Doyle Vows to Continue Battle to Repeal QEO

On April 28, Governor Doyle released this statement:

Dear Friends:

I want to let you know that I share your disappointment with the Joint Committee on Finance’s decision to remove my proposal to eliminate the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) from 2003-05 biennial budget deliberations.

I welcome the opportunity to respond to all of you on this issue.

Like you, I am disappointed that the Republican co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Finance chose to delete my budget provision that would have eliminated the QEO that is imposed on our state’s teachers. The Committee removed this provision on the grounds that the QEO is “non-fiscal policy” and should not be taken up during the committee’s work on the biennial budget.

As you well know, the QEO is most certainly fiscal policy, and continues to have a detrimental fiscal effect on the lives of teachers and their families. This cynical political move denies our teachers access to the bargaining rights other public employees share and deprives our children of the quality teachers they deserve.

I have not wavered from my belief that the QEO is harmful to the quality of public education in Wisconsin. I believe that local communities, not state government, should decide how much they want to pay their teachers. I will continue to fight for elimination of the QEO and will use every available legislative tool at my disposal to achieve this goal.

I know you agree with me that we need to attract and retain the best and brightest teachers for the benefit of our state’s children. I hope that we can continue to work together to achieve this.
Best wishes. I hope you and your colleagues will contact my office any time I can be of assistance.

– Sincerely,

Jim Doyle
Governor

Posted May 14, 2003