But we must do more to make this program work in all our communities. Therefore, I am naming former Superintendent of Public Instruction Bert Grover as Special Assistant to the Governor for School-To-Work. Dr. Grover will make sure school-to-work becomes an even more effective part of every school in the state.
Another success is our charter school law, which is giving every school district in the state the opportunity to explore new ways of teaching and learning.
And our school choice initiatives are giving low-income parents in Milwaukee the opportunity to make sure their children receive the best education possible.
But we must ask ourselves: Is being good ... good enough?
Is it good enough to rank high against other states when we're sending our students out to compete in the global marketplace?
Is it good enough to have the nation's highest college entrance test scores and one of the best university systems in the nation when 70% of our students won't graduate from a four-year college or university?
Is it good enough to have strong suburban schools when many of our urban schools are facing unprecedented challenges to learning?
It may be good enough for some, but it's not good enough for Wisconsin.
So tonight I am setting forth a bold new set of initiatives in our ongoing effort to build a worldclass system of education in Wisconsin. A system based on choice, academic achievement and technology.
We begin by giving students and parents even more choices in education; choice must be at the core of any reform.
Most of the jobs that will be created in Wisconsin in the next 10 years will be technical in nature. Our employers already have an acute and growing need for workers with strong technical skills.
Tonight, I am proposing an ambitious pilot program to allow high school students who meet basic academic requirements to complete their junior and senior years at a technical college. These students will receive their high school diploma from that technical school.
We will give students the choice to immerse themselves in a technical college field of study and graduate with a marketable skill for the workplace or a head start on additional education.
We're working with several technical college and K-12 districts on this innovation right now.
Along with giving parents more options, we must also demand that our schools are accountable for their performance and our students are held to high standards of academic achievement.
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Every year in Wisconsin, we graduate about 48,000 high schoolers, without really knowing what they've learned. We put them in robes, hold grand graduation ceremonies, play "Pomp and Circumstance." Yet the only thing we are guaranteeing is that they completed at least a minimum number of high school courses. We know how long they sat in their seats, but we don't know what went into their heads.
Tonight, we begin making a high school diploma in Wisconsin a ticket to opportunity instead of just a keepsake.
Beginning in the year 2000, every student in this state must pass a graduation exam in order to receive a high school diploma.
The standards for the graduation exam will be set by each school district, working together with parents, teachers and employers.
Now let me make something absolutely clear from the start: I'm not talking about outcome-based education or some politically correct cultural standards, such as measuring some kid's cognitive diversity conflict management skills.
I am talking about solid, purely academic standards in core subject areas.
If you can't read and write....If you can't calculate...If you don't know the difference between Elroy and Argentina. You're not going to get a diploma in the state of Wisconsin. Period.
And if a school district is failing to teach those skills, the taxpayers and parents deserve to know about it.
It's called accountability.
I am asking the Governor's Task Force on Education and Learning, chaired by businessman and education pioneer Carl Weigel, to develop a process for communities to set local graduation standards.
And I applaud the courage and vision of former Superintendent Howard Fuller and current Superintendent Bob Jasna for already setting a graduation standard for math achievement in the Milwaukee schools.
The Class of the Year 2000 will be setting the standard for a new century. We owe them, and those who follow, the guarantee of an education that will help them lead productive, happy lives in the next millennium.
Our partner in achieving higher academic performance in our schools is technology.
In the time since we joined together to pass a landmark telecommunications bill, technology has advanced further than anybody predicted.
Distance learning is erasing school district boundaries....Students in Bowler and Marion, for example, are taking advanced placement psychology from a teacher in Clintonville. UW-Eau Claire is teaching English composition to high school seniors at Altoona and Cadott. And 9,000 registered nurses from all across the state can now pursue bachelor's degrees from 5 UW schools -- without ever stepping foot on those campuses.
Tonight, I am asking the UW System to reach three goals that will allow high school students to take greater advantage of new technology:
First, make additional UW courses available for high school students over the Internet. Second, establish a network for students and faculty on all 26 campuses to share interactive video and computer-based instructional materials. And third, give all high school students access to the UW System libraries as well as the Library of Congress. This will give students access to all the great libraries of the world...And never again will a student be able to say to a teacher: "The book is not in the library."
I am also asking the Educational Technologies Board and the Wisconsin Advanced Telecommunications Foundation to make sure that at least half of all Wisconsin public high schools are on the Internet by this fall, with the remainder on line by the fall of 1997.
By working together, we will become the first state in the nation to have all its high schools, technical colleges and universities connected via the Internet.
Also, UW System President Katherine Lyall is spearheading an effort to form a Student Information System available to every student in Wisconsin...
Finally, I'm proud to announce that high school students will be able to apply for admission to all UW and technical colleges over the Internet, beginning in 1997.
These are all bold initiatives. I have already discussed many of these ideas with Superintendent Benson and representatives of the teachers union, school boards and other education groups -- with the hope that we can pursue them together -- as partners.
We've never been afraid to set a new course in Wisconsin. Simply being good has never been good enough. That's why Wisconsin Works.
W-2
For nine years, we have been working to end welfare in Wisconsin. Tonight, we stand on the precipice of doing just that with our Wisconsin Works program, more commonly known as W-2.
With W-2, we're not just ending welfare as we know it. We're ending welfare. Period.
We are done experimenting. We're replacing the welfare check with a paycheck, creating an entirely new system for helping families in trouble.
Why? Because we care about the children and families trapped in an apathetic welfare system.
A state devoted to helping others lead better lives cannot tolerate a welfare system whose intentions may have been noble but whose results have been tragic.
Just consider some of the human tragedy of welfare: Studies have shown that
A child on welfare is twice as likely to drop out of school.
A child on welfare is twice as likely to become pregnant as a teenager....out-of-wedlock.
And a child on welfare is twice as likely to end up on welfare as an adult.... And each new generation will be on welfare three times longer than the previous generation.
We've allowed welfare to ruin too many lives for too long.
No more!
It is over!
It is finished!
As governor, I will not stand to lose one more generation to a morally bankrupt welfare system. I will not lose one more child because we didn't care enough to help.
Welfare must end now. And it must end in these chambers.
There is only one way to end welfare, for there is only one way a person can truly escape welfare and climb out of poverty.
And that is to work.
There is no shortcut. No simpler way. No alternative.
There's an old proverb that says very simply: "First work, then wages." And it is upon that principle that W-2 is predicated. No more something for nothing; from now on only work will pay.
When a family is down on its luck and turns to government for assistance, we're going to help them in a much more compassionate way.
We're going to give them a job.
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Instead of having them fill out this cumbersome 18-page application for welfare, we're going to have them fill out this -- a one-page job application.
W-2 puts people to work and helps them stay there. Instead of cash, W-2 provides ample child care, health care, food stamps, housing assistance and training until families earn enough to make it on their own. In fact, we're more than tripling our spending on child care to ensure the children of these parents are properly cared for. And they will be covered by health insurance.
W-2 also demands personal responsibility, just like the real world. For example, participants will make co-payments for child care and health care services, just as families not on public assistance are required to make.
And there couldn't be a better time to end welfare. Our economy is growing so fast that we have a surplus of jobs, with employers eagerly looking for workers. The Business Journal even reported recently that Milwaukee businesses were offering movie tickets, gifts and car loans as lures to potential employees.
The jobs are there.
And it is a job, as well as the pride of working, that lifts the poor out of poverty and sets them on the road toward achieving the American Dream.
Helping people lead better lives. That's what Wisconsin is all about. That's what W-2 is all about.
As lawmakers, you know perhaps better than anybody else how difficult it is to eliminate a program ...even when doing so is clearly in the best interests of the public.
Well today, you are in a position to do just that. You can end welfare.
Think about it. Don't underestimate the boldness of what we are undertaking.
You have the opportunity to make the greatest change in social policy in 50 years in this country. To help thousands of families lead better lives.
We will all be held morally accountable by history if we squander this opportunity.
Care enough to end welfare.
Summary
This legislative session will be remembered in history as ushering in the most monumental reforms of the century. No session in my memory has changed the course of this state -- and touched every life in this state -- the way the 1995-96 session has. We are charting a bold new course for success in the next millennium.
Tonight, we have set forth another ambitious agenda for the people of Wisconsin. And we pursue that agenda with the confidence that there is no idea too bold for action, no challenge too tough to meet.
We are living in a day of promise. Unlike most Americans, we believe our children will be better off tomorrow than we are today. And we're working hard to make it happen.
We build our economy....put people to work....preserve our natural resources....show zero tolerance for crime....invest in education....and lift the poor out of poverty -- All, so we can provide our children and families with the highest possible quality of life.
And we instill in our children values such as hard work, responsibility and a strong faith in God so they have the confidence to pursue a better future for themselves and their children.
Wisconsin Works -- for today and for tomorrow
In 1894, the great Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes said, "I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor."
In Wisconsin, we sail. We sail toward our dreams. And sooner or later, no matter what storms we encounter, we arrive safe and sound -- and better for having made the journey.
Good night, and God Bless Wisconsin.
Adjourned.
8:00 P.M.
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Senate Enrolled Proposals
The Chief Clerk records:
Senate Bill 245
Senate Bill 388
