Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill will have a profound impact on the families of public sector workers.  It also will seriously impact the quality of life for all citizens of Wisconsin.

Teachers, EMTs, nurses and other public sector workers will be losing out on thousands of dollars of income a year.  The numbers may vary slightly, but a worker making around $30,000 a year now could receive an overall loss in income of as much as $300 a month.  The loss of the right to collectively bargain will lead to further losses in the future.

The right to collectively bargain gave workers a voice in their workplace conditions.  Prison guards would bargain over safety issues and teachers would negotiate things like class size.  Monica Schoepke is a kindergarten teacher in the Beaver Dam.  She has been a teacher for 10 years and has, like many teachers, enhanced her skills by continuing her education at the graduate level.  She is a single mother of two young girls.

“My family will be forever affected by this. Living on one income can be quite difficult,” Schoepke said. “Not only will it get harder to pay my bills, it will be nearly impossible to repay my student loans for grad school.”

She is also very concerned about how Gov. Walker’s agenda will affect her students.  Class size is one of her biggest fears.

“People have to remember that my “working” conditions are children’s learning environment.  Teaching kindergartners to read becomes a lot more difficult when there are 30 students in the class,” Shoepke said.

Beth McClure helps coordinate the SAGE program for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.  The SAGE program helps reduce class sizes in grades kindergarten through third.  Beth and her coworkers help schools improve instruction mainly in high poverty, low performing schools.

“Quality education is a cornerstone to economic growth,” Beth McClure said.

The early years of a child’s education can make all the difference in their future and in the future of our state. All careers are possible because of teachers, Schoepke said.

Beth McClure is committed to Wisconsin education but is concerned about it’s future. Prior to my work at DPI, she was a teacher.

“I do the work of improving schools because I care deeply about children, our communities, and the good of our country,” Beth McClure said. “I fear the loss of collective bargaining will create a drain of highly effective teachers as wages and the working environment decline.”

The Budget repair bill will hit the McClure family especially hard. Her husband also works for the state. Beth’s husband Seth, is an engineer for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

“For our family, specifically, one or both of us will have to get different jobs eventually. The knowledge that essentially we will never be able to get any kind of raise and will likely face increases in health care and pension contributions make our current situation unsustainable.”

Protecting consumers, farmers and our waterways is important to our state’s well being. Seth McClure says his section at work had already been suffering from cuts before Walker’s bill.  They have been short an engineer much like other agencies have been working understaffed.

State engineers perform vital services such as dam safety, as well as the review (of) construction and erosion control plans.  Public engineers make less money than they would in the private sector.  Seth and other public workers find meaning in public service and he and his union “are willing to do their part to share in the financial burdens of our times.”

He is also concerned for the future.    He believes the loss of collective bargaining believe would be a tragedy, not only because of its destructive effect on morale but also due to the structural annual pay decrease the governor has proposed (i.e., no raises beyond CPI (the consumer price index) unless by statewide referendum).

“No engineer worth his or her salt would sign on for that. I predict a steady whittling away of talent. Most likely to other parts of the country,” Seth McClure said.

Wisconsin is considered a great place to live with a high quality of life.  We have historically had great schools.  Gov. Walker’s Budget Repair Bill and his proposed budget are likely to change that.  Good teachers will leave the state and the state will have a hard time attracting new quality teachers.  The same can be said about engineers and other public sector workers.

Teachers and other public workers are important to the communities. Their hard work and dedication make the state run.  Nearly all teachers work well beyond their regularly scheduled hours. It is no different for Schoepke.

“My daughters and I spend many Friday nights in my classroom, them playing and I working, until as late as 10 p.m. or so. Most weekends I go to my classroom at least once, either Friday, Saturday or Sunday,” Schoepke said. “I am not the only one at school, most of our grade level teachers come to school over the weekend as well.”

Most public workers bring a sense of duty and passion to their work. Schoepke is no exception.  “Teaching a child to read is probably the most amazing thing I do,” Schoepke said. “Reading is a skill they will use for life.”