we should be standing in support of them being able
to do that. >> Republican candidate for
governor, Josh Schoemann, dropped out of the race
after President Donald Trump endorsed Tom Tiffany
this week. Tonight, Zac Schultz talks with
candidates about funding for public education and
what they would like to see happen with the school
voucher program. >> Calling Wisconsin's
school funding formula broken is one of the oldest
refrains in state politics, but the sheer number and
size of operating referenda around the state show
school districts and voters agree the state is not
providing enough money. >> Well, you can't do it
without money, and we've been asking schools and
teachers to do more and more with less and less and
less. Our kids haven't even gotten an inflationary
increase for 15 years. That to me is unacceptable. So
money is essential. But it's not only money, right?
Teachers also need professional development
time and training and the respect that they deserve.
As professionals, the single most important
factor in a kids success is the quality of the teacher
at the front of the classroom. So investing in
teacher retention so that we have the most
experienced, the most capable, skilled teachers
able to stay in the classroom and stay in the
education field and mentor newer teachers, I think is
absolutely essential. >> I think, you know, we've
got to make sure that we look absolutely at how do
we spend more on public education in Wisconsin? One
of the challenges, I think, is that we're still working
on a system. Tommy Thompson took a snapshot of what
things looked like in 1993, and we're still looking
we're still working with that system 32 years later.
I think it would be courageous and necessary
for us to look at exactly what we need to do for 2026
and moving forward, rather than trying to make the
best of a 30 year old systems.
>> We used to fund our public schools to the tune
of two thirds, and we no longer do that. And now,
not just our teachers, but our young people are
hurting every single day. And I think that we need to
actually take a step back. We need to take a step back
and look at not just our revenues, but how we're
spending money. I think that we should put in place
a blue ribbon commission on taxes. This isn't something.
This is something that hasn't happened since the
mid 80s. But this gives an opportunity for university
officials to be at the table. Business leaders,
government folks, you know, just the public to have a
transparent conversation. What's working in other
states, what can we bring here to make sure that we
have a system of revenue and spending that works for
everyone and works to the future?
>> The reform is in our inequitable school funding
formula that pits communities against one
another, that raises property taxes, but also
makes it so that the disparities among students,
especially those who are lower income, are not being
addressed. And so increasing special
education for 90% reimbursement at some
sufficient levels and making sure that we're
increasing general aids. Our schools have been
defunded for over a decade now, and if we do not
prioritize public education, which is one of our last
remaining democratic institutions, we as a state
will not succeed. >> We need to make sure
that we are investing the money, because what we see
all across the state is that there are all of these
referendums, and people are voting to increase their
own taxes, not to pay for a new science lab, not to pay
for a new middle school, but to pay for operational
expenses, teachers salaries. And that is just
unsustainable moving forward. So we have to put
more dollars into the public school system, but
we also have to look at reform to make sure that
kids are getting the education they need to be
able to succeed. >> I'm I would be fine if
we put more money into education. In fact, I
expect that we will. But we need to make sure that it
goes to goes to children and families. We should pay
good teachers more, and I think we should reward
administrators that are successful in their schools.
We have to get back to where we reward success in
education. And I think that's one of the ways we
we fix this problem of us falling behind Mississippi.
And but I'm not averse to putting more money in. But
it there has to be accountability.
>> I believe that every school in the state of
Wisconsin can be a world class school, but it takes
the investments. If we can't compare students who
have every single need met versus those who have
hardly any needs met, we have to invest in the whole
child. And that's the kind of overhaul that I'm
looking at, ensuring that all of our students are fed,
all of our students are housed, all of our students
have the health care, mental and physical health
care and make sure that all they have all their needs
met. So when they're showing up to school, they
are ready to learn so that when they go home, they
have a foundation that retains the education that
they got in that school building. Until we start
looking at complete outcomes for all of our
children, then the conversation about was, is
it funding? Is it not funding? It's immaterial.
>> You know, right now we're in this situation
where we have said that competition is good. We
decades ago, we decided, you know, competition is
going to make our public schools better. But one
thing that we're not doing is looking at the rating of
how other schools are doing that are receiving public
funds, whether those are charter schools or other
types of choice schools. We need to have a scale that
helps us understand how are they competing. It isn't
necessarily that something must be better than public
schools. It's let's have a real accountability. Make
sure our kids are achieving and getting the quality
that they need in order to succeed.
>> Wisconsin School Voucher Program was created in the
1990s in Milwaukee and expanded statewide in 2011.
As the cost of the program has grown, the question we
put to the candidates is whether it should expand
contract or stay the same. >> I think that we need to
look and make sure that we have good accountability
and transparency first, before we start making
decisions about stopping or starting or eliminating, we
need to understand what are they providing for our
children and our families, because there are families
that are counting on those voucher schools. But at the
same time, it can't come at the cost of public schools,
and it can't come at the cost of making sure that
we're funding special education.
accountability. That's the most important thing we can
do. That has to be paramount. We have to
ensure that there are structures in place that
don't create a playing field, where some schools
operate by one set of rules, and another set of schools
operates by a different set of rules. Any public
funding should come with public accountability. And
that's a that's the bottom line.
>> You know, we've had choice in Wisconsin and
it's worked for thousands of families across the
state of Wisconsin. And we should continue to have
that program. But I'm a product of public schools
as well as my seven brothers and sisters. All
three of my daughters went to public schools up in the
Minocqua area, and public schooling has a long, proud
history in Wisconsin. We need to make sure that we
have a strong private, public, and parochial
system. Regardless of how you choose to educate,
we've got to make sure we have a strong educational
system. absolutely address the
voucher system. We need to make sure that the voucher
system is what it was originally intended to do,
which was for low income families to be able to have
some choices. And right now we do not have an income
limit on the voucher system, and we're going to be
taking off the cap for the vouchers. That is going to
be funneling public money into private schools. We
cannot afford to have two separate school systems
within the state of Wisconsin. So we're going
to have to have some reform in that area as well.
>> I am very concerned about public dollars going
to private schools and a system that is
unaccountable and not transparent in how they may
or may not be serving our kids. And so it's critical
that we look at a program that seems more and more to
be like a scam. >> I think one, we need to
fully fund our public school systems. You cannot
get rid of the voucher system unless our schools
are in a place to actually educate all of our students
in every community across Wisconsin, and that means
fully funding our public school systems. But any
system that is receiving public dollars should be
held to the same standards of our public schools. They
need to be transparent, they need to be held
accountable, and they need to make sure, again, to be
held to the same standards that public schools are
held to, no matter what community they're in. In
Wisconsin. >> The voucher system has
now been in place for the last 30 years. I'm not
interested in a dramatic expansion of it, but I also
think there's challenges of trying to put that genie
back into the bottle. I think the most fundamental
thing for us is around accountability for
everybody in education, making sure that we have
the right investment in kids and making sure that
we're holding ourselves, holding schools accountable
for the challenges that we have in education. But at
the same time, you know, as in anything with education,
there are lots of problems that come to the
schoolhouse door that have nothing to do with what
happens inside that schoolhouse.
voucher system brought to a responsible close. We
simply cannot and should not try to fund two
different, separate school systems. Their taxpayer
money needs to be accountable to taxpayers,
and public dollars should fund the public school