Enrollment.
Number two is we need to simplify
the process. Parents and students
deserve a clear straightforward
path to navigate dual
enrollment opportunities.
Right now the program is
pretty complex and
one of my goals, one of our visions
was is that
we would come to a point where
principles and
Counselors in
our high schools would be able
to hand a student
or
parents a
trifold brochure that
would easily
navigate them through
the dual enrollment process.
Third, we want to ensure credits
transfer smoothly.
We're working to make sure credits
earned in high school count
across Wisconsin's colleges
no matter where the student
enrolls.
Thanks to Speaker Voss and the
Joint Finance Committee, we've
already made progress in this
area, but there's more that we
can do.
And four, we need to give students
a head start.
Dual Enrollment sets kids up
for success.
Helping them hit the ground running
when they start college
and it
saves them a lot of money.
Over the last several years I've
been a member of a
national task force through NCSL
on student affordability
and there are things
that
Republicans and Democrats on
these task force
there are things that we don't agree
on from time to time.
But one thing that everybody really
agrees on and believes in is
that better dual enrollment
programs and getting kids college
credits while they're in high school
is one of
the best paths to making college
more affordable.
In conclusion I'm
excited to announce that I will
introduce legislation crafted
with inputs from all of these
stakeholders.
This bill will create a clear
framework to make Wisconsin
a leader in dual enrollment.
Giving our students a real
advantage,
parents and students will have the
tools and information they
need to seize the opportunities.
We'll streamline regulations to
align. To align deadlines
and build on progress made
in the budget to improve
credit transferability.
Together we'll ensure our kids are
ready for college and
beyond right here in Wisconsin.
Thank you.
And with that I'd like to
introduce our next speaker which
is Representative Penterman and
he will be talking about a
teacher's bill of rights.
Thank you, Representative Murphy.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I'm State Representative William
Pincherman, and I have the honor and
the privilege that when I
go back home, I get to be in the
classroom in a couple of
public schools in my district as a
part-time substitute teacher.
And my time there has certainly
taught me that teaching is not an
easy profession.
And as I talk with a number of the
other teachers there, one of
the most disheartening things that I
hear is disruptive student
behavior.
And I'm not just referring to
students who talk out of turn
occasionally, as I was certainly
guilty of that myself when I was
in school not that long ago.
We're talking about active,
sometimes violent acts
that occur against teachers.
When a student throws a chair at
a teacher, when a student hits
a teacher.
These things are not appropriate and
they're not conducive for a good
positive learning environment.
The number one reason why
young teachers leave the profession
isn't lack of pay,
it's disruptive student behavior and
not having adequate support from
their administration.
So that's why we're going to be
introducing legislation that gives
our teachers a teachers
bill of rights.
Recourses that they're able to take
to make sure that they are on the
same page as their administration So
that they can focus on what they do
best and that is providing a
good quality education in
their classrooms That's what all
of our students deserve and it's
what our teachers deserve as well
as to have a safe environment Where
they can do their best and flourish
next up we're gonna have
a Expert and kind of
summarize some things Daniel box
I'd like to thank Representative
Penterman and Speaker Voss for the
opportunity to be here.
It is an honor as a former
public school teacher and
administrator, now policy
analyst for the American Enterprise
Institute. Again, it is an honor to
be here and to speak to
some of these education issues and
discipline in particular.
Since the onset of the pandemic,
verbal aggression between students
and towards teachers has doubled.
Physical aggression between students
and towards teachers has doubled,
unsurprisingly then discipline
in schools has become the
number one concern to
teachers across the country.
This is according to several
representative surveys
and why shouldn't this be the
case? It is teachers in particular
who have to deal with the
consequences of soft
discipline policies or lack of
consequences in the classroom.
They cannot teach algebra if
there's a fight in the hallway.
They cannot read great works of
literature with their students if
one can cuss them out with impunity.
They cannot run a classroom if
they are not given the respect that
they deserve.
All of the research is clear,
one of the most detrimental factors
to any student's learning is
the presence of a disruptive peer in
the class.
Several studies have found that
when schools implement any kind
of soft or low-end consequence
discipline policy It
causes other students to act
out academic achievement
in both reading and math plummets,
especially among our least
advantaged students.
The rates of low level misbehavior,
so things like talking out of turn
increase, as do the
rates of more severe behaviors,
fights, drugs, weapons on
campus, these kinds of things also
increase.
I am grateful that
Representative Penderman is
introducing this bill for
the good of students, for the of
teachers, for the the good classrooms.
I don't think there's any
other legislation that could
improve education
and the experience and the learning
that happens in a classroom as
Representative Penterman's
Teacher Bill of Rights.
And with that, I would like to
introduce Will Flanders who will
also be speaking to these
bills.
Thank you as well, Speaker Voss and
members of the assembly for the
chance to speak here today.
Wisconsin is grappling with a
serious teacher shortage, but the
root causes go much deeper than
salary or workload.
A growing concern, as was just heard
from the previous speakers, is
teacher safety.
A 2024 nationwide survey revealed
that a staggering 60 percent of
teachers report feeling afraid
to go to school at least some of the
time, and over 70 percent of
teachers have experienced violence
at least once from a student.
Nearly two-thirds of teachers say
they've contemplated quitting or
retiring because of violence.
Closer to home, an examination of
exit surveys from the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel of Milwaukee
schools between 2021 and
2024, found that about one-third
of employees cited poor work
conditions, safety, lack of
administrative support, or burnout
for their reasons for leaving the
profession.
These numbers aren't something we
can ignore, even if we're not
concerned about the teacher
workforce, though of course we
should be. They reflect a
frightening reality.
Educators are increasingly unsafe in
the very places they're tasked with
educating our children.
These negative effects, again,
extend far beyond just the teachers.
Our own research at Will over the
years, this is an area that we've
looked at in a number of different
studies, has uncovered numerous
harms. Schools with weaker
discipline protocols consistently
report depressed test scores,
notably in reading and math
proficiency.
Our suspended reality report from a
few years ago traced a troubling
pattern in Milwaukee.
As suspension rates decline,
ostensibly as a nod towards equity,
students reported feeling more
unsafe in school rather than less.
Soft discipline policies have not
fixed inequalities, it's exacerbated
them.
While touted as fair, these policies
increase violence and chaos in
majority minority schools.
This is particularly unacceptable in
a state that already has, as was
mentioned earlier, the largest
racial achievement gaps in the
country.
When we think about the teacher
shortage, while factors like
licensing and pay are absolutely
critical, a central cause of
the teacher profession's
hemorrhaging talent is because
schools and districts are shrugging
off violent incidents.
Instead of facing consequences after
misbehavior, students are often
immediately returned to the
classroom with a reward like a piece
of candy. You hear these anecdotes
everywhere from teachers.
This undermines the teacher's
authority and further erodes their
ability to maintain control and as
Daniel Buck just mentioned, leads to
further incidents as well because
kids think they can simply get away
with things.
Passing this bill would help protect
teachers, but it's hopefully just
the beginning of the discussion
about how we can make Wisconsin
classrooms safe and free of
violence.
If we want to remedy the teacher
shortage, we have to stop pretending
that ignoring violence doesn't push
our best educators away.
If we want children to learn, we
cannot let classrooms devolve into
disorder.
Support for this bill shouldn't be
partisan. It's really the bare
minimum that we owe our educators.
It protects them from violence, it
addresses the teacher shortage, and
it underscores the basic truth.
Schools exist to educate children,
not to serve as petri dishes for
poor discipline and ideological
experiments.
Thank you. I'll turn it back over to
the speaker for speaking on the task
force.
Thank you very much.
Um, you know, I've been watching
over the course of the past several
weeks as my democratic colleagues
have been talking about what they
would like to accomplish this fall
and the vast majority of
things that they're introducing are
repealing some good things that we
have done. They are not really
focusing on the future.
They're continuing to obsess about
the past and the good work that
we've done.
Unlike where our democratic
colleagues are, we're really looking
at the issues that are important to
the entire state of Wisconsin.
And we have had a pretty track
record over the course of the past
dozen years doing speaker task
forces on issues that really hit
at the heart of what families are
dealing with on a regular basis.
A lot of those bills were introduced
and dozens have already become law.
So we have a good track record of
wanting to get things done.
So today we're going to announce
four additional speaker taskforces
that will begin their work over the
fall with a goal to produce results
for our spring floor period.
And to let them each talk about
their task forces we'll start with
Representative Brill who's going to
talk about our task force on
protecting It's
It is our calling as Wisconsinites
and our duty as elected officials
to protect the most innocent among
us, our kids.
That is why I'm grateful for the
opportunity to lead this task force
on protecting children.
Half of teens report being online
almost constantly,
almost constantly.
Over half for up to four hours
daily, according to Pew Research.
As we face a rising youth mental
health crisis in our state.
We recognize that social media
and unrestricted access to the
internet has opened a deep chasm
into our family structure and
filled with mindless or even
dangerous content.
As so many forces try to rip
families apart and divide them from
each other, we have an obligation
toward diligently to
keep families together,
connected, informed, and
strong.
Now more than ever, it seems
that a darkness has descended on our
kids.
We have a duty to be a light
in that darkness.
As a state, our most profound
responsibility is to our posterity.
And with this task force, we take an
important step in meeting that
responsibility with the resolve,
dedication, compassion, and
urgency it demands.
To build a stronger Wisconsin,
we need to build a strong foundation
for our children.
To all the parents who have
struggled with this, those
struggling now, and to the parents
feeling in the dark on social media.
We see you, we hear you,
and we are working for you.
My name is representative
Jim Pivo Marchek and
I'm grateful to speaker boss and
thrilled for the operating
Opportunity to lead the
task force on government efficiency
Government should be effective,
but it should also be efficient
This task force is about examining
how we can monetize Outdated
systems cut down on waste
and deliver services the
people of Wisconsin deserve the
task Force will focus on
replacing outdated
redundant processes with
modern tools, reducing
administrative overhead through
automation,
integrating systems across agencies
to avoid duplicate work,
and using data to
predict, demand, and allocate
resources more efficiently.
And I will now turn over to
Representative Snyder on elder
services.
Good afternoon.
It's an honor to be named chairman
of the Elder Services Task
Force.
When you hear Elder Services, it's
not like the
benefit I got when I turned 55 with
a senior discount at Perkins,
or possibly even the
DNR giving us a discount after we
got older.
No, we're talking about identifying
some of the other things.
I heard a statistic Last
week, I was at a
elder justice panel
hearing.
They said that by 2035,
here in Wisconsin, there'll
be more people over the age 65
than there will be people under
the age of 18.
That's pretty scary to think
about it, but it just shows that
this population is growing
older, living a little longer, and
definitely becoming more vulnerable.
So, according to the University of
Michigan Institute for Healthcare
Policy, more than one in three
older adults, those between
50 and 80, report feeling
a lack of companionship in
the past year.
Social isolation really has
been associated with a significantly
increased risk of premature
mortality from all causes.
And back to the university of
Michigan, they published that 52%
of the older adults to experience
feelings of loneliness.
Are not working or
have a disability compared
to 32 percent who are
actually working saying that they're
experiencing loneliness.
The bottom 20 percent of Americans
60 and older have no
assets.
They're in debt half of those over
60 or older have
an income below what's needed to
cover their everyday costs.
While older adults prefer
to age in their homes, 60%
are unable to afford two
years of in-home, long-term
services.
In 2023, the median yearly cost
of a home health care aide was
$75,500.
Studies show that aging
in place saves the state money.
Medicare, Medicaid costs were
shown to be some $1,591
lower per month per individuals
who age at home versus
those who are a nursing home
facility.
And finally, elder
abuse, prior to the pandemic,
one in 10 senior Americans have
experienced elder abuse.
This increased to one in five
during COVID.
Elder abuse includes emotional,
physical, and financial abuse.
The National Council on Aging
estimates that only one in
24 cases of elder abuse
are ever reported to the
authorities.
So, some of the spotlights in
a population group that is aging as
we move forward.
With that, I will introduce
Representative Jacobson on
rulemaking.
Thank you representative Schneider
The task force will have
three main focuses First
to identify agencies with broad
agency rulemaking that's better left
to the legislature To
to strengthen Standing Committee
review of rules and three
a constitutional amendment to
reimplement JCR AR
Let's be clear the
Wisconsin Supreme Court did a 180
turn on the rulemaking process in
July overturning case
law that had been a cornerstone of
legislative oversight since 1992.
Legislative Republicans and
Democrats should both have an
interest in limiting agency
rule-making powers.
The laws we follow should be made by
the body closest to the people,
and that's the legislature.
Last week, the Assembly Committee on
Health held a public hearing on a
DHS rule that removed a
number of references to Mother,
and replaced it with the term
inseminated person.
Is this really a policy change that
a majority of Wisconsinites support?
Or is it one made by a handful of
people in Madison with fringe
political beliefs?
I believe it's the latter.
A new building code has also gone
into effect after the recent Supreme
Court ruling.
We expect this to add tens of
thousands of dollars to
the cost of new housing construction
at a time when Wisconsinites
already face a severe shortfall
of available housing.
There could be a Republican in the
governor's office after next year's
election, and
this topic could be one of
Democrats' top priorities next
session.
With an open governor's race,
we have an opportunity for a
bipartisan revamp of the way
we hold bureaucrats accountable
in Wisconsin.
I want to thank the speaker for
entrusting me with chairing this
task force. I look forward to
getting down to work as soon as
possible. Thank you.
And with that, I think I'll turn it
back over to questions.
Questions for members?
Superintendent Ketterman, can you
explain what you mean by the
Teachers' Bill of Rights and what
the vet grants to teachers?
So essentially, like we talked
about, every teacher needs to
be safe in his or her classroom.
So there needs to a policy in place.
What is the recourse if I,
as a teacher, send a student away
for some sort of violent
disruptive behavior?
Teachers and administration need to
be on the exact same page.
We're still finalizing some of the
details, so I look forward to
sharing the final bill with you when
it comes out.
Representative Kitton, anyone can
feel free to jump in afterwards.
So as we said, the education
disparities between blacks and
whites in Wisconsin are some of the
worst in the nation, even after the
passage of Act 20 and currently
today.
So can you tell me a little bit
more, provide some statistics and
information that how you think the
Republican Party's bills, and
specifically your math bill, will be
the one to concretely reduce these
racial disparities in education?
Well, I think if you look at Act 20,
and again, it's too early to measure
the results of that, but we are
hearing some very
good things. And again, Mississippi
is viewed as the blueprint
for what can be done with math, and
they have the highest minority
percentage in the country.
And their reading scores, I guess in
math, but their reading scores have
improved dramatically since they
implemented similar legislation.
So I believe that we are on the
right path, that I think reading is
the key. When you look the
statistics of, you know,
a student, if they are not reading
at grade level in fourth grade,
there's a two-thirds chance that
they will end up on welfare or in
prison. So I think there's nothing
more important than teaching reading
to these kids early, because if they
don't learn to read, they're going
to struggle.
With everything else during school
during their whole school career,
and they're going to struggle in
life So I think these things and
math is very similar the
blueprints not quite as clear We
know what to do in reading math is a
little less clear But I think that
we are definitely on the right path
to making sure that we don't just
pass these kids Through school that
we have an individual plan for them,
and we don't t pass them on
or we we That
plan stays with them until they have
caught up with at grade level
Robin, I got a question, big
picture, so you're talking about
dictating discipline in local school
districts, talking about parents,
what they can do with social media,
like, are you guys dictating
state of the state level to locals
and families and actually left up to
them?
So our normal place is
local control.
We have always stood strongly in
favor of that, but there are some
statewide standards that I think we
need to set it.
As an example, if you look at
protecting teachers, I think that's
very easy for us to say it doesn't
matter if you teach in Milwaukee or
Burlington, River Falls or
Rice Lake, you should have the same
protections to ensure that if a
disruptive student happens at your
school board, it's taken a position
and that they're standing behind
you. I would say the same things for
basic functions of government.
I think there should be statewide
standards that we look at.
We have done a good job in many ways
of trying to do that while still
maintaining local control and I
think we'll continue to do that.
What's your confidence level that
any of these get taken up in the
Senate, and have you had any
discussions with Senator Lemahue
about when they're even going to
come back?
So the Senate is continuing their
deliberative process.
We are the ones who work a little
bit faster in the Assembly, but an
awful lot of things become law
because of our partnership with the
State Senate. So yes, we have had
preliminary discussions.
They're going to be in this fall.
They are going to pass a lot of good
legislation. Some of it has already
gone through our House.
We have some of the stuff that
they've already passed that we'll be
taking up.
So I am extremely
confident that by February when we
adjourn, we will have produced a
good package of bills that we can
all stand behind.
Are you these bills bipartisan?
Do you guys have democratic support
for them? Kind of what does that
look like?
Sure, well the bipartisan process
usually happens inside our speaker
task forces. If you look at the way
we've done it before, some
task forces have decided that all
bills are going to be bipartisan.
Others are introduced by a
Republican first, a Democrat second,
sometimes they go back and forth.
So the assumption is we would use
the same process going forward.
But again, that's up to our
Democratic colleagues for them to
choose to engage.
We are asking, we hope they'll join
us.
So what's your timeline for the
task force? Obviously, we have a
session that consists of
October, November, here
this fall, and then January,
February, possibly March next
year. So are you hoping that the
task force are done by the end of
this year, and they have
their bills prepared by the
beginning of the year?
Or are you looking at further into
the spring? In it.
The goal would be that by the end of
the year, we have product from each
of the task forces.
Some might take longer,
but as our tradition, the
legislature will adjourn in the
assembly in February, so any
bills that we'd like to get moving
through the process really should be
introduced by early January, so we
have an opportunity for us to have
committee hearings and involve the
entire legislature, but hopefully,
if like normal, they're good,
strong, bipartisan bills, they
should be able to move pretty quickly.
For the consolidation, Bill,
you mentioned financial incentives,
what exactly does that mean?
So without giving away all of
the details here, we are still sort
of polishing up some of this policy
that we really have taken
input from people all around the
state, from administrators, from
educators, from WASBE,
from the Administrators Association.
And from school districts that have
already consolidated or had
attempted to and did not have, and
hit a brick wall.
So there are three main areas
where there could be some money
involved.
When you have one or two or more
school districts combined and you
may have a situation where property
values in one are much different
than property values in another, so
we have some legislation
that we're considering that would
help equalize the mill rate between.
Two or more districts that
that would maybe be backfilled a
little bit some state money over
time So that the impact of taxpayers
isn't so extreme and
more upfront would be the
possibility of a grant
for school districts who are
exploring consolidation to do
some feasibility work with
Accountants and consultants and the
like and then there's some there's
potential to do Some stuff that
might be related to grade sharing
that's similar to what Iowa has done
And then again, there's some stuff
related to the actual
process for reorganization.
Thanks everyone, appreciate it.
Real quick, the education bills and
the drafts, will we see those like
this month?
So our goal is to have them
all out next week or the following,
so that we can begin the process to
try to have our education goals,
hopefully on the 4th or October 4th
period.
And then the task force will end in
January. Correct.
Thank you.
Okay, thanks everybody.
Thank you