WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK 1987-1988


   The LFP supports efforts of school employees to improve their economic
status and working
 conditions. We urge existing unions to organize those school workers who
are not yet organized.
 The LFP opposes all efforts to promote merit pay or any other divisive or
unequal compensation
 schemes. It is further recognized that the schools will be improved only
when teachers and other
 workers have meaningful input into the decision-making process within the
schools.
   The LFP deplores the reactionary methods used by school officials to control
students and
 faculty. Education for a democratic society can only take place within democratic
schools. The
 business model upon which schools now operate should be scrapped. Schools
must serve the
 causes of intellectual freedom, world peace and economic and social justice.
   Therefore we support the following:
   (a.) Equality of opportunity, affirmative action and employee rights within
the school
 environment.
   (b.) Education in "peoples' history" aimed at revealing the
history of human struggles and for
 collective control of our society.
   (c.) The learning process should foster emotional literacy, self-actualization,
and interpersonal
communication skills.
   (d.) Ban the use of drugs to render students obedient.
   (e.) Make school boards broadly representative of the community and end
the dominance of
business and professional people over the education process.
   (f.) Expansion of alternative school programs - both inside the school
system and outside of
it - which create real options for students and families.
   (g.) Creation of opportunities to experience nature and earth processes;
to know the plants,
animals, waters and soils, and to support this goal by the establishment
of school forests,
prairies, and wetlands.

14. Social Services
  The welfare of individuals is the responsibility of all society. Where
natural support systems
fail, it is the responsibility of the state to provide a nurturing and secure
environment for depen-
dent people. Funding priorities here further the goals of "Jobs with
Peace".

                                   Income Maintenance
  Adults without direct child care resonsibilities should be provided with
an opportunity to
work. We place a high priority on creating jobs for all and extending unemployment
compensa-
tion benefits. Where suitable employment at a living wage is available, able-bodied
adult recipi-
ents should be required to work as a condition for aid. -However, where suitable
employment
and unemployment compensation are not available, able-bodied adults and their
dependents
should receive an adequate income, at 100% of poverty level, from either
Aid to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC), Aid to Families with Dependent Children- Unemployed
Parent
(AFDC-UP), or General Relief Program.
  Work disincentives in the existing income maintenance programs, such as
the "100 hour rule"
and the "four month limit on 30 and 1/3" should be eliminated,
either through federal legisla-
tion, waivers or through state funding as a last resort.
  A uniform, statewide system of General Relief should be developed by the
state and adminis-
tered by county agencies responsible for administering federal income maintenance
programs.
  Child support payment standards should be made progressive (as opposed
to the current flat
tax rate) to allow low income absent parents to retain a larger share of
their earnings.

                                 Social Support Programs
  We support adequate state funding for social services, including foster
care, group home and
institutional care for children, counseling, day care, supportive home care,
legal services, trans-
portation, protective services, domestic abuse, adoption services and family
planning programs.
  Over the last decade, much more responsibility for administering social
services programs has
been given to local county governments. Unfortunately, conservative local
governments are
often a roadblock to providing some types of social services which they disagree
with in princi-
ple, such as family planning and day care services. In such cases, the state
should take responsi-
bility for providing direct services to eligible recipients, by circumventing
county governments.


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