Recall a Job Well Done?

As the June date for the recall election looms, I believe that it will be a difficult fight for Governor Scott Walker. This belief stems in large part from the boldness of Walker’s 2011 budget reforms, which made him a hero to conservatives and a hate figure for unions and the left. First, Walker ended the unions’ automatic collection of dues from members’ paychecks, cutting off a major source of union funds. Next he required state workers to contribute a modest 5.8 percent of their salaries toward their pensions and to cover 12.6 percent of their health insurance premiums, thus bringing Wisconsin closer in line with private sector and national averages and giving the state a chance to get a grip on its spiraling finances. Most controversially, he restricted most public unions’ collective bargaining to salaries, canceling a corrupt and fiscally unsustainable cycle that saw unions negotiate generous perks with the same politicians they helped elect.

None of this has gone down well with the unions. If early signs are any guide, they will do everything they can to paint the reforms as a failure. As they push ahead with the recall, Walker’s opponents claim that he has presided over the “destruction of public education;” that he has forced thousands of teacher layoffs; and that he has triggered a “political and governing crisis.” The evidence, though, shows otherwise. Not only have Walker’s reforms not brought calamity upon Wisconsin, but there is a growing body of data that shows they are working.

Public education is a great example. So far from being destroyed, the state’s public school districts have benefitted from a wealth of savings made possible by Walker’s reforms. By limiting collective bargaining, Walker freed school districts to set contracts without union pressure for the first time in decades. The benefits have been significant. Collective bargaining produced contracts that forced the state’s school districts to purchase health insurance from the WEA Trust, an insurance company tied to the largest Wisconsin state teachers union. But after Walker’s reforms limiting collective bargaining, school districts could strike that requirement and put their health insurance contracts up for bid.

The results were savings. When the Appleton School District put its health insurance contract up for bid, the WEA Trust suddenly lowered its rates and promised to meet any competitor’s price. Thanks to the lower cost, Appleton is expected to save $3 million in 2012. Appleton is not alone. Following the collective bargaining reforms, at least 25 school districts in Wisconsin reported switching health insurance carriers or plans opening bidding to outside companies. That measure will save the districts $211.45 per student. As of last September, certain school districts already had savings of $162 million dollars, or approximately $507 per student, as a result of Walker’s reforms.

These savings are very embarrassing for Walker’s political foes. After Walker’s budget passed, Milwaukee’s Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett, a challenger in the upcoming recall election, hysterically warned that the Governor’s cuts would make the city’s structural deficit “explode.” Not only did that not happen, but because the city doesn’t have to negotiate health-care benefit changes with unions, the city actually posted a $11 million net gain for its 2012 budget.

As a consequence of the savings, many of Wisconsin’s school districts have been able to avoid the kind of painful layoffs that teachers unions had warned were imminent. For instance, the Wauwatosa School District faced a $6.5 million shortfall and the prospect of cutting 100 jobs. But because the teachers union abided by Walker’s budget and agreed to pay a higher percentage of health insurance premiums and contribute to their retirement plans, the school was able to save all of the jobs. Similarly, the Kaukauna School District was able to transform a $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus, allowing the district to hire more teachers and even to set aside money for merit pay, something teachers unions’ had long opposed. Actually, new teacher hires outnumber layoffs and non-renewals of teaching jobs by 1,213 positions. That’s not to say that there have not been layoffs. Nearly 70 percent of those layoffs though, have come from the three school districts that rejected Walker’s reforms.

There are also growing signs that decreasing the burden of the public sector has allowed Wisconsin’s private sector to revive. In January and February alone, Wisconsin gained nearly 20,000 private sector jobs, even as its unemployment rate was around 6.9 percent – the lowest in the state since 2009. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce recently released  survey results showing 94 percent of our state’s company executives believe Wisconsin is on the right track. From a budget deficit, Wisconsin is projected to post a budget surplus in fiscal year 2012.

Tax levy numbers for the 2011-12 school year show the total tax levy is down more than $47 million for K-12 schools. That translates to a 1% decrease on the school tax portion of the average property tax bill. This is only the second time the total school tax levy has dropped since 1996. Over the last five years the tax levies, on average, increased by $181 million each year. When compared to the status quo of the last five years, Governor Walker’s reforms are keeping an extra $228 million in Wisconsin property taxpayer’s pockets. In total, 269 school districts have a property tax levy lower or the same as last year.

So why this modern-day witch hunt, this race to recall a governor that is actually doing what he had promised on the campaign trail? I believe it stems from the threat Walker’s policies pose for the unions. Walker’s reforms have made national headlines and the world is watching to see what will happen in June. If Walker keeps his position as Governor of Wisconsin, it will surely send a rippling effect across the country to every state that is experiencing a deficit. It could mean the eventual downfall of public-sector unions as we know them today.

It is my personal view, that rather than “ruining” Wisconsin, as public-sector unions maintain, Governor Walker may have sown the seeds of its economic recovery. He certainly should not be ousted from office for actually doing the job he was elected to do.