Back to School in Wisconsin

Lasee’s Notes

As hundreds-of-thousands of kids pack up their backpacks, grab their bikes, or catch a bus to school, they are heading back to some of the finest schools in the nation. We must continue to improve our system and ensure that our children receive the education they need to become valuable members of our society.

Let’s take a look at the positive things we have in our Wisconsin schools.
There are more teachers per student and more non-teachers than ever before. They are among the best compensated in the nation. Our children enjoy many new school buildings and a large selection of non-core classes and extra-curricular activities as well as busing for convenience.

Recently Wisconsin students finished second in the national ranking on ACT college tests. Nearly 70% of our high school students took the test. This is the second year in a row our kids have outperformed students in all but one of the 25 states that use the ACT exam. Minnesota held the top spot for the third consecutive year.

Wisconsin 4th and 8th grade students routinely score above the national average on math and reading tests. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Wisconsin 4th graders scored 4 points higher than the national average in both reading and math last year. Wisconsin 8th graders scored 7 points higher than the national average in math and 6 points higher in reading.

Compared to other states our kids are getting a good education.

Still we can and must do better. We must look to other nations that are educating their children better while holding the line on costs for their taxpayers.

John Stossel co-anchor of ABC News’ “20/20” recently did a show entitled “Stupid in America” which compared American schools to those in other industrialized nations. Specifically he tested Belgian students against American students in a series of identical knowledge exams. The Belgian kids scored better than our kids in every area tested.

Stossel also found that while Americans test well above average in comparison to other kids on international tests at age 10, by age 15 when we are tested against 40 other nations our kids finish well below average. He concluded that the “longer kids stay in American schools, the worse they do.”

Why are our kids consistently falling behind those of other nations?

One reason is competition. Unlike our school system which tells parents where there kids can go to school and what they will study and when, in Belgium and other industrialized nations, their public schools are run as a free market. People are encouraged to shop around for the best school that meets the needs of their child and spend their voucher wisely.

Belgian public and private schools compete for the government tax money that is attached to each child. If a school underperforms and does not attract students it doesn’t do so well. This voucher system ensures that Belgian kids are receiving the best education available for the money they have.

That’s a great idea. We do have a Charter School Program in Wisconsin that allows parents to send their kids to other schools than their assigned public school, as well as the Milwaukee voucher program. However, it is only operating in a handful of communities. We should look to expand this proven program throughout the state and voucherize our entire system. Schools would have to compete for the opportunity to educate our children, rather than assigning them to a school that may not meet their needs.

We also need to reform the way we compensate our teachers for the important work they do. Under our current system, we pay our teachers according to the number of years they have worked or the number of degrees they have attained. There is no incentive or bump in pay for a teacher who improves student performance, who works extra hard, spends extra time, or innovates. We need to look at a merit pay system that will give the biggest raises to the teachers who get the best results. This will motivate our teachers to improve their methods and it will help us weed out the complacent ones or at least pay them less than the best.

Wisconsin enjoys good schools compared to the rest of the nation. Still we can and must do better. The education of our children is far too important for us to allow other nations to pull ahead.
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Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.

Come to Wisconsin - We are Bad for Business

Lasee’s Notes

That motto would probably not attract many businesses. Unfortunately that seems to be the message we are sending to business owners and professionals who may be looking to relocate or expand here.

Forbes Magazine, an international business publication, released its first “Best States for Business” study. Not surprisingly, Wisconsin ranked near the bottom of the list. We were 39th overall among the 50 states.

The top five states to do business in were Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Utah, and Colorado (quite a recovery for a state that was reduced to ruins after the Taxpayer Bill of Rights).

Forbes ranked states according to six categories: regulatory environment, business costs, economic climate, growth prospects, labor, and quality of life.

Wisconsin underperformed badly in nearly every category. We ranked 42nd for regulatory environment, 39th for economic climate, 38th for growth prospects, 30th for labor, and 27th for business costs. Our quality of life was ranked 6th in the nation. Had this category been removed we would have been even lower on the list.

Unfortunately not many business owners and professionals are looking to move to a state with a high quality of life and a government that over taxes, over spends, and over regulates.

Why should you care?

Despite political attempts from both Republicans and Democrats to improve our business environment, we are underperforming in the categories that matter to businesses. Talented people who create jobs and pay a lot of taxes are leaving or NOT coming here because of it. They realize that they will keep more of the money they make elsewhere. And that means we are all paying more in taxes and fees to make up the difference.

What can we do to fix the problems that make Wisconsin bad for business?

Democrats believe that the solution to our problem is not that we are taxing people too much. It is that we are not taxing the RIGHT people enough. The liberal answer to lower our tax burden and boost the economy seems to be – tax business owners and executives MORE. In their minds, these people are not paying enough in comparison to the rest of us and that is not fair.

If that is true, then the top five states in the Forbes study must be taxing their businesses more than we are. That is not the case. According to data from the Federation of Tax Administrators, all five states have a much lower corporate income tax rate than we do. In fact, two out of the top ten states have no corporate income tax.

In Wisconsin, we automatically tax 7.9% of all business profits regardless of how much the business makes. That’s on top of the 35% the federal government takes. To put this in perspective, if you own a small business in Wisconsin and you make $10,000 in profits, you will automatically pay nearly $4,200 in state and federal taxes. Talk about unfair.

Raising taxes on businesses is NOT the answer.

Eliminating the corporate income tax is. We also need to reduce the regulatory burden that often prevents businesses from expanding and creating more jobs.
Wisconsin can do better.
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Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.

Is Second Good Enough?

Lasee’s Notes

The ACT College test results and rankings were released last week. Wisconsin high school students had the second highest in the nation. This is the second year in a row our kids have outperformed students in all but one of the 25 states that use the ACT exam. That’s great news. Compared to other states (but not other nations) our kids are getting a good education.

Minnesota students achieved the top ranking for the third year in a row. Granted their average student score was slightly higher than ours (22.2 for Wisconsin kids compared to 22.3 for Minnesota kids).

Minnesota is educating their children better and they are spending less to do it. They are paying their teachers more and have less of them. Why isn’t Wisconsin doing what they are doing? They are consistently getting better results at less cost.

According to the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, in 2004 Wisconsin taxpayers spent $9,881 (nearly ten grand) per child in our K-12 schools. Minnesota spent $9,239 per student. That’s more than $600 less per child.

If we did what Minnesota’s educational system does and put their best practices to work in our schools, Wisconsin taxpayers could potentially save more than $565 million ($565,000,000) per year ($642 X 881,480 students) -- while improving our kids' education and better preparing them for their future.

Quality education is important and is the responsibility of the government. It brings future success and greater earnings over a lifetime. This is good for individuals and good for our state and country. Minnesota is reaping benefits. People in Minnesota, on average, earn about 15 percent more than Wisconsinites.

Why is this important to you?

Because we are paying for it and well educated kids grow up to be more productive and creative adults. They make more and pay more in taxes (and can afford them more easily). It helps our economy greatly. Wisconsin has a problem attracting college educated people from other states. Without a Wisconsin connection the smart and educated are choosing to live in other states. Nearly every state allows them to keep more of the money they earn. To spend, save, and invest.

Why aren’t our educational leaders looking to Minnesota for ways to improve the education of our children and save taxpayers money in the process? Great question. Could it have anything to do with WEAC (the teacher’s union)?

Let’s follow Minnesota’s lead and use their education strategies and immediately put these practices into our classrooms. The savings we realize should be returned directly to property taxpayers. It works in Minnesota, why can’t it work here? Second is not good enough and it’s time we did something about it.

State Superintendent of Schools, Elizabeth Burmaster, please lead us to better results at a better cost. We don’t need more money, we need leadership.
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Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.