Overall, we want to provide the best education possible for every child in this state. For many, like my sons and me, it will be a traditional public school. For other families, it will be in a successful charter, private, virtual, or home school environment.
One of those families involves a wonderful mom named Dina Lein. Last year, I had an opportunity to meet Dina and her family in Appleton. She told me about how her son was in a local public school a few years ago, but it just wasn't working for him.
Back then, his grades were low, he was being bullied, and he didn't like school very much. Thankfully, Dina's family was one of the first to sign up for the school choice expansion after the last budget.
Dina introduced me to her family and I was thrilled to hear that her son Trace is now loving 6th grade. He's in the band and plays football. And his school scores have improved— dramatically. Dina and her husband, Michael, are here tonight along with their children— Coleton, Trace, and Alexxis.
Today, I am excited to announce our plans to lift the cap on vouchers so more families, like Dina's, can have the choice to find the best school for their children. Every child deserves the chance to succeed.
And every parent deserves the ability to see objective and comparable data about their child's school. Our budget includes the tools to provide that information to every parent for any school that receives public funds. You see, I trust parents. Give them the facts and they will act in the best interest of their children.
In addition, our budget removes funding for the Smarter Balanced test, which is connected to Common Core. We also include legal language making it clear that no school district in the state has to use these standards, which are set by people from outside the state.
I want high standards—and those decisions should be made by school board members and parents and others at the local level.
Our reforms will also improve programs that provide assistance to people in times of need. Here in Wisconsin, we help folks facing financial challenges. For those who are able, however, these programs should be a temporary safety net—not a hammock.
With this in mind, our budget expands the requirement for able-bodied adults to be enrolled in an employment and training program in order to receive food stamps. Now, some might claim that we're making it harder to get government assistance. We're not. We're making it easier to get a job.
The next step is to require able-bodied adults without children to pass a drug test in order to get a welfare check. For those who fail, we will provide treatment, so we can help them get off of drugs.
Why are we doing this? Well, because we know that we can get people jobs. Each week, employers tell me that they have positions available—they just need individuals who can show up for work and who can pass a drug test.
Think about it, as of this afternoon, there were more than 72,000 job openings posted on our state website. We need more people to fill these jobs.
We want to help transition people from government dependence to true independence through the dignity of work. This will bring security to both taxpayers and—more importantly—to those who ultimately are able to take charge of their lives.
Overall, our Freedom and Prosperity proposal provides greater security for people all across Wisconsin.
This budget provides renewed financial security as it is balanced and the rainy day fund is the largest in state history—165 times bigger than when I first took office. Our retirement system is the only one fully funded in the country and our bond rating is strong.
In my predecessor’s last budget, the total bonding level was $3.6 billion. In this budget, the total level of bonding is down to less than $1.6 billion. This is the lowest it has been in a decade.
Security for our citizens is just as important. In this budget, we put more than $600 million into Medicaid to provide health care for needy families, children, and seniors. Through our bold reforms, among the states that did not take the Obamacare expansion, we are the only state in the nation without a gap in coverage, according to the respected Kaiser Family Foundation.
Beyond Medicaid, we provide additional funds for programs that help victims of domestic violence and their families. Some of our partners in the fight against Domestic Violence are here with us tonight:
Patti Seger is the executive director of End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin. Teri Jendusa Nicolai is a domestic violence survivor, from Waterford. Roseanne Barber of Hayward is a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, a survivor, and a longtime advocate for victims. Melissa Torres is a survivor of domestic violence from Madison. And Jessica Honish is an experienced domestic violence victim advocate who works at the Rainbow House in Marinette. Places like Rainbow House benefit from our investments in the fight against domestic violence.
In this budget, we also continue to improve mental health services in the state, provide more funds to help the victims of child sex trafficking, and maintain support for successful crime fighting programs, like ShotSpotter, to fight gun violence.
Earlier tonight, I introduced you to the VanDrisses. Our Freedom and Prosperity proposal is designed to help families like theirs. Our budget helps keep their property taxes down and their son's tuition frozen. Our budget reforms government, so we operate in a way that is more effective, more efficient, and more accountable.
And our budget provides more security to people like them all over the state.
Thank you. May God bless you. May God bless and protect our brave men and women in uniform. And may God continue to bless the great State of Wisconsin.”
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Adjournment
The Joint Convention arose.
7:30 P.M.
