burmaster
"We must make closing the achievement gap a priority,"
said Elizabeth Burmaster, state superintendent of public instruction,
during her keynote addresses at the Wisconsin Council on Children and
Families policy forum and annual meeting. The forum was held December
3 at the Concourse Hotel in Madison.
The best strategy for closing the gap, she said, is investing in early
education opportunities like 4-year-old kindergarten and the SAGE class-size
reduction program. "Those first years last forever," she said.
"Investments we make today will benefit us tomorrow. We must pay
now for quality education or we will pay later for social and correctional
programs."
Wisconsin's 4K program has grown from 138 participating school districts
in 2001— when Burmaster took office — to 208, a statistic
of which she is proud. But there is still work to do, she said. "Far
too few families have access to 4K."
Early childhood education is a priority in Burmaster's state budget
request for the 2005-07 biennium, which she recently submitted to Governor
Doyle. She said the request asks for modest increases in state funding
to support teacher mentor programs, SAGE, special education, and bilingual
and multicultural programs. She has also asked for increased flexibility
for school districts under revenue limits and aid for rural school districts
with skyrocketing transportation costs.
Burmaster said the additional funding is crucial. "The quality
of our public schools depends on it."
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