Dear Friends,

Congratulations to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UW-Madison, Marquette, and the Medical College of Wisconsin. They all rank among the top universities in the world according to US News and World Report. Making the list is quite an honor, US News reviewed more than 2,000 schools in 90 countries. 

Good luck to Hamilton and Homestead high school football teams as they move on to the next round of the WIAA football playoffs! Also good luck to the Boys' soccer Division 1 Sectional Champions, Hamilton High School, and Division 2 Sectional Champions, Whitefish Bay High School. It's great seeing our local schools doing so well this season!

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.

On, Wisconsin!

As I mentioned last week, Milwaukee Public Schools are in a crisis. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test scores were released, and they are bad news for our state’s future.

In 2009, 4th grading reading scores for black students in MPS was the second worst in the nation. Now MPS has let them fall to last. There isn’t any improvement for white students either, scores were stagnant and stayed toward the bottom of the group.

According to the 2022 NAEP Results

• Wisconsin has the largest racial achievement gap of any state in the nation
• African American kids in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) are last in the nation in reading
•  Kids in MPS are two years behind kids in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta

What's even more disturbing is that the Department of Public Instruction "celebrates the relative stability of scores among Wisconsin fourth-graders.” This is disingenuous to the 4th graders struggling to read. Without major reforms, another generation of children will be lost. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Unfortunately, Governor Tony Evers twice vetoed a bipartisan bill that’s worked in other states to improve our support and interventions around kids who struggle to read. The governor and his DPI Secretary continue to protect the failing status quo.

Recently, I was named a "Friend of Family Medicine" by the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians. I am not only thrilled with the honor, I am very pleased they included expanding the Child Psychiatry Consultation Program (CPCP) as a top policy objective for their group.

In 2013, I helped take steps to counteract the psychiatrist shortage by providing funds for the CPCP. This innovative program connects primary care providers with child psychiatrists. Operated by the Medical College of Wisconsin, the program allows providers to receive consultations on youth mental health cases and also provides educational seminars on mental health for providers.

This session, I worked with Representative Jim Steineke of Kaukauna to expand the program and create a comprehensive Mental Health Consultation Program (MHCP) for Wisconsin. The MHCP would be a resource for primary care providers throughout the state for perinatal, child, adult, geriatric, pain, veteran, and general mental health consultation services. The MHCP would provide education, consultative support, and community resource referrals for primary care physicians.

Our bill is an innovative solution to serve more constituents’ mental health needs and better prepare our primary care providers to face emerging mental health concerns in our communities.

Wisconsin in the fall is simply breathtaking. It's one of my favorite times of the year. You can plan your fall getaway by clicking on the picture above.

The November 8th election is only weeks away. Click on the picture above to find out where you vote, what's on your ballot, and to register to vote!