Thus, we came together to create the first set of education standards and the first graduation test. And I applaud the UW System for making passage of the test a requirement for admission.
To help our students achieve; we invested wisely in technology programs like TEACH -- a great equalizer that gives rural and urban schools the same access to courses and teachers.
We also provided better job training for our students with the nation's first School-to-Work and Youth Apprenticeship programs.
Our Youth Options program began our quest for a seamless system of schools, where a student can move easily from high school to technical college to the university system – all while getting real work experience. This must be the model for education in the 21st century.
We're also building the Schoolhouse of Tomorrow by pumping unprecedented money into our facilities, from our kindergartens to university research labs. We made sure our two-thirds commitment covered construction costs so small communities could afford new schools and building improvements.
As a result, the state has helped pay for 363 school projects and increased its construction funding by 650 percent.
And we've built our UW System campuses into cutting-edge institutions by helping to finance 4,025 building projects totaling nearly $2 billion in capital investment.
The payoff is the nation's best-educated, skilled workforce. Our students graduate in high demand.
What makes Wisconsin so special, though, is that in our fine progressive tradition, we have made wise use of our economic success. Yes, we aggressively cut taxes for our families, but we also invested in our future by helping those in need.
Nowhere is our state's social contract more evident than in health care, where we consistently have one of the highest percentages of people with health coverage.
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But when our workers can't get or afford health insurance, the state provides a helping hand in the form of BadgerCare. This program allows hard-working families like Todd and Catherine Dobbratz to buy into the state health plan in a way that doesn't tax others or bankrupt government. Now the Dobbratzes have health coverage for themselves and their four children. And I applaud the Legislature for taking swift, bipartisan action to make this program whole. It's a great way to start off the new session.
During my senate confirmation process, there was no program senators in both parties were more interested in than BadgerCare. They wanted to know how we did it and could it be replicated nationally. I don't know the answer but something tells me I'm going to find out. Once again the nation is looking to Wisconsin to solve a problem once deemed unsolvable.
And thanks to your help, we're giving seniors the choice of getting long-term care in their homes through Family Care. And Pathways to Independence is freeing the disabled to pursue careers without the fear of losing life-sustaining health benefits.
But I would be remiss – and in big trouble at home – if I didn't mention the tremendous strides we are making in women's health in Wisconsin. We created an Office of
Women's Health, expanded access to health care, and invested more in research. And I'm pleased to announce I was able to bring GE Medical Systems and UW Hospital together to install two digital mammography machines at UW Health Centers this spring. These machines detect breast cancer at such an early stage it will save hundreds of lives.
Another example of making the latest in medical technology available to Wisconsin women.
Now we also have before us the challenge of making prescriptions drugs affordable to low-income seniors. With both parties and houses publicly committed to addressing this problem, I am confident a solution can be reached. The existing budget constraints, however, clearly place the first priority on helping those seniors in greatest need. Let's make it happen.
Our most recognizable and successful social reform, however, is welfare.
They said you couldn't end AFDC. It was impossible to develop a more compassionate and effective way of helping the poor.
Well, we proved the cynics wrong and showed that every person has value. We rejected a system that discriminated against women and cast them off into a corner of society.
Instead, we took them by the hand and showed them a better way. And an entire nation followed.
W-2 is far and away our most compassionate accomplishment – the greatest change in social policy in 60 years.
We made welfare reform work because we did it right. We brought welfare mothers to the table and asked them what prevented them from working.
With their counsel, we invested up front in the programs needed to move them from dependency to self-sufficiency: child care, health care, transportation, training, food stamps, tax credits and individualized counseling.
Just look at childcare. We increased spending from $12 million to more than $200 million, and there are no waiting lists as a result.
Now we're taking childcare to the next step with our Early Childhood Excellence Centers that provide high quality learning for low-income children. These centers will set a new standard in early childhood development – putting at-risk children on more solid footing as they enter school. A model for this concept is SC Johnson and its Next Generation Now center in Racine. I'd like to thank Helen Johnson-Leipold for SC Johnson's leadership.
Welfare reform is succeeding beyond our grandest expectations.
Yes, our caseloads are down a remarkable 94 percent. Only 6,496 families remain on cash assistance.
But more important is the fact these families are better off. No their lives aren't perfect yet. But they are better off as a whole.
Just look at the data.
• Our first leaver's study showed that 70 percent left the rolls for a job.
• The average wage is $7.42 – more than two dollars above the minimum wage.
• The average family on AFDC was 30 percent below the poverty level. Through W-2, they're 30 percent above poverty.
• The child poverty rate has dropped by 20 percent.
• Wisconsin ranks as the fourth best state in the country for children.
• Our overall poverty rate is the fifth lowest; our gap between rich and poor is the fourth smallest.
Clearly, welfare reform is lifting families up. Helping them to succeed. And giving them a higher quality of life. Leilani Duarte, who was part of those first luncheons at the Residence, is proof.
Our challenge is not over, however.
The genius of W-2 is its flexibility and its ability to evolve. And evolve it must.
W-2 helped thousands of families get jobs. Now it must focus on helping them climb the ladder of opportunity to greater self-sufficiency. It must put resources toward helping families stay in the workforce and not slip backwards.
The Division of Economic Support is already in the process of making this transformation and I urge you to support their efforts.
We must not rest until we help these families attain their full share of the American Dream. That is the great promise of W-2.
Our strong economy also allowed us to raise our quality of life through a great outdoors, safer neighborhoods and preservation of our proud farm heritage.
As we created 800,000 new jobs, our tougher environmental standards led to a reduction of industrial pollution by nearly 25 percent.
We cleaned our environment with nationally recognized programs such as the Clean Water Program, recycling, brownfield recovery and the Great Lakes Protection Fund.
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We ignited a new era of environmental stewardship in Wisconsin by growing more forest land than at any time in our state's recorded history; preserving more land for public enjoyment -- 256,000 pristine acres; extending the Stewardship Fund by $460 million and another 10 years; and creating two new Centennial State Parks to celebrate the 100
th anniversary of the State Park System. I'd like to thank Dick Steffes and Sue Black of the DNR and Todd Montgomery of the State Parks Friends for their help preserving this land.
We also brought the elk and trumpeter swan back to Wisconsin; while removing the bald eagle, timber wolf, Canada Lynx, Cooper's Hawk and Tremblay's salamander from the endangered species list.
Our vibrant natural resources help make Wisconsin a popular tourist destination.
We increased our tourism promotion budget from $1 million to $12.5 million. And the payoff is an economic impact of $9 billion by the tourism industry. Tourist spending is up 51 percent as more visitors keep coming back more often.
And one of our greatest tourist attractions is the State Fair. You've already seen the aesthetic changes made to the park this summer. And there are even more ambitious plans to modernize the grounds. Please make the State Fair Park renovation a priority – we'll reap the benefits for generations.
We also have a great opportunity to build a world-class History Center that will make sure the story of Wisconsin and its people live forever. I am forwarding the $75 million project in the budget and plan to raise private money for it as well. This project must also include an underground parking facility.
The History Center will build upon the Overture Project, Monona Terrace, and Capitol Restoration and Veterans Museum improvements – making Madison and the Capitol Square a premiere tourist destination.
I'm just worried there'll be so many fun things to do around here; no work will get done.
The quality of life in our neighborhoods matches that of our great outdoors thanks in large part to our zero tolerance approach to crime.
We restored public confidence in the criminal justice system with truth in sentencing, strengthened our juvenile code by replacing a soft touch with tough love, and kept sexual predators off our streets until they're deemed not to be a threat.
While no one likes to build prisons, there is an unmistakable correlation between rising prison populations and the lowest crime rates in 30 years. When the bad guys are behind bars, they're not committing crimes.
But our goal remains to make a criminal's first visit to prison his last. Our cutting-edge work programs give prisoners a skill and work ethic so they can leave prison with the ability to get a job and stay out of trouble. And drug and alcohol treatment programs help keep them sober.
As we look to the future, every prison must have a work program that trains every prisoner. Otherwise, these criminals will just keep coming back. And let's bring all our prisoners back within two years and upgrade the prison health care system in this budget.
Down on the farm, things are looking up. We are America's Dairyland: the largest producer of cheese, dry whey and sweetened condensed milk. Our cheeses are recognized as the best in the world.
We produce 23 billion pounds of milk and boast twice as many family farms as any other state. All this despite federal dairy policies that punish Wisconsin farmers and discourage them from farming.
Wisconsin remains the dairy leader because of our commitment to family farming.
Our conversion to use value assessment saved farmers $41 million in property taxes last year alone – money that could be plowed back into new equipment and technology. I'd like to introduce Chuck and Kathy Garfoot of Verona, who credit use value for allowing them to stay on their land rather sell it in rapidly developing Dane County.
We also increased the farm credits by $29 million; created a permanent tax credit of up to $1,000; eliminated the inheritance taxes; and made health care costs fully deductible.
And parents can now pass their farm onto a child without paying onerous capital gains taxes.
We also protected the right to farm with legislation ensuring new neighbors and developments don't infringe upon family farmers and their operations.
For the future, we need to keep our farmers competitive by allowing them to expand.
Larger farms are the only way some farmers – and farm communities – will be able to survive. And many of our cheesemakers desperately need more milk. Just because a farmer wants to grow his herd, doesn't mean he isn't a family farmer. We can't be afraid to expand our dairy operations.
So as we look back on the past 14 years, we have indeed come a long way.
We struck the right balance between cutting taxes and investing prudently in our people.
We developed a winning formula and executed it together.
But behind the statistics are real people, like:
• Matthew Neary, a UW-Stout student pursuing his dream of a career thanks to Pathways.
• Eugene Bingenheimer, who gets quality care at home, thanks to Family Care
• Doctors Anthony D'Alessandro and Paul Volek along with the Nachreiner family, who are making Wisconsin one of best organ donor states in America.
• Wausau Benefits CEO Fred Moore, Board Chairman Dwight Davis and employees Jay Aniker and Chris Thomas – a company that's succeeding with the state's partnership.
• Patricia Burgess, a W-2 participant and her caseworker Barbara Atkins.
• Ben and Debi Heisner, Mineral Point farmers carrying on our agriculture heritage.
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• Milwaukee LaFollette Elementary principal Flora Odom-Flagg, and her students Vallory Tole and Welisha Frelow; and Messmer High principal Jeff Monday and students LaTosha Cooper and Juan Youngblood. These schools and educators are showing that all children in Milwaukee can succeed and meet high expectations.
• And finally the Ruttig and Hussey families, who on this very stage were promised major tax cuts in the last budget, address. We're proud to say we delivered for you.
These are the faces of our success in Wisconsin.
They're why we all got into this profession. To help people. To make their lives better.
And that's exactly what we've done together.
As they leave us tonight, let us thank these citizens for helping make Wisconsin a better place in their own way.
Now to the future. As we set a course for the next decade, we must keep investing in the
Four Ts. As always, I have a plethora of ideas on exactly how to do that.
First and foremost, it is important that Wisconsin maintain its aggressive attitude on economic development by investing in the new economy. Our competitors are no longer Illinois and Minnesota. They are also California, Colorado, Washington, Europe and the Pacific Rim nations.
Wisconsin stands to become America's Biotech Prairie and we mustn't let one high tech company escape our state in search of a better climate. We must nurture cutting-edge biotech companies like Third Wave Technologies, which is about to go public. Third
Wave exemplifies the great potential for this industry in Wisconsin. I'd like to thank Rocky Ganske and Stephanie Vavra for joining us tonight.
We must aggressively pursue more venture capital so the ambitious high-tech and biotech entrepreneurs have the resources to bring their discoveries to market.
