Education
La Crosse Central teacher Havlicek on cellphones’ impact on kids, voucher school costs, referendums
Central High School teacher John Havlicek in studio discussing, in his over 30 years, how kids have changed because of cellphones. We also hit on the $4.5 billion state surplus, as Gov. Tony Evers was in La Crosse on the budget, and school funding in a variety of ways, including whether it leads to better student outcomes.
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We started, though, with Havlicek teaching Spanish and how or whether that’s changed of his three decades.
After that, we got into the state’s $4.5 billion budget surplus, how Gov. Evers was in town for a budget listening session and Havlicek’s takes for attending.
At the midway point, we got into school funding — as voters in the La Crosse School District just passed a $53.5 million referendum to build and upgrade elementary schools — and how much the voucher school system costs taxpayers and the district.
We then got into healthcare for just a bit, before discussing a listener question on how more money means better students — or better student outcomes.
And that led into a conversation about how kids have changed in Havlicek’s time in schools with the evolution of cellphones and the negative impact they have on things as simple as interacting with each other.
walden
December 17, 2024 at 2:45 pm
Nope.
If you go back to when Act 10 was passed (2011) as a base year, increase the District’s budget for inflation, decrease it for the loss of student headcount and add in the multiple referenda funding, and recent record increases in state aid, the District’s total funding is the same or more in inflation adjusted dollars. The hackneyed trope of “its never enough” repeated by Havlicek (and the District) is ridiculous.
I was disappointed in the comment that he doesn’t assign homework because some studies have shown kids from “wealthy” families tend to benefit from homework more than others. I remember classmates not from “wealthy” families who learned good study habits, were flawless in their attendance and homework, and had lifelong achievements as a result.
Roy
December 18, 2024 at 11:48 am
Homework makes work for teachers, too. Not requiring it lessens the teachers’ work load. Bringing in some unnamed “studies” showing homework offering an advantage to wealthier students is baloney. Remember, this is a teacher’s union guy.