Editor:

As I look back on the past year, I can’t be more proud to be a Wisconsinite. To start the year, the Packers won the Super Bowl and kept winning during the regular season, ending with a 15-1 record. Go Packers! Then the Brewers won their division for the first time since 1982. The Badger football team won the first ever Big Ten Championship game and went on to represent our state very respectfully in the Rose Bowl.

And foremost Governor Scott Walker was named the “Governor of the Year” by the Governor’s Journal. I agree with Joyce Bant (Viewpoint, Dec. 18) that the bold steps he took are working. Our state’s budget is balanced, and our taxes didn’t go up by double digit percentages as in past years.

Mr. Kocovsky (Viewpoint, Dec. 25) seems to take the WASDA Budget Service Analysis as proof of how damaging the law is to our students. I found the survey to be very confusing, so I don’t feel comfortable commenting on it. The one statistic that did stand out is that the student/teacher ratio went from 13.27 in 2010-11 to 13.51 in 2011-12. This does not seem like teachers should be overwhelmed.

The only personal experience I have is with the school in the Racine area. Two of six of my grandchildren have attended parochial schools for all of their education. At the K-8 grade level, the student/teacher ratio was 21. In high school, the ratio was 15.5 The 90 students in the 2011 graduating class earned $1,522,087 in scholarships, and 100 percent of them are now enrolled in college.

Four grandchildren have attended Racine Unified schools. Through hard work and a concerted effort by their parents, they attended a charter school. In this charter school, as in the parochial schools, parents were very involved in the education process. Racine has 1,766 teachers earning an average salary of $64,771 teaching 21,000 students. This is a student/teacher ratio of 12. The graduation rate in Racine Unified is 67 percent.

As this shows, it’s not about student/teacher ratios, but the quality and dedication of teachers and parents working together that educates our students.

Mr. Kocovsky failed to mention that Mr. Ament was being recalled for signing off on a pension deal that would give him a $2.2 million lump sum payment, as well as $132,000 per year in pension payments.

Iva Fernholz, Tomahawk