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Farmers

In these chambers, we have created a better environment for our farmers as well.

We provided farmers the undeniable right to farm their land without fear of lawsuits as development moves their way. No need to worry about a costly lawsuit because a new neighbor doesn't like the smell of your cows. We made sure land is taxed on its current use, not its potential value; cut capital gains taxes; and made it easier to pass farms onto the next generation.

And, we cut their property taxes. Farmers across this state are reporting gigantic reductions in their taxes.

Lois Alcorn of Lancaster wrote me, saying: "Thank you Gov. Thompson. Our property taxes were down $3,152.18 -- 19.9%. Way to go."

S56 Well, Lois. You're welcome. And thanks for being her tonight.

We put thousands of dollars in the pockets of Wisconsin farmers through our actions last legislative session. But the federal government is taking that money out of farmers pockets.

Too many farmers are not doing well enough because Washington has refused to create a balanced and fair dairy system.

In setting the price of milk, the National Cheese Exchange just does not work.

We know this because my administration launched a study of the Cheese Exchange and its impact on fluctuating milk prices -- drawing national attention to the pricing issue.

We then developed strong alternatives for the USDA to consider, such as removing the Cheese Exchange from the milk pricing formula. And next week, I will lead a delegation of state farmers to Washington to meet with USDA Secretary Dan Glickman and demand action to stabilize milk prices.

I will speak to Secretary Glickman's boss as well. To President Clinton, I will say:

"Mr. President, you talk a lot about building bridges to the 21st century. But as things stand now, Wisconsin farmers are at risk of floating down the river instead of crossing the bridge."

Build a bridge our farmers can cross, Mr. President. Fix the milk pricing system.

We have the most productive and efficient farmers in the world. It's time for America to do right by them.

Public safety

In these chambers, we made Wisconsin one of America's safest states. Again, six of the 10 safest cities in America are in Wisconsin -- including the safest -- the Appleton-Oshkosh region.

In the budget I present in two weeks, a cornerstone will be a dramatic and comprehensive public safety package dealing with crime, sentencing and punishment.

America's state is about to get even safer.

Property taxes

In these chambers, we showed America what it means to give a real property tax cut. Across this country, states are struggling to provide property tax relief. But only one has been able to cut its property taxes without raising other taxes. Wisconsin.

For the first time in history, property taxes went down without income or sales taxes going up in exchange.

A pure tax cut -- the largest in state history.

They said it couldn't be done. I said it could. And we did it.

And we're not going back.

Already, some are talking about walking away from the state's commitment to fund two-thirds the cost of local schools.

No way. Not on my watch.

Women's Health

And in these chambers, we have worked to make our families healthier.

We take great pride that 93 percent of our residents have health coverage -- the best in the nation.

As we look to the future, however, we must rededicate ourselves to addressing the unique health needs of the elderly, the long-term care population and, particularly, women.

A few years ago, my family received a scare when Sue Ann was diagnosed with breast cancer. We thank God that she caught her problem early and is now doing fine.

We must commit ourselves as a society to doing more for women's health -- from breast cancer and osteoporosis to domestic violence and abuse.

Tonight, I am unveiling a striking new multi-million dollar Women's Health Initiative. The initiative creates an Office of Women's Health to coordinate our statewide effort. It also includes:

*2 million over two years to make sure the health needs of low-income women without insurance are being met.

*A million dollars for a statewide campaign to educate women about health risks, prevention and treatment -- with emphasis on the groundbreaking research on women's health at the University of Wisconsin.

*Money for a statewide Breast Cancer Campaign.

*And money for a new mammogram van that will travel throughout regions of our state screening women for breast cancer.

Every woman in this state will have access to a mammogram and other early detection efforts. The key to beating breast cancer is to catch it early.

Sue Ann knows from experience.

And I couldn't be more proud that my wife will help lead this initiative in Wisconsin.

Education

Over these past ten years we have joined together in these chambers to help lead the nation in economic renewal, abolishment of the welfare state and sound fiscal management.

But I stand before you this evening with a keen awareness that in spite of all our achievements, we have unfinished business to attend to before welcoming in the new century.

While Wisconsin should be proud of having one of the highest quality public education systems of the 20th Century, it is my profound conviction that we have not laid the foundation for making the same boast in the new century.

You saw the headline in the recent Education Week evaluation of the nation's schools. They described Wisconsin as, quote: "Satisfied with the status quo." There are no more disturbing words for the future of our way of life than "status quo."

This is our unfinished business: to prepare Wisconsin's schools to meet the challenges of a new millennium. America's State should accept nothing less.

Our goal must be no less ambitious than creating the highest skilled, most productive workforce in the world, with businesses flocking to Wisconsin for our greatest asset - our people.

It is my goal as we march toward the year 2000 to make education so compelling and relevant to the lives of our youth that someday we put the Department of Corrections out of business.

There are four principles that must be at the heart of this education reformation:

¨ ¨Parents must be empowered with more choices;

¨ Education must be relevant to workplace;

¨ Schools must be held accountable for their performance; and

S57 ¨ Technology must pervade every facet of education.

There is no greater need for parental empowerment than in the Milwaukee Public Schools. Every year, 7,000 students enter MPS and 3,300 graduate. We are wasting too many lives and so much potential.

Now, I want to be clear - I do not mean this as an attack on the educators in Milwaukee. There are hundreds of educators who have devoted their lives - sometimes even risked their lives - to help the children of Milwaukee learn.

And Superintendent Bob Jasna has been a pioneer in implementing a graduation math test that has dramatically elevated math performance in the Milwaukee schools. He is a bold reformer and I'm sad that he is retiring.

But we must do more to reach Milwaukee's students and make school relevant to the 3,700 students who walk away from the opportunity for an education.

Dr. Howard Fuller has helped me develop a proposal for a new form of charter schools. He and I are proposing that we empower the Milwaukee Area Technical College, the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and the City of Milwaukee to establish charter schools to find new ways for children to learn.

These are all public bodies, equally accountable to the taxpayers as you and I are. We should give them the freedom to help teach children and to give parents more options for who is educating their children.

And let me say this about options for parents in Milwaukee: I will not give up the fight for the Milwaukee School Choice program.

I will take this case to the highest court in the land. It is right and it will prevail.

Parents must also have choices within our public school system. The people who are paying the bills should have a say in where their child goes to school.

So let's pass public school choice. Let's give parents the choices they need to ensure their child gets the best education possible.

And let's make sure what they are learning is relevant to the workplace. Last year, I asked former Superintendent of Schools Bert Grover to assist me in improving our nationally acclaimed school-to-work and youth apprenticeship programs.

And he has delivered a stunning new vision for connecting learning to work. At its foundation is a consolidated school-to-work effort at the state level with new options for students to pursue applied learning.

Dr. Grover and I propose consolidating the state school-to-work program into the Department of Workforce Development. Right now it is disjointed and split between three agencies. I will appoint Dr. Grover as a leader on the Governor's Council on Workforce Excellence to help us continue to develop new ways of connecting work and learning.

And to give students and parents more options for technical education, I am proposing a statewide initiative to allow high school students unprecedented access to our top-rated technical college system.

The average age of students on our technical college campuses is 28. Often students leave high school with no career in mind, only to realize 10 years later they need more education in order to succeed.

We should help our students reach that conclusion earlier in life.

If Johnnie decides his junior year he would like to become a carpenter and join his father's construction business, let's get him ready.

I want to give students in every school district the option of attending a technical college their junior and senior year of high school, actually earning their high school diploma from the technical college if they choose.

From there, the student could go on for a technical college degree, transfer to a four-year degree program or enter the workforce as a well-trained worker.

I envision the creation of a Kindergarten-through-Grade 14 public school system where work and learning are fully connected, where education is more relevant to both the workplace and the student, and where technical education is a natural next step for our students.

Essential to making education relevant is making our schools accountable for their performance. We must set concrete, rigorous academic standards for our schools and measure our students' learning.

Tonight I am proposing model academic standards in math, science, English and language arts, geography and history. I'm bringing these standards forward as the starting point in a process that will lead to a first-ever set of state model standards.

These are not squishy cultural or social standards. I'm talking about strict academic standards in core subject areas. For example:

Our math standards require each student to calculate with efficiency and accuracy; selecting appropriate methods and procedures.

In history, each student must be able to identify, cite and discuss important historical documents that have influenced government in the United States and explain the nature of their influence.

And we even have a standard I know everyone in this chamber will like -- a standard for our aspiring journalists. It requires that each student distinguish fact from opinion in an article, identify propaganda techniques and fallacious reasoning, and integrate knowledge from the article into prior knowledge about the topic.

These standards represent the fundamental knowledge and skills our students must have to succeed in the workplace.

And these standards should be tested in a high-stakes graduation test. You don't pass, you don't graduate.

If you can't do basic math. If you can't read a job application. If until this past Sunday you thought the French Quarter was in France, you have not earned the honor of being a high school graduate in America's State.

MPS is proof that standards drive excellence. When the first students took their graduation math test, only 21 percent passed.

But instead of making the test easier and lowering the bar of excellence, MPS and its math teachers made sure their students crossed the bar. Last time out, 96 percent of the students passed the test.

Tonight, I would like to applaud Bob Jasna and the MPS math teachers for setting the bar high for Wisconsin when it comes to educational standards. Please welcome Bob, Josietana Hill, a math teacher from Madison University High School; and Donnie Wallace, a Vincent High School student.

S58 And let me be clear: The standards we are creating are model standards. A bar set by the state. But I want communities to have the flexibility to set their own standards -- taking into account the unique needs and the priorities of the community.

Therefore, I'm asking local school districts to adopt their own standards by the 1998 school year, with a graduation test in place by the 1999 school year.