January 5, 1995
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Section
565.45 Wisconsin Statutes, requires the Wisconsin Gaming Commission to submit a report to the legislature regarding the impact on lottery operations of limiting expenses to 15% of revenues.
Sincerely,
scott scepaniak
Chair, Wisconsin Gaming Commission
Mark D. Bugher
Secretary, Department of Revenue
Referred to special committee on Gambling Oversight.
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January 5, 1996
TO: Charles Sanders
Assembly Chief Clerk
FROM: Katharine C. Lyall
President, UW System
RE: 1996 Salary Group/Range Assignment Report Required under Section
20.923(5), Wis. Stats.
Section
20.923(5), Wis. Stats., requires that the Board of Regents assign specified titled positions to salary ranges in whatever manner the board determines. The board is required to file a report annually with the Governor and Legislature.
The board has directed that all positions referenced in s.
20.923(5) be assigned to either a State Executive Salary Group or to a UW System salary range based on the following assignment criteria:
I. Positions subject to State Executive Salary Group assignment.
A. All positions referenced in s.
20.923(5) which carry the following titles regardless of annual salary:
Associate Vice Presidents
Assistant Vice Presidents
Associate Chancellors
Associate Vice Chancellors
Assistant Vice Chancellors
Assistant Chancellors
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B. All positions carrying the director or associate director title with over 50 percent of their activities coded as physical plant, general operations and services, and auxiliary enterprises whose fiscal year annual salary rate exceeds the maximum of pay range 1-17 (1995-96 maximum is $57,367) of the general non-represented pay schedule #1.
II. Positions subject to UWS Salary Range Assignment:
All directors or associate directors with over 50 percent of their position assigned to an enumerated activity code in the statute whose annual salary does not exceed the maximum of pay range 1-17.
Part A of the attached report designates those positions assigned to State Executive Salary Groups and Part B provides the minimum and maximum for those positions assigned to a UWS Salary Range. I would note that the number of UW personnel in State Executive Salary Groups declined 5.5% from the previous year and the number of UWS ranges fell 8.2 %. The report is dated January 1, 1996 and serves to fulfill this calendar year's reporting requirement.
Referred to committee on Colleges and Universities.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Social Services
Madison
January 17, 1996
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
In accordance with ss.
46.027 and
13.172(3), Stats., I hereby submit the first annual report of the Gang Violence Prevention Council. The Gang Violence Prevention Council was created by
1993 Wisconsin Act 98, enacted December 10, 1993. Attached to the Department of Health and Social Services, the 15-member Council is charged with three specific functions, one of which is to submit an annual report to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature.
The enclosed report conveys the goals, objectives and strategies developed by the Gang Violence Prevention Council and summarizes the Council's activities during the first year of operation. Through this report, the Council attempts to set the groundwork and provide a forum by which existing successful gang prevention and gang intervention strategies and programs can be duplicated, and new ideas and strategies to prevent children from becoming influenced by and involved with gangs can be presented.
Should you have any questions regarding any of the material contained in this report, please feel free to contact me at 267-3691, or Merry Ament, staff to the Council, at 261-6953.
Sincerely,
Silvia R. Jackson
Chair, Gang Violence Prevention Council
Administrator, Divison of Youth Services
Referred to committee on Criminal Justice and Corrections.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Social Services
Madison
January 19, 1996
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
1993 Wisconsin Act 16, Section
9126 (15d) provided funds to establish a pilot program for family preservation intensive in-home services for the purpose of preventing out-of-home placements of children who have been abused and/or neglected. Act 16 also directed the Department of Health and Social Services to evaluate the pilot and to submit an interim report of the evaluation to the governor and to the appropriate committees by July 1, 1996 and a final report by January 1, 1998.
Beginning January 1, 1996, the funding for this pilot was incorporated into the Community Aids allocation for the ten pilot counties. The pilot status ended and, therefore, the evaluation ended. Staff from the Office of Policy and Budget and the Bureau for Children, Youth and Families have agreed to submit a final report of the pilot at this time. The attached report fulfills that agreement.
Sincerely,
Joe Leean
Secretary, DHSS
Referred to committee on Children and Families.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Justice
Madison
January 24, 1996
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
Section
165.90, Wisconsin Statutes, requires that you receive an annual report on the progress of the county-tribal law enforcement programs which are funded under this section. Please accept this letter as the report for 1995.
Since 1990, counties and tribes have used these grants to provide law enforcement services on tribal lands. Grants have also been used to support many worthwhile activities including anti-drug and anti-violence community workshops, neighborhood watch programs, youth activities, and joint county-tribal law enforcement committees.
During the fall of 1995, the county-tribal law enforcement coordinator in the Department of Justice concluded field reviews of each county which participates in the county-tribal law enforcement program.
Findings of 1995 Field Reviews
The county-tribal law enforcement program coordinator conducted on-site reviews of the 15 programs funded under s.
165.90, Stats., during September and October of 1995.
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In general, the county-tribal law enforcement programs are working well. Several counties have established or have plans to establish joint county-tribal law enforcement committees which will meet on a regular basis. These committees provide a free flow of information between the county and the tribe on the needs of the Indian community as well as the resources which are available to the sheriff's department to help meet those needs. The committees have also successfully produced neighborhood watch programs and established community workshops on issues such as substance abuse prevention and crime prevention.
Some tribal police departments assist the sheriff's department by providing most of the law enforcement services for a significant geographical area of the county. In such cases, sheriffs have turned to the trained, certified officers of the tribal police department to police communities that are more difficult to reach for sheriff's deputies.
Some county and tribal police departments are dealing with increased criminal activity caused by the return of individuals from urban centers to tribal lands. Some of these returnees bring with them urban problems which have not previously been dealt with in the rural communities of northern and western Wisconsin. This has placed an increased burden on the law enforcement agencies in those areas.
The Department of Justice will continue to monitor these programs for achievement of cooperative program objectives and goals, in accordance with in s.
165.90, Stats.
The Department of Justice is committed to making this program a successful collaboration between Indian nations and counties. DOJ will continue to monitor the compliance and achievement of these cooperative programs to ensure that valuable law enforcement services are provided to tribal lands.
Sincerely,
James E. Doyle
Attorney General
Referred to committee on Criminal Justice and Corrections.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction
Madison
January 29, 1996
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
As required by s.
119.23, Wis. State., enclosed for distribution to the appropriate standing committees is the fifth-year report on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Authored by John Witte, professor with The Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs and the Department of Political Science of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the report is a balanced, independent review of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. The fifth-year report is an abbreviated version of earlier reports.
The report features a description of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, a description of choice families and students, a five-year report on outcomes, and a brief response to some of the criticisms of previous reports. It does not contain any information on the 1995-96 school year.
Among the findings of the report are the following:
•
The program accomplishes its intent of making alternative school choices available to low-income families in Milwaukee. Choice parents had a slightly lower income than low-income MPS parents in the first four years of the program. Incomes of 1994 choice families increased to an average of $14,210.
•
The leading reasons given for participating in the choice program were the perceived educational quality and the teaching approach and style in the private schools. That was followed by the disciplinary environment and the general atmosphere that parents associate with choice schools.
•
Choice parents were significantly more involved in the prior public school education of their children than MPS parents and continued to be more involved in their child's education at choice schools than MPS parents. Parental satisfaction with choice schools increased significantly over satisfaction with their prior public school.
•
Despite their economic status, choice parents reported higher education levels than either low-income or average MPS parents. Choice mothers were more educated than MPS mothers, which should have produced higher scores for choice students but did not.
•
Reading scores for choice students essentially remained the same over the past three years. In 1995, there was a 1.5 drop in the Normal Curve Equivalent math scores. Regression results, using a wide range of modeling approaches, generally indicated that choice and public school students where not much different. If there was a difference, MPS students did somewhat better in reading.
•
The attrition rate, which was initially very high, is on a downward trend. Excluding students in alternative programs, the attrition rate from choice schools was 44 percent in the first year, 32 percent in the second year, 28 percent in the third year, 23 percent in the fourth year, and 24 percent in the fifth year. Attrition rates are higher with alternative schools and included 46 percent, 35 percent, 31 percent, 27 percent, and 28 percent. Reasons given for leaving were primarily for family-specific reasons, including moving. Other respondents to follow-up questions about attrition were critical of some aspect of the choice program or private schools.
•
Pupil attendance in the choice schools is high but only slightly higher than MPS. Attendance by choice students (excluding alternative schools) averaged 94 percent in 1990-91, 92 percent in 1991-92, 92.5 percent in 1992-93, 93 percent in 1993-94, and 92 percent in 1994-95. Average attendance in MPS elementary schools in the last three years has been 92 percent. Attendance at middle schools for the same years averaged 89 percent, 88 percent, and 89 percent.
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•
The conclusions and recommendations in the report are no different than those offered in previous years. Based upon surveys of parents, the majority of students and families involved in the choice program report they are better off. This feeling is expressed despite the fact that achievement, as measured by standardized tests, was no different than the achievement of MPS students. The attrition rate and factors affecting attrition indicate that not all students will succeed in choice schools, but the majority remain and applaud the program.
I believe this report provides continuing evidence that, while the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program provides an option for low-income parents who have been dissatisfied with the educational alternatives available for their children, it has not demonstrated the dramatic academic improvements in student achievement that would label it a success. The experiment should continue on a limited basis and provide for continuing evaluation. That evaluation should provide more outcome data that includes, but is not limited to, standardized test scores. Choice school program requirements should be changed to require comparable test-score data with the Milwaukee Public Schools, which administers tests required under the Wisconsin Student Assessment System.
Along with the recommendation for continuing the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program on a limited basis, I caution legislators and other policymakers to realize that the program does not deal directly or substantially with the challenges the Milwaukee Public Schools ace such as the high rate of poverty among students, a high dropout rate, large class sizes, and inadequate facilities especially for early childhood programming. The recently enacted biennial budget included funds for the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) initiative, which was based on recommendations from the Department of Public Instruction's Urban Initiative Task Force. The SAGE initiative, while offered to districts throughout the state with at least one school with a high incidence of poverty, is targeted to assist 10 schools in Milwaukee. Components of the SAGE initiative, which includes smaller class sizes, were founded on research that demonstrates improved academic achievement. The SAGE program will be extensively evaluated.
For additional information about the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, please contact Sally Sarnstrom at (608) 266-7475 or Roger Sunby at (608) 266-2804.
Sincerely,
John T. Benson
State Superintendent, DPI
Referred to committee on Urban Education.
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