(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said the process, not the substance, led to his veto of a bill that would have reverted evaluations of state school districts to previous levels.
Republican House Speaker Robin Vos, however, said the second-term Democrat’s veto shows Evers cares more about the establishment than student success.
Evers recently vetoed Assembly Bill 1 – the Legislature’s plan to reset the state’s K-12 school report card standards of 2019-20, make grades 3-8 standards the same as those set by the National Assessment of Education Progress, and make the high school testing standards the same as those from 2021-22.
Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly, who faces a challenge in Tuesday’s election from Brittany Kinser, announced the standard changes last fall, lowering what is proficient on ACT to 19 and dropping the terms basic and below basic in exchange for approaching and developing.
Evers said it’s up to the Department of Public Instruction and the state superintendent to change those standards back, not the Legislature.
“While I have been critical of the processes for recent changes to school scoring and standards, I am nevertheless vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to the Legislature’s attempts to undermine the constitutional authority and independence of the state superintendent of public instruction,” Evers, a former teacher, principal, school superintendent and state superintendent before becoming governor, said in his veto statement.
Vos said the veto shows Evers is more concerned with bureaucracy and political interests than he is with the state’s students.
“Gov. Evers’ veto shows his lack of willpower to address the problems facing our students,” Vos said in a statement. “It proves he doesn’t want to help students learn how to read. He wants to ensure the education establishment stays in power at the cost of student achievement. Today we have witnessed the governor’s “year of the kid” yield to political interests, protecting the bureaucracy and failed leadership of State Superintendent Jill Underly at the expense of Wisconsin students.”
