Frederica Freyberg:
It turns out about a quarter of Wisconsin schools will take some 15 percent less in general state aid next year, and yet about 90 of the state's 426 districts are expected to receive more aid. So, what's up with that disparity? Some say the way we fund schools needs to change. More on that issue and other school matters with the newly inaugurated Superintendent of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Tony Evers. Thanks very much for being here.

Tony Evers:
Thanks a lot. I appreciate being here. Exciting times.

Frederica Freyberg:
Yes. Well, coming off the interview with the Madison superintendent, he wondered if DPI was involved in the final budget process. The governor tells us they were not. Why not?

Tony Evers:
Our role in the past has been and my guess is will continue in the future, although we'd probably like to do things differently, is we respond to requests for information and we have the expertise at the department to provide that information. If we're not asked, it's hard for us to kind of get the context of what's going on.                

Frederica Freyberg:
And so you weren't asked in the final kind of hours and minutes of this thing being put together in the conference committee for that expert input.

Tony Evers:
Well, we're involved with the legislative process all along.

Frederica Freyberg:
Right.

Tony Evers:
But as things become soup in the late stages, looks to me like essentially things got put together and we were not asked for as up-to-date information as needed.

Frederica Freyberg:
What is your reaction to that?

Ton Evers:
Well, I think there's going to be a better way, and I know that's part of the legislative process, to kind of pull things together at the last minute and coalitions are forming and not forming. But when it comes to important issues where expertise is needed, I'd suggest we need to be a little more careful in the future.

Frederica Freyberg:
You think that's how this resulted, this kind of disparity in this particular funding formula that left districts like Madison with instead of a 10 percent reduction, a 15.2 percent reduction.

Tony Evers:
Well, some of it has to do with the unique circumstances of different school districts. If they have significantly declining enrollment, if their property values are changing. It's a complex formula. I know that's part of another show probably. But it can't all be blamed, this disparity, on just that, this lack of communication, lack of asking questions. But clearly that's some of what went on when they were trying to put together the budget, that information wasn't asked for or provided for us, because we didn't know the questions were there.

Frederica Freyberg:
What might have been different had you been able to give them that?

Tony Evers:
Well, I think they would have had better information and my belief is that Madison's situation might be a bit different in that they'd be basing it on the correct year's — the base year of financial data which they didn't use. They used a previous year. But technically, you know, all that stuff aside, the important thing is that we establish a system of communication so that that does happen in the future, where we are asked, because we do have people that provide that information. But kind of long-term I think it's in everybody's best interest now to kind of take a breath and see what we can do to find a different way to fund our schools.

Frederica Freyberg:
What will you be doing toward that and what would you like to see different?

Tony Evers:
Well, I think the time is right, right now. I said that during the campaign and I'll say it again. I believe this is the perfect time for people to act as policymakers, whether it's legislators, myself, others interested in changing the funding formula so it's more fair, more robust, more clear and transparent. That would be a wonderful thing. The time is now because there's no money. We won't be fighting over scraps on the table. And so I'm hopeful to work with the governor's office and interest groups over the next couple months and maybe we can find some new ways to take a look at this problem that's more comprehensive, that is not last-minute kind of adjusting things at the end of a budget cycle.

Frederica Freyberg:
Moving along, Wisconsin is moving toward new academic standards in English and math. How much tougher will they be?

Tony Evers:
I think there will be two things that will happen. One is that there will be some more rigor. I think our Wisconsin standards are pretty good now, but they will be a bit more rigorous, but more importantly they'll be consistent with other states around the country. I know parents and media and others always have difficulty when we get around to comparing schools, comparing states because everybody has something a little different. This will eventually morph into a national view of public education and a national view of standards. I guess if I wasn't a parent I wouldn't worry about whether we're going to get through this. There will be some changes, but it will be more visible from 30,000 feet than right in the classroom.

Frederica Freyberg:
It is expected to be tougher, though.

Tony Evers:
Yes. Yes. One of the things that is important to me is to have every child a graduate and the newer standards and higher expectations fit right into that, because we have to do better with our graduation rates, but also make sure kids are prepared for college and the workforce.

Frederica Freyberg:
When should we expect them to go into effect?

Tony Evers:
Well, we will be working with 40 — we've got our set now. Now we're going to be working with 46 other states to find the common ground for those standards. And that will be done sometime within the next — I would say by next spring we'll be looking at standards and then of course that kind of feeds into testing, what we're going to do with testing and our accountability system. It's a big project. But it's exciting. We're in a real good place right now.

Frederica Freyberg:
We just have about a minute left. So I want to of course in a minute tackle MPS. DPI is ordering MPS to take corrective action. How much pressure will DPI exert on MPS to do that?

Tony Evers:
First of all, it's going to be a collaborative process. We do have expectations. We have a clearly delineated expectations about consistency of curriculum. Interventions, acting more directly with their community. We'll be monitoring that, bringing that not only to the school board, our continual updates, but also the mayor and he's got an innovation and improvement council. They will be involved with that also.

Frederica Freyberg:
Very quickly, how will you know that this corrective action has worked?

Tony Evers:
We have people on the ground there every day of the week. We will be able at the end of the year to say what those plans are, how has it improved student learning.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Tony Evers, thanks very much.

Tony Evers:
Thank you very much.