Wisconsin Governor Doyle going after student performance, federal money

Mark Pitsch:

Gov. Jim Doyle is planning a series of education reforms designed to boost student achievement and help the state compete for billions of dollars in federal school improvement grants.

The changes include better tracking of student performance, using test data to help evaluate teachers and raising high school graduation requirements.

"We're going to be working very hard in my administration with the Legislature, with educators in the state, to put together really, I think, a transformational application that will help Wisconsin education for years to come," Doyle said in a recent interview.

But it's unclear whether the state would even qualify for the federal money -- part of a $4.35 billion program dubbed "Race to the Top" -- because of a state law that bars using student test scores to evaluate teachers.

Draft rules for the program prohibit states that have such laws in place from receiving the money. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last week called Wisconsin's law "ridiculous."

Wisconsin Representative Mike Huebsch:

Cut education funding by 3 percent. Check.

Make sure teachers' raises aren't jeopardized by the cuts. Check.

Pretend property taxes won't go up. Check.

Begin dismantling Wisconsin's School Choice Program. Check.

Jeopardize Wisconsin's eligibility for new federal education funding. Check.

This is the state of public education in Wisconsin under the leadership of self-proclaimed education governor Jim Doyle and Democrat majorities in the state Senate and Assembly.

Governor Doyle and Democrat lawmakers wrote a state budget that cuts school funding $294 million, raises property taxes $1.5 billion, repeals the Qualified Economic Offer, says local school boards can't consider the recession, job loss rates, and property values when negotiating teacher compensation and makes politically-motivated changes to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (School Choice).

Now the governor shrugs off reports that Wisconsin won't be eligible to participate in the Obama Administration's Race to the Top grant program, while Democrat lawmakers remain predictably silent. Approximately $4.35 billion will be doled out to states with plans for reforming public education. Under the proposed application guidelines released by the United States Department of Education last week, only Wisconsin, New York and California would be barred from receiving federal funds.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 2, 2009 6:58 PM
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