Doyle sees 'a real battle ahead of us'

Governor Doyle greets WEAC leaders while accepting WEAC’s support of him for re-election. Among those applauding the governor are NEA At-Large Board Member Ray Heideman and NEA Alternate Director Laura Vernon.

The November 7 election is boiling down to a battle to preserve the values of Wisconsin and protect the state’s quality education system that provides opportunities for all children to succeed in life, Governor Doyle said while enthusiastically accepting WEAC’s support Saturday (September 16, 2006) at the September WEAC Board and committee meeting.

“We have a real battle ahead of us,” Doyle said after WEAC President Stan Johnson announced that WEAC members are recommending his re-election and introduced him to sustained applause and chants of “Four More Years!”

The governor said Wisconsin’s public education system is one of the best in the country because past generations of Wisconsin citizens have always supported it. He said he is committed to continuing that tradition, and so are the people of Wisconsin.

It is only the “extremists” in the Legislature and his opponent who are attacking public education, he said.

“The value that we should all live by is pretty simple in this state. It is that everyone should have an opportunity to go as far as their hard work and their talent will take them. And we all know that the pathway to that opportunity is a good education,” the governor said to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 WEAC leaders at the Sheraton Hotel in Madison. “These people who are attacking education all the time, they never give you another alternative to try to help people get ahead. Education is the way that you unlock the richness of life for people, and it’s the way that you give people the chance to lead a strong and fulfilling life. And that’s what you do every single day.”

Doyle noted that in the last session, the Legislature handed him a state budget that would have cut education by $400 million.

“Even the non-partisan analysts who analyzed this said it would have led to the laying off of 4,800 teachers,” Doyle said. “Now, I had a lot of people give me a lot of ideas about how Wisconsin should move forward, but outside of these guys in the Legislature and this guy who is running for governor against me, I’ve never heard anybody come up to me and say, ‘Governor I’ve got a really good idea for moving Wisconsin forward: let’s cut 4,800 teachers, let’s increase class sizes, let’s get rid of all the art and music and physical education classes, let’s get rid of the school liaison officers and support staff.’ ”

Doyle used his veto powers to prevent the $400 million in cuts and provided an additional $850 million for schools, maintaining the state’s two-thirds funding commitment for public education. He preserved technical college funding, made rural schools a priority, championed an effort to expand the state’s SAGE small class size program, and fought to repeal policies that hinder Wisconsin’s ability to attract and retain the best and brightest teachers.

“You know, I want this thing to be moving in the right direction,” Doyle said. “We can’t rest on our laurels. We can’t say that we’ve been a great education state for many years and then just sort of sit back because I’ll tell you the rest of the state, the rest of the country and the rest of the world are moving forward, and for us to maintain our great advantage in education we’ve got to make that new investment in education as well.”

In other comments to WEAC leaders assembled at the WEAC Board and standing committee meetings, Doyle said:

He used his veto powers to reject a $45 million cut that the Legislature proposed for the technical college system. “Now, as many of you know, I love the technical colleges in this state because I see what they are. The technical colleges of Wisconsin are the door that’s open to every single citizen who wants to come to get ahead. It doesn’t matter where you started. You may have come right out of high school and you’re a really good student and you want to become an electrician … maybe you didn’t do quite so well in high school … maybe you got into some trouble along the way … maybe you delayed your education to start a family and you’re ready to get that education … we have one place in this state where it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can walk through that door and if you’re willing to work hard, we’re going to give you a pathway to move forward, and that’s the technical colleges of Wisconsin.”
Four-year-old kindergarten “is an absolute essential to helping us be successful in this state.”
He strongly supports small class sizes and especially the SAGE program “because we know that if we get kids in those early grades in class sizes of less than 15 in each class with a good teacher … there will be a lot of great education taking place.”
Successful schools have great teachers, but they have also have great support staff. “I’ve seen a desperate need for school psychologists and nurses and social workers and the people who are actually in the offices making those things go, and the custodial staff and the people who serve the lunches,” he said. “Schools are a home for our kids in the hours they are there and we need to make sure there is good support for every single child that comes into a school.”

Flanked by the WEAC Leadership Team, Governor Doyle addresses a joint meeting of the WEAC Board and WEAC standing committees.