city, school board level. >> In his seventh state of the
state address, Democratic Governor Tony Evers laid out his
priorities for the coming year. He declared 2025 the year of the
kid, promising again increased funding for K-12 education,
child care, firearms restrictions, and mental health
services. >> 37 days ago, a.
>> Shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison took
the lives of Aaron and Ruby, a student and an educator who woke
up and went to school that morning. Will never return home.
Six others were injured and countless lives will never be
the same. Folks. Wisconsinites, Wisconsinites sent us here to
see big problems and fix them. We cannot let common sense get
lost in debates over whether basic policies could have
prevented the most recent shooting, or the one before
that, or the one before that. My budget proposal will invest
nearly $300 million to provide comprehensive mental mental
health services and school statewide, including support for
peer to peer suicide prevention programs and expanded mental
health training. >> As is custom, Republicans
gave their response to the address in it. Assembly Speaker
Robin Vos spoke to core GOP issues like taxes and
immigration, but he also made his own appeal about K-12
education. >> While we heard tonight about
another education plan to write a blank check to our schools,
Republicans will focus on increasing standards and
demanding accountability. Right now, only 48% of students in
Wisconsin are even reading at grade level. This is absolutely
unacceptable and it has to change. Our reading crisis is
not just limited to our biggest school districts, however, it
exists in districts all across the state, both large and small.
Republicans will enact legislation to require the
forward exam to be aligned with the National Assessment of
Educational Progress. This will bring our standards back to the
baseline before DPI artificially inflated them. It will also
allow parents to compare the past with the present. Recently,
Governor Evers even said in a statement, quote, we need to
have as high of standards as possible, unquote. He's right.
Hopefully this will be a place where the legislature and
Governor Evers can actually find common ground to come together
with a solution to this growing with a solution to this growing