Our Kids’ Education Is Our Best Investment

Businesspeople know all about the importance of being adaptable to change; hopefully even ahead of game. Racine area children, including my own four, are our future. They will construct our future economy, take care of us when we can no longer, and make up the identity of our community. So, what will the education we give to our children yield for our future? As a community, are we adaptable to our changing economy? 

What value does our community place on education?  When you look at the educational system from the outside, you have to wonder. We spend the lowest amount of our tax dollars for our school system compared to similar Wisconsin districts. Our school buildings are old, and in some cases, we are talking about schools constructed in the late 1800s. No new schools, aside from some additions, have been built in decades.

Teacher and administrator salaries are at or amongst the lowest in comparable districts.  The number of students per staff member is average or worse. So, what is the story? Where is our community investment? 

Racine and Kenosha are often compared for obvious reasons. Kenosha has had its struggles with AMC, Chrysler, and other large employers departing. However, a simple drive around town, and your assessment of their value on education is noticeably different. Several new schools and well-maintained buildings are easy to see. 

Dig a little deeper and you see that the community commits more of their tax dollars to their public schools. Kenosha has many of the same problems that Racine does. Being a former resident of Kenosha, I remember when it was regarded as the “lesser” of the two communities. But, Kenosha has decided to invest more in its schools and has done so for some time. This includes the tax commitment as well as additional referenda.

Kenosha has managed to weather tough challenges to its community, in part, because it has invested in its schools. Kenosha schools help draw Illinois residents to move their families across the boarder. Get in the car, take a drive down and look at the expansion of the tax base. Kenosha is by no means perfect and it is being hit hard by the governor’s budget, but the community is set up to weather the storm better than we are.

I could have chosen for my family to live in Kenosha, but we chose Sturtevant instead. I wanted to live in the community that I am investing my career’s work.  But, I can’t help but wonder if Racine had or would provide even an average investment in its schools, what the outcome might be. When Racine is dead last in per pupil tax contribution of ten comparable communities, I wonder how residents can be expecting a higher rank with results?

If Racine’s results ranked lower than its tax contributions, I would understand some of the harsh criticism, but the community hasn’t committed anything more than the results it gets. In fact, there are numerous areas where Racine Unified has produced higher ranked results than the community funding it receives. 

The Racine area community needs to decide how important investing in their child’s education is.

Raise expectations, raise accountability, scrutinize the details, but give the school system the funding support that matches. We cannot afford to go on year after year after year bashing the school system, then make it more difficult for educators to be creative, trained, and focused. The Racine area has a lot going for it, and the potential is awesome. As our economy improves, I hope our community will take a look at the long-term and make the investment in our children. If we promote creativity, reward good work, and invest more in our children, Racine can get ahead of the game.