left the state to avoid the vote. They had to protect their bread and butter).

Since the much-protested reforms were enacted, savings to local school boards around the state have been huge: 83 school districts are expected to save $167,317,258 for 2011-2012. Yes, that's over 167 MILLION. (MacIver Institute) I'm sure this number will pale compared to what we've already spent over the years. Many districts went from a budget deficit to a surplus under Act 10. These savings will allow many districts to keep funding activities and teacher positions going forward.

The Union rant of hurting our children was a complete fabrication. The Union simply wanted to protect their jobs and their cronies, the Democrats.

Hurt the children and the teachers? They will benefit the most from Act 10. Barrett wants to reinstate the collective bargaining and put the school boards back in the same dilemma they were just extricated from.

What I find most infuriating is that we as taxpayers were contributing to politicians through our local taxes totally without our knowledge or consent.

I would also like to know why this information was not on the front page of every paper in this state.

Carl M. Hasdal

Nekoosa, Wis.

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion