The joint committee on Finance reports and recommends:
Senate Bill 204
Relating to: by-products from prison industries recycling operations and prison industry interest payments.
Passage.
Ayes, 15 - Senators Weeden, Schultz, Cowles, Petak, Rosenzweig, George, Decker, Brancel, Foti, Porter, Schneiders, Ourada, Harsdorf, Linton and Coggs.
Noes, 0 - None.
Senate Bill 331
Relating to: special distinguishing registration plates associated with professional athletic teams, payments to D.A.R.E. Wisconsin, Ltd., and making an appropriation.
Passage.
Ayes, 13 - Senators Weeden, Schultz, Cowles, Petak, Rosenzweig, Brancel, Foti, Porter, Schneiders, Ourada, Harsdorf, Linton and Coggs.
Noes, 2 - Senators George and Decker.
Timothy Weeden
Senate Chairperson
The committee on Insurance reports and recommends:
Assembly Bill 416
Relating to: group health insurance market reform, including preexisting condition exclusions and limitations, guaranteed acceptance, portability and contract termination and renewability; and collective bargaining of certain health care coverage requirements.
Introduction and adoption of Senate substitute amendment 1.
Ayes, 5 - Senators Schultz, Huelsman, Buettner, C. Potter and Jauch.
Noes, 1 - Senator Shibilski.
Concurrence.
Ayes, 5 - Senators Schultz, Huelsman, Buettner, C. Potter and Jauch.
Noes, 1 - Senator Shibilski.
Dale Schultz
Chairperson
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Secretary of State
To the Honorable, the Senate:
Sincerely,
Douglas La follette
Secretary of State
State of Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction
January 29, 1996
The Honorable, The Senate:
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.
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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.
•
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
Referred to the committee Education and Financial Institutions.
State of Wisconsin
Department of Justice
January 24, 1996
The Honorable, The Senate:
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.
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
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
January 29, 1996
The Honorable, The Legislature:
As part of our ongoing audit of the Department of Transportation, we have reviewed the administration and funding of the State's railroad crossing safety program. Both the Department of Transportation and the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads share responsibility for the safety of 4,792 public railroad crossings in Wisconsin, which include safety equipment such as railroad warning signs, side-of-the-road or overhead flashing lights, and barrier gates.
From 1974 through 1994, the number of vehicle/train accidents declined from 401 to 165, or 0.1 percent of all vehicle accidents in 1994, and the fatality rate in Wisconsin is lower than the national rate and the rates of other midwestern states. However, Wisconsin's accident and injury rates per 1,000 crossings are higher than the national average and those of most neighboring states. Further, economic costs and the chances of serious injury or death are substantially higher in accidents that involve vehicles and trains than in those that involve vehicles alone.
While the Department has, in recent years, allocated federal funds to railroad crossing safety projects in addition to the federal and state funds appropriated for this purpose, this practice may end because of anticipated demands on federal funds for other transportation purposes. For each year of the 1995-97 biennium, expenditures for new crossing safety equipment are estimated at $2.4 million, continuing the decline in program expenditures from the program's peak year, fiscal year (FY) 1992-93, when $3.6 million was spent. Equipment maintenance funds will remain at FY 1993-94 levels.
At the same time, a growing waiting list of projects identified by the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads includes 34 safety projects with estimated costs of $2.9 million. Another 60 projects await review, which is likely to result in approval of approximately 15 projects with an estimated cost totaling $1.1 million. In addition, the Department has initiated an effort to review safety at all crossings over the next three years.
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Alternative sources of funding to provide safety equipment at more crossings may include federal discretionary funds, federal highway safety funds, state funds currently used to reimburse railroad companies for maintenance of safety equipment, local funds when the additional safety equipment results from local road improvement projects, or other funds from the Transportation Fund.
Attached is a more complete discussion of our findings with regard to railroad crossing safety equipment. We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by staff of the Department of Transportation and the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads.
Sincerely,
Dale Cattanach
State Auditor
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
January 30, 1996
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Henke
, Mary E.,
of Milwaukee, as a member of the State Fair Park Board, to serve for the term ending May 1, 2000
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Transportation, Agriculture and Local Affairs.
Senator Ellis, with unanimous consent, asked that all action be immediately messaged to the Assembly.
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Senator Moen, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess until 11:56 A.M..
10:30 A.M.
