Congratulations to Germantown's Kamorea "KK" Arnold! She is the Associated Press girls basketball player of the year. This is the second big award for KK, who is also Gatorade's Wisconsin player of the year. Way to go, KK!

 

With Easter right around the corner, you can give the gift of Wisconsin. Special Easter-themed "boxes of fun" are available for the next two weeks, all stuffed with items from our great state. You can order a box and have it shipped in time for Easter here.

As always, if you have any concerns or ideas on how to improve our great state, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 608-266-5830 or by email at Sen.Darling@legis.wisconsin.gov.

An important education reform that I authored could soon become law. The bill will help better train future educators to teach the art of reading. Senate Bill 589 allows for the passage of the most up-to-date version of the Foundations of Reading test (FORt) to be accepted to qualify for a teacher license.

 

To qualify for a Provisional Educator License in Wisconsin for grades kindergarten to five, teachers must pass the FORt. Current law specifically identifies the 2012 version of the FORt. Effective August 2022, the administrator of the FORt examination will no longer offer the 2012 version of the examination.

 

We must move quickly on the bill so prospective teachers know obtaining a license will not be jeopardized next year. Currently, over 20 states require a test that fully measures the candidate’s knowledge of the science of reading. Eight of these states specifically use the FORt. We must make sure our educators demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the science of reading instruction.

 

As Wisconsin continues to see low proficiency scores in reading, now is not the time to go backward by getting rid of the test. I hope it is signed into law.

Thanks to the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, you now can track your school's performance, enrollment, and funding all in one place.

This week, the group launched the Wisconsin School Scorecard. Find your school district on the drop-down menu, and you can find out everything from per-pupil funding to average ACT scores to graduation rates. Click on the picture for more.

My office continues to hear from constituents about issues with the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS), the agency that handles professional licensing. Everyone from plumbers to psychiatrists needs to have their licenses approved by DSPS.

Unfortunately, DSPS is failing workers much in the same way as the Department of Workforce Development (DWD). Both departments have been plagued with well-documented instances of extensive backlogs and widespread dysfunction.

Dozens of my constituents have come forward and informed me that DSPS is cashing their checks but they are still waiting months and months for their licenses. That's unacceptable. Many of them are mental health professionals, who have been in high demand during the pandemic.

 

DWD fares no better. Mismanagement within the unemployment insurance division left thousands of unemployed without the money they are owed. Now, the department is informing some that they owe upwards of $10,000 in overpayments. Making matters worse, they still aren't answering the phones. The non-partisan Legislative Audio Bureau found DWD didn't even bother to answer 93% of the phone calls made by people seeking their unemployment payments.

The Legislature granted the Governor flexibility to shift staff and funding and the Administration has had ample funding from both state and federal sources to shore up current issues. Even if the Governor won't fix it, I will continue to look for solutions to end this bureaucratic nightmare.

If you are having issues with either DSPS or DWD, please do not hesitate to contact my office. We have consistently and diligently connected constituents with resources and expedited cases over the last two years to help combat the shortcomings in each department.