When I say a tax cut ... I mean it.
Raising other taxes is not tax relief. it's exactly what it says it is ... it's raising taxes.
We face a lot of hard work and a lot of tough decisions in the weeks and months ahead.
Not raising taxes is greeted by applause tonight in this chamber. I hope all of you remember this in the weeks and the months to come.
Not raising taxes means that programs many of you like will be reduced. Some will be gone.
We are no longer measuring government in dollars and cents. We are measuring it by what we accomplish ... by the opportunities we create.
This tax cut gives us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to completely re-design and re-define and re-focus what government is ... what it does ... and what it can do without.
We are ratcheting down on personnel and programs...
And we are gearing up on technology and service...
We are creating a government that is smaller .... a government that works better and spends less.
No other state has done this.
Bold words. Bold deeds. That's what Wisconsin is all about.
WELFARE
Eight years ago we said we were going to change welfare in this state.
And we did it.
No one was even talking about welfare reform when we started. Today, everyone is talking about it ... and talking about wisconsin as a leader.
Our welfare rolls are at their lowest level in fifteen years ... down 25% in the last eight years.
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Wisconsin changed the dynamics of the welfare debate by laying down the very simple premise that if you accept a check from the state, you will accept certain basic responsibilities in return.
We made it clear that handing out money and expecting absolutely nothing in return is not public assistance. It is public apathy.
It is silent compliance with a system that discriminates against women and children ... that traps them in a life without hope ... and without a future.
Not anymore.
Tonight, we are completing the revolution ... we are completing the connection between welfare and work.
We are replacing the welfare check ... with a passport to a better future.
Tonight, I am announcing that we are moving the welfare division from our social services department to a new department of industry, labor and job development.
Welfare will no longer exist. It will no longer be part of the vocabulary.
Welfare is going to become a jobs program.
People on welfare want jobs ... they want the chance to prove themselves. And in so many areas of our state today, businesses are looking for workers.
I don't know about you ... it makes more sense to me to have private business paying people to work ... instead of the state paying them not to.
We are counting on the private sector to work with us ... to build a partnership for the future that will give people the chance to succeed.
And I am counting people like Dave Goettl and David Thornburg.
Dave Goettl is plant manager of Federal Foam Technologies in Ellsworth ... a company that is giving six welfare recipients the chance for an independent future.
David Thornburg is executive director of Brooke Industries in Fond du Lac ... a company that has already hired more than 50 AFDC recipients.
Gentlemen, thank you for your partnership.
Thank you for joining with me in seeing the same potential in a young mother who wants to build a better life ... in seeing the same hope in the eyes of someone excited about her future.
I am asking the wisconsin business community to follow our lead.
I am asking wisconsin to do what we do best ... show the way ... lead the way to a better tomorrow.
Bold words. Bold deeds.
EDUCATION
We said we were going to revolutionize education in this state ... and we have.
We created the first private school choice program in the country ... we have a school-to-work and youth apprenticeship program that is the model for the nation.
We have good schools in wisconsin. We have excellent students ... and have some of the best teachers in the world.
But we still have some work to do.
Tonight, I am asking teachers, principles, parents and entire communities to join me in creating a new system of public education for the 21st tonight century.
This will mean challenging the status quo ... it will mean fighting the gravity pull of those who are afraid to change.
But we are going to do it. we are going to put education back where it belongs ... back in the hands of our parents, our teachers, and our students.
... An education that is worthy of a $6 billion investment.
We are making changes. Our students, our parents, and our taxpayers will get what they want
If you saw the state spending millions of dollars to bus children to schools far from home when there are openings in good schools in their own backyards ... you'd start making some changes.
. If you saw that less than half of milwaukee high school freshmen actually graduate ... and graduate with a d+ average ... you'd start making some changes.
. If you saw that only 79% of our students actually go to school on a regular basis, you'd start making some radical changes.
Our first step in changing education is a complete redefinition of public education in Wisconsin.
From now on in Wisconsin, a public school will mean a school that is serving the public.
School choice is part of this new public education.
School choice is more than a program ... it is a philosophy.
It is the belief that parents know best when it comes to their own children ...
It is the belief that poor parents have the same right to choose that other parents do ...
It is the belief that parents will choose the best school for their child.
That's education serving the public.
We are expanding our milwaukee private school choice program to include more children and all private schools.
If a mother in milwaukee wants her child to walk to the private school across the street instead of being bused to a public school across town ... she's going to have that choice.
If that private school across the street has a religious affiliation ... she is still going to have that choice.
Religious values are not our problem. Drop-out rates are.
Government is allowed to pay for whatever pre-school a parent chooses. It is allowed to pitch in for whatever college they choose.
It is only for k-12 that we assume bureaucrats know best ... and parents have no say.
Not anymore.
And private school choice is only part of the solution.
We are going to make public choice an option statewide. We are going to make our public schools an excellent choice as well.
But even with choice, our Milwaukee public schools need special attention.
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Dr. Howard Fuller is the superintendent of Milwaukee public schools. His life is dedicated to reforming those schools. That's what drives him.
He wants to work with the Milwaukee school board to make bold, radical changes to the system. He wants MPS to succeed.
Dr. Fuller came to me with a list ... a list of changes he needs to make Milwaukee schools work.
I am including his requests in my budget ... because I believe in what he wants to do:
. He wants charter schools. Why not give every single school in the district the freedom and the flexibility to educate our children as they know best.
. Private contracting -- if a school thinks a private firm can turn their school around, do it. if they think a particular principal or a group of teachers are the answer, hire them.
. Failing schools -- give the superintendent the freedom to close schools that are not doing the job. forget the forms and formalities. If a school is not performing, shut it down. Stop throwing money away. stop paying for failure.
Dr. Fuller tells me one thing over and over again: He does not want to be superintendent of a public school system. He wants to be superintendent of a system of public schools ... schools that are serving the public.
There are many schools and teachers in Milwaukee today who are doing just that.
Teachers like Vandy Harmon, a teacher at Milwaukee technical high
School who is using computer technology to teach graphic arts. Vandy has been a Milwaukee public school teacher for 24 years. She is embracing innovation. She is leading the charge to the education of the 21st century.
Vandy, could you stand up please?
The education of tomorrow is already starting today, thanks to people like Ms. Harmon.
And I know that if we give Milwaukee the tools they need ... every Milwaukee school will be a success story. Milwaukee public schools will be the education comeback story of the 1990s.
And the Milwaukee success story will be the Wisconsin success story
... because I am giving every school in this state the same tools for Success.
We are going to unshackle our educators from the bureaucratic establishment that has kept them from soaring.
Every school district in this state is going to be as unique as the students they serve
A school right here in Madison is a perfect example of a school serving its students ... a school serving the public.
Some of our young people today are facing tough problems ... some are homeless ... some are victims of abuse ... some abuse drugs ...
Educators saw a need and created a school to meet it ... the Dane County Transitional School ... taking troubled students and teaching them the skills they need to succeed.
