Copyright 1999 Journal Sentinel Inc.
Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
May 20, 1999 Thursday Final
SECTION: News Pg. 1
LENGTH:
862 words
HEADLINE: Clinton schools plan nothing new to
state
Education reform 'pioneered' in Wisconsin
BYLINE: JOE WILLIAMS
SOURCE:
Journal Sentinel staff
BODY:
The White House this
week called for nationwide public school choice, rigorous academic standards and
better teacher licensing and training programs in the states.
Been
there. Doing that.
In the progressive land of Fighting Bob La Follette,
the "radical" education plans coming out of the Clinton administration these
days are almost as old as the one-room schoolhouse.
"I think it's a real
feather in the cap for Wisconsin to see that issues that are being talked about
on the national level have been pioneered here in the state," said state Sen.
Richard Grobschmidt (D-South Milwaukee), chairman of the Senate Education
Committee.
President Clinton on Wednesday unveiled a tough-sounding
initiative that elaborated on his call in the State of the Union address to make
public schools more accountable.
The initiative includes reducing class
size, setting rigorous academic standards, bolstering teacher training programs,
broadening after-school and summer school programs, creating school safety plans
and establishing security procedures.
Even Vice President Al Gore this
week came up with a plan to help get his name on the education reform train in
time for the 2000 elections. His idea: start a public school choice program
where students can attend the public school of their choice.
As
politicians in Washington get busy making education a top priority of the
upcoming presidential election, Wisconsin could very well end up being
underwhelmed by all the big talk about improving schools.
"We have had a
discussion on a variety of education issues -- and although not all of us agree
on all of the points all of the time -- certainly the total education package of
Wisconsin is already moving in the direction that the president is talking
about," Grobschmidt said.
State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills),
one of many local legislators from both parties who have pushed for the kinds of
changes Clinton is looking for, said the federal government could be more
helpful if it just supported state programs that are already under way.
"Don't give us all these tick lists, because we've done them all," said
Darling.
Clinton announced his plan Wednesday with much fanfare, telling
reporters, "We do not have the luxury of waiting and continuing to subsidize
failure."
Education Secretary Richard Riley said, "We're not satisfied
with the status quo."
Both talked about stiff consequences for failing
schools and districts that did not comply with the initiative, but were less
clear about what those consequences would actually be.
Gov. Tommy G.
Thompson's office called Clinton's plan "dangerous for states."
"Wisconsin and other states are already succeeding in these areas," said
Kevin Keane, a Thompson spokesman. "We don't need the federal government to come
in with its one-size-fits-all attitude and muck it all up."
In
Milwaukee, which has seen breathtaking changes in its public education system in
the last decade, and in Wisconsin, regarded by many to have some of the best
public schools in the country, Washington's solutions for changing the status
quo appeared almost humorous.
"It's typical poll-driven Clinton policy,"
Keane said. "They see it as popular on the state level, so they try and jump up
and take credit for it."
As programs such as Milwaukee's private school
choice become popular politically across the country, the White House -- and
Gore in particular -- have embraced them as much as possible while trying not to
offend the powerful teachers unions.
Gore this week, in calling for more
choices for parents, hedged by saying, "Of course we must reject the false
promise of siphoning public school funding away to private
schools. That would only make things worse."
In terms of upsetting the
status quo, nothing coming out of Washington this week addressed hot button
political issues such as the plan Darling has pending in the Legislature to base
teacher pay on a teacher's performance.
Grobschmidt, reading a news
release from the White House Web page, went through the list of proposals and
identified most as programs already under way or scheduled to be discussed in
the state Legislature's Joint Finance Committee today.
Clinton's plan
includes closing failing schools, issuing school report cards and ending the
practice of social promotion, the practice of passing students through grade
levels even though they fail to master skills.
It does not address
funding the spiraling costs of federally mandated special education programs, an
issue that state and local leaders throughout the nation have asked of Clinton.
"Special education is breaking our back," Darling said. The notion that
the federal government could be most effective in helping pay special education
costs has received support from leaders of both parties.
"We could do
more in many of these other areas if we had some help in funding the federally
mandated cost of special education," Grobschmidt said.
Thompson and
other governors from both parties told Clinton months ago that the federal
government could help most by easing special education costs, Keane said.
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