Progressive Thinking

Sen. Smith writes about the public hearing for Senate Bill 454, which aims to improve early childhood literacy, and how state lawmakers can better support parents and children with a reading disability.

MADISON - Constituents expect their legislators to solve problems. I know that’s what is expected of me and it’s what I enjoy doing. It’s truly satisfying coming up with new ideas that make a positive impact on people’s lives.

We hear concerns and suggestions from constituents for how to fix the problem. In fact, many bills we propose come directly from the minds of the people we’re elected to serve.

Public hearings happen nearly every day in the Capitol for legislators to hear about an issue and how a bill can help fix it. Last week was no different. I serve on the Senate Committee on Education and I attended the public hearing for Senate Bill 454, which aims to improve early childhood literacy. The bill authors introduced this legislation intending to help students with reading disabilities, like dyslexia. Improving early childhood literacy is an issue we can all support. However, I do have serious concerns about the unintended consequences of this bill and the failure to address the actual problem.

Currently, school boards and independent charter schools are required to assess students from four-year-old kindergarten to second grade on reading readiness. This bill overhauls the assessment practices Wisconsin has in place. Ultimately, this will impact the way students are taught by implementing more testing for all students, thus delaying the time needed to actually intervene and improve an individual student’s reading ability. Additionally, I found it problematic that there was little input from teachers and the bill specifics that schools must use private companies for this testing.

What may seem incredible to some is that the bill authors modeled this legislation after Mississippi. Before you jump to conclusions, you should know that Mississippi really has made strides in raising the level of reading competence over the last eight years. They’ve almost reached the same level that Wisconsin scores have been at for the last thirty years. They did this through reading assessments and by making the investments needed to provide teachers with training and schools with specialists.

Senate Bill 454 only focuses on discovery, not the investment in services. Undoubtedly, the sooner a parent or educator identifies a child’s reading difficulties, the better. But, also the sooner we invest in the services that child will need, the better. Mississippi also implemented a strict retention policy to hold students back a year, which raises some concerns about how they raised their scores.

We are well aware there is a problem with reading proficiency in Wisconsin, especially for students of color, but it doesn’t make sense for us to implement more testing to identify a problem we already know exists.

Some of my committee colleagues and I attempted to raise concerns, but the committee chair dismissed them and made the decision to not allow any more questions. There just seems to be no appetite to actually fix these problems.

We then heard testimony after testimony from parents who have experience taking their child to a clinic to be “evaluated by a private neuropsychologist.” This might cost them anywhere between one to two thousand dollars. After their diagnosis they then might spend $600 per month for private tutoring.

Throughout this six-hour hearing, all I could think about was how disingenuous we were being to these desperate parents who seemed to believe this bill would fix everything. But we wouldn’t be funding a neuropsychologist for school districts who already can’t afford one more staff person. Nor would we fund more specialists trained to tutor students with reading disabilities. All the legislature is willing to do is mandate more class time on assessments, so the teacher might be able to tell parents that they will need to find private tutoring to help their child.

Wisconsinites expect their legislators to fix problems, not push the problem onto someone else. This bill is telling parents, “We want to assess your child’s reading skills, but you’re on your own for helping them.” If the Legislature is serious about closing Wisconsin’s achievement gap, we need to put our money where our mouth is and move bills forward that will truly make a difference.

MADISON - The fishing expedition being conducted by Michael Gableman is disgusting, and I’m hoping you’ll write a letter to your local newspaper denouncing.

Here are some points to make, in your own words.

1. Gableman is biased. He said publicly after the election that it was stolen, so how can such I biased person be in charge of this investigation?

2. One of his aides made a grotesque incitement to rightwing violence and corrupt law enforcement. The aide, Andrew Kloster, was a lawyer in the Trump Administration. Here’s what he said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Conservatives need our own "irate hooligans" as well as prosecutors who will "let our boys off the hook."

3. This is an outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars. Vos has allocated $676,000 of our tax dollars for this, even though the vote was already recounted and certified. This is just a partisan ploy to placate Vos’s base, and we, the taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for it.

Your letter should be 200 words or less!

To submit, just Google the name of your local newspaper and “letters to the editor,” and follow the instructions there.

Please send me an email if your letter gets published.

Thanks and good luck!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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P.S. If you’d like me to look over your letter or help you with it, just email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and I’d be more than happy to.

Sen. Jeff Smith writes about the “Reaching Higher for Higher Education” package he introduced with legislative colleagues to invest in Wisconsin’s higher educational institutions and make college more affordable for students and families around our state.

MADISON - If you ever asked a kid what they want to be when they grow up, I’m sure you heard a good answer. Kids dream of being an astronaut, firefighter, teacher or doctor. With all the confidence in the world, a kid can assert they want to grow up to be the President of the United States. Kids have big dreams and see endless opportunities in their future.

Unfortunately, kids can lose some of this ambition as they get older and learn about the expensive costs that come when pursuing a higher education. In Wisconsin, the median student loan debt is $17,323. In 2016, Wisconsin ranked 14th among states based on average student debt, and 7th overall for the proportion of graduates with debt, according to the Institute for College Access and Success. These statistics are a reality check for many students as they’re planning their future. This information can deter students from achieving their dreams, but it doesn’t have to be like this.

Last week, I introduced the “Reaching Higher for Higher Education” legislative package, with my colleagues Rep. Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point), Rep. Kristina Shelton (D-Green Bay) and Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire). These seven bills invest in Wisconsin’s higher educational institutions and make college more affordable for students and working families around our state. This package sends a strong signal that Wisconsin values students pursuing their dreams.

The “Reaching Higher for Higher Education” package builds off of Governor Evers’ commitment to college affordability. The Majority Party made significant changes to the governor’s 2021-23 budget proposal, but there is still time to fix higher education by passing these bills.

One of our proposals freezes UW System tuition to keep costs low for students and it fully funds this freeze to ensure educators have the resources to keep teaching. Another one of our proposals takes a step further requiring that all future tuition freezes be funded to ensure UW System schools are supported and can properly teach students.

A third bill in the legislative package expands the Tuition Promise program to UW System institutions. In 2018, the UW-Madison created a program called Bucky’s Tuition Promise to provide resident low-income students with free tuition. The program provides four years of free tuition to students in a household with an adjusted gross income of $60,000 or less. Under our proposal, the Tuition Promise would be available to students at other UW System schools who fit the eligibility criteria.

In addition to the Tuition Promise, another bill from the “Reaching Higher for Higher Education” package invests in need-based financial aid for UW System and technical college students to ensure more grants are available to those who qualify.

To support those studying to become educators, one of our proposals provides a one-semester tuition remission for student teachers. We hope this bill will alleviate the financial strain prospective teachers face and encourage more individuals to go into the profession.

Lastly, the other two bills provide the state support for the UW System and Wisconsin’s technical colleges needed to hold onto their outstanding education institutional reputations. We’ve proposed directing $50 million to Wisconsin technical colleges and district boards, and $16.6 million to the UW System.

The goal of introducing the “Reaching Higher for Higher Education” package wasn’t only to help Wisconsin students achieve their dreams of attending college, although that reason would be good enough. The investments we make today are critical to make sure students learn new skills and are prepared to enter the workforce. Supporting higher education investments today will address our current labor shortage and encourage business owners to grow our economy for tomorrow.

We want to support our kids to achieve their dreams, whatever they may be. Well, here’s our chance. Let’s move the “Reaching Higher for Higher Education” package forward to help the future generations of dreamers and doers.

Sen. Smith writes about the work to help communities across the state recover from the pandemic and build our state up for success. He shares an example from Jackson County to support childcare providers, working parents and local employers.

MADISON - The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives in more ways than one. I think many of us, myself included, expected to pick up right where we left off, but it’s now very clear there’s a lot we need to do to help recover from the pandemic and address the challenges that existed long before this crisis.

In March, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into law, which directed relief to working families and small businesses. ARPA also included emergency funding for states and local governments to respond to the pandemic.

So, how should this relief be distributed to help our communities recover? How can our local municipalities best allocate these dollars to help Wisconsin move forward? These questions are currently being asked and studied throughout the country. Local leaders have formed committees and created websites in search of ideas that match the needs of their communities. There are opportunities for you, as citizens, to add your input to the mix.

And your input really can make a difference. In Jackson County, right here in western Wisconsin, the County Board listened to the needs of its residents and agreed to direct $105,500 toward improving childcare access. Marianne Torkelson, who leads the Jackson County Childcare Taskforce said, “These dollars will go directly to providers in Jackson County for retention bonuses and for new providers to help with start-up costs.”

The pandemic directly hit the childcare industry which, in turn, negatively affected businesses and the local economy. When parents lack reliable childcare, they’re less likely to be at work, putting a burden on their employer. Like many essential services, childcare access has often been overlooked and providers have been taken for granted. Even before the pandemic, many employers were concerned by the lack of childcare options. The Jackson County Childcare Taskforce was formed without knowing it would have such an important role in pandemic recovery efforts. Now it’s become abundantly clear that if businesses are to be successful, access to affordable and reliable childcare is essential.

Of course, other essential needs must also be met and the ARPA funding is vital in the success of our recovery efforts. Thus, decisions made now by elected officials will have a lasting effect on all aspects of our economic recovery.

If any municipality is going to help the community recover, they must prioritize the projects that have the greatest impact for all of its residents. Maybe it’s partnering with Internet Service Providers to lay fiber to every household and business. It could be using ARPA funds to improve aging and inadequate infrastructure or boost our Main Street businesses. Or, like Jackson County, elected officials can ensure essential workers, like childcare providers are paid properly and parents can hold a family supporting job.

Before 2020 I’m not sure everyone recognized essential workers’ invaluable role in our lives. I doubt people thought twice of the work performed by a custodian, grocery store clerk, warehouse worker or childcare provider. Only when we missed them or saw that they worked right through the pandemic did it become more obvious how essential essential service workers really are in our lives.

Essential workers’ service was undervalued and unappreciated before the pandemic, and made worse by it. Many workers have been reluctant to return to the same job for the same pay now that they know how much their work is really worth. Some have made life changes like retraining for new jobs they hope will better support their family. Childcare, along with long term care services, are perfect examples of jobs that have become increasingly hard to fill. Employers, working with community stakeholders and local elected officials, have gotten creative to attract and retain workers; the Jackson County childcare initiative is one example, and I hope there’ll be more.

I applaud local elected officials, like the leaders in Jackson County that are making these decisions for the recovery and advancement of the community. That is what real leaders do; they solve problems and look to the future with their solutions. We will recover and build back better with leaders that make wise investments.

Progressives are far behind politicians, racists, religions and corporations, says veteran.

Tucson, AZ - How different the world might be if Nader had won the presidency years ago. (He ran 4 times). Would he have been able to make much change?

Who has the most influence over your child's or grand children's minds?

Nader is about 87 and thinking about what kids get in school in the class and from the airwaves from their electronic gear.

I worked for decades as a "planner" in state government and good number of years as an elected official and union leader. In general terms state and local governments know little about and do little planning.

Corporations do a lot of planning. The Defense Department has Top Secret and higher plans for just about everything. In the military I had safes crammed full of plans (which no one ever read.)

Anyway our children's minds have been the target of corporations, the ad corporations and the entertainment corporations for about 100 years. I guess that's not right. Our minds and our children's minds have been the target.

Throughout history politicians, racists and religions have targeted peoples minds. These new fangled things called corporations started in the mid 1800's have worked very hard and have been very successful to "help" us think right!!!

Progressives are far, far behind in planning and coordinating their efforts. I think there have been more attempts to plan and coord. lately but the impacts are still unknown.

When one guy has all the money to equip his team with machine guns, drones and night vision, progressives (which I count myself one) can coordinate the shooting of our cap pistols and BB guns all we want and we will lose.

Example: Today and the issue of the Senate filibuster.

Peace!
Buzz Davis Vets for Peace in Tucson