Doyle pushes plan

Ran on Tuesday, July 24, 2006

Doyle pushes plan
Covenant guarantees spot in college

By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff

For many kids, starting eighth grade can mean getting new school clothes, a graphing calculator and fresh backpack. For Emily Kelly of Chippewa Falls, it means planning for college.
Kelly and more than 6,000 others her age have signed Gov. Jim Doyle's Wisconsin Covenant.
The covenant signers promise to graduate from high school with a B average while being good community citizens; in return they will get financial aid as needed and promised a spot at a college in Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin System, the Wisconsin Technical College System or the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities are all fair game.
"I want every single young person in Wisconsin to know that if you're ready to really work hard and to apply yourself that there is a way for you to get to college," Doyle said. "And there are a lot of people along the way who are supporting you and want to help you get there. And that's what the Wisconsin Covenant is all about."
Kelly, who will be an eighth-grader at Chippewa Falls middle school, signed the covenant Monday with three others in Eau Claire at a meeting Doyle had at the Western Dairyland Community Action Agency, 418 Wisconsin St.
"I think it's really important to go to college, and I want to get a good education so I can do something to support myself," the architect or interior design-hopeful said.
Kelly said she would like to go to either UW-Milwaukee or UW-Madison; an aunt is the only family member to graduate from college.
Doyle said he wants this program to work to ensure the future of the state.
"It is very, very clear the states that are going to be doing well and the countries that are doing well in the coming years are those that have invested in education and those that have significantly increased the number of college graduates," he said.
College administrators agree.
"We need more college educated citizens in order to be more competitive economically," UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich said.
"I think anything we can do to help these young people get higher educations is critical," Chippewa Valley Technical College President Bill Ihlenfeldt said.
Doyle said Assembly Republicans did not provide enough money in its version of the budget to give the UW System the additional money it needs to hire more faculty and increase financial aid. The Assembly also dropped the Wisconsin Covenant from its version of the budget.
"The Republicans in the Assembly recently have just cut the guts out of the university budget, cut it by 162 million dollars," Doyle said. "Not a single penny was added to the education budget."
Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, challenged the governor's math.
"I think the Wisconsin Covenant is more about politics that it is about helping eighth-graders," Suder said. "It's bumper sticker politics on the backs of eighth-graders."
Suder said the Assembly version of the budget would give the UW System an additional $62 million over the two-year biennium, a 3 percent increase.
Doyle's budget would give the UW System $2.23 billion in general fund aid over the next two years. The budget approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate provides slightly more at $2.24 billion, while the Assembly budget provides $2.11 billion.
A conference committee of four Democrats and four Republicans now must try to reach consensus on this and many other budget issues. The budget then will go back to the Legislature and eventually to Doyle, who has one of the strongest line-item veto powers of any governor.