MADISON – Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Oconto) released the following statement after Governor Tony Evers vetoed Assembly Bill 1, the Legislature’s plan to restore Wisconsin’s high student standards after they were recently lowered by Superintendent Jill Underly:
“When Governor Evers discovered Superintendent Underly unilaterally lowered school report card standards during an election season so that no one would be able to tell whether schools were failing or improving, he said it was wrong. Today, he vetoed the bill that would have fixed that. Just like how Governor Evers and Superintendent Underly covered up Milwaukee Public Schools’ failings to pass a $200 million referendum, they play politics with Wisconsin’s children and a $15 billion K-12 budget.
Today’s action is even more reason to look forward to the results of the audit I ordered into Superintendent Underly’s changing of our school report card process. We need to get to the bottom of why her Department chose to artificially inflate scores instead of helping our kids – and ensure this misdirection never happens again.”
The audit into the Department of Public Instruction’s lowered school standards will be conducted by the state’s nonpartisan Audit Bureau. The results are expected to be released this fall.
