WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |State of the State: Education

State of the State: Education

MADISON, Wisconsin (WXOW) – Five hecklers were removed from the Governor's State of the State Address Wednesday night, and most of them were thrown out before Governor Scott Walker (R) touched on a topic that took up 10 minutes of his 45 minute speech – education.

"We propose swift action to get our students back on top when it comes to reading," The Governor said.

Representative Robin Vos (R, Burlington) said the Governor is on the right track when it comes to educating Wisconsin's future workforce.

Voice praised Governor Walker's proposed "read to lead" initiative, which requires a mandatory literacy screening of all students after they finish the 3rd grade.

"I thought protestors would at least applaud when (the Governor) said we were going to focus on early childhood learning and make sure every child can read," Vos said.

"I think it'd be a lot more productive, instead of protesting at the capitol, for them to maybe go read to a child and help our state," he added.  

Governor Walker also said last year's budget reforms resulted in savings for Wisconsin's schools by cutting the cost of faculty and staff insurance.

"Before our reforms, schools had to buy health insurance from just one company, and that could cost millions of dollars," Governor Walker said.

"Now they can bid it out, and that's saving schools millions of dollars across the state," he added. "That's money that can go directly into the classroom."

But Democrats said the Governor's reforms so far haven't translated to tangible results.

"I think we have to look at the funding structure of our schools," said Rep. Jill Billings (D, La Crosse).

"It's not sustainable as it is," Billings added. "I'd like a task force to get together and look at how our schools are funded. Get some good people with good info together and try to solve that problem."

"I've talked to a number of superintendents in my district and they say they don't know what they're going to do in this next school year," said Rep. Steve Doyle (D, Onalaska).

They're limited in money they can raise and the things they can cut without huge increases of classroom size or dramatic decreases in programs," Doyle said. "Those are things we expect better of in this state."