Senate restricts special elections

An article in this morning's Journal Sentinel reports that Wisconsin's senate voted to restrict local school boards' power to call special elections to exceed the spending caps. From a strictly MPS point of view, this measure is a moderately good thing. For a number of reasons, particularly the increasing disconnect between voters and MPS, all informed opinion agrees that a proposal to exceed the spending cap has no chance of passing in Milwaukee. Thus the ability of other districts to (sometimes) get voters to agree to raise their spending limits has the effect of increasing the financial gap between MPS and its neighbors. This in turn makes it more difficult for MPS in the competition for teachers.

That said, the vote is a sad one for what it says about the growing willingness of conservatives and Republicans to violate their own most basic principles. One of the most cogent critiques Republicans have made over the years is that Democrats are too eager to centralize authority when they don't like what local government does. Yet in this vote the Republicans show the same disdain for local government. As more decisions move to Madison, it will be increasingly difficult to interest capable people in serving on school boards or to interest citizens in what school boards do.