Yearly Archives: 2021

(The Center Square) – A federal student loan forgiveness program aimed at helping out public servants is getting an overhaul after media reports exposed major problems with the program.

The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program will undergo an overhaul to make sure more public servants, including members of the military, receive taxpayers funds to help them repay their debts.

The announcement comes just a few days after media reports, including a CBS “60 Minutes” investigation, showed that military members were frustrated with the program for its complex requirements and complicated approval process that prevented many from receiving the benefits. The program drew national attention when it was reported that 98% of applicants were denied.

"This is an entire system who let down our men and women in uniform," said Seth Frotman, head of the Student Borrower Protection Program.

Congress enacted the program in 2007 as a way to reward those who were public servants for over ten years, but has been marked by bureaucratic difficulties and failure to deliver on its promises.

“This policy will result in 22,000 borrowers who have consolidated loans – including previously ineligible loans – being immediately eligible for $1.74 billion in forgiveness without the need for further action on their part,” the Department of Education said in its announcement. “Another 27,000 borrowers could potentially qualify for an additional $2.82 billion in forgiveness if they certify additional periods of employment. All told, the Department estimates that over 550,000 borrowers who have previously consolidated will see an increase in qualifying payments with the average borrower receiving another two years of progress toward forgiveness.”

The agency said it will streamline the process and lessen requirements for applicants, meaning some previously rejected applicants can now be accepted.

“Many more will also see progress as borrowers consolidate into the Direct Loan program and apply for PSLF, and as the Department rolls out other changes in the weeks and months ahead,” the agency said.

The program revamp comes after the Biden administration announced student debt forgiveness for the disabled earlier this year.

The Department of Education announced in August that 323,000 borrowers who are totally and permanently disabled will see $5.8 billion in student debt “discharge.”

"From day one, I've stressed that the Department of Education is a service agency,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said at the time of the announcement. “We serve students, educators, and families across the country to ensure that educational opportunity is available to all. We've heard loud and clear from borrowers with disabilities and advocates about the need for this change and we are excited to follow through on it. This change reduces red tape with the aim of making processes as simple as possible for borrowers who need support."

This action is one of several regulatory maneuvers Biden’s Department of Education has conducted to relieve student debt even as the president has so far held off on a more sweeping student debt forgiveness advocated for by some Democrats.

“With this TPD action, the Biden-Harris Administration has now approved approximately $8.7 billion in student loan discharges for roughly 455,000 borrowers,” the agency said. “In late March, the Department restored $1.3 billion in loan discharges for 41,000 borrowers who had seen their loans reinstated after not responding to requests for earnings information. Since March 2021, the Department has also approved more than $1.5 billion in discharges through the borrower defense to repayment process for nearly 92,000 borrowers whose institutions took advantage of them. In addition, the Department has extended the pause on student loan repayment, interest, and collections, to January 31, 2022, which helps 41 million borrowers save billions of dollars a month.”

Biden has received heavy pressure from progressives in his own party, including his own Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to take executive action to forgive up to $50,000 in student loan debt per person, a plan that would cost American taxpayers $1 trillion, according to Brookings.

"That sacred promise that if you work hard, if you play by the rules, one day, you're going to make it here in America," Schumer said. "For too many, that dream sadly seems like a fantasy. Students don't need their debts paused – they need it erased."

(The Center Square) – A new FBI focus on parents accused of harassing school officials around the country over curriculum and COVID-19 policies is being criticized by Republican lawmakers as government overreach and an attempt to curb speech rights.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Tuesday night that he has directed the FBI to look into parents who have protested at local school board meetings around the country, calling it a "disturbing trend."

Debates over critical race theory, COVID-19 mandates, transgender policies, and other issues have embroiled many local districts in controversy. The tension has led to many raucous school board meetings nationwide.

Garland said in his memorandum that the debates have led to threats of violence against school officials.

But Republicans, in sharp reaction to the news, called the attorney general's response a “dangerous abuse of power.”

“Now Joe Biden is deploying the FBI against parents who have concerns about Critical Race Theory being taught to their children,” U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said. “This is a remarkable and dangerous abuse of power. I just asked the Biden DOJ to name one instance in American history when the FBI has been directed to go after parents attending school board meetings to express their views. There isn’t one. Biden’s latest offensive against parents is shocking, unprecedented and wrong.”

The Department of Justice said it will “launch a series of additional efforts in the coming days designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel.”

"Those efforts are expected to include the creation of a task force, consisting of representatives from the department’s Criminal Division, National Security Division, Civil Rights Division, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, the Community Relations Service and the Office of Justice Programs, to determine how federal enforcement tools can be used to prosecute these crimes, and ways to assist state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement where threats of violence may not constitute federal crimes,” the DOJ said in a statement. “The Justice Department will also create specialized training and guidance for local school boards and school administrators.”

Other lawmakers have claimed the Biden administration is attempting to silence parents, many of whom are conservative.

“It is outrageous that DOJ leadership thinks it is acceptable to use the FBI to intimidate parents who are concerned about what their children are being taught and are exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., said.

Garland said the FBI investigation is aimed at keeping schools safe.

“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values,” Garland said. “Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”

Republican lawmakers at the state and federal level vowed to fight against the Biden administration's efforts.

“Attorney General Garland is weaponizing the DOJ by using the FBI to pursue concerned parents and silence them through intimidation,” said Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is considered a top contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. “Florida will defend the free speech rights of its citizens and will not allow federal agents to squelch dissent.”

(The Center Square) – Border patrol agents who’ve committed their career to protecting the U.S. now face termination if they refuse to get vaccinated for COVID-19 by November. At the same time, the Biden administration is imposing no vaccination requirements on those entering the U.S. illegally as a condition for being processed and released into the U.S.

In response, U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Tom McClintock, R-Calif., sent Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a letter expressing their disbelief that “the Biden administration will allow COVID-positive illegal aliens to surge across the border but will terminate dedicated law-enforcement officers who do not comply” with a presidential mandate.

“The Biden border crisis continues to worsen as illegal aliens stream across the southwest border as a result of President Biden’s and your radical immigration policies,” they wrote. “As the brave men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol work tirelessly to respond to the Administration’s manufactured border crisis,” DHS is threatening to terminate a significant number of agents who refuse to comply with the order.

The congressmen argue the agents’ jobs are made even harder “when senior officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, spread false accusations of cruelty, as has occurred in recent days to mounted officers in Del Rio, while ignoring reports of attacks against Border Patrol personnel.”

Biden’s mandate “risks reducing the already-depleted Border Patrol workforce in the middle of the unfolding border crisis,” they add.

Since February, more than 1.2 million people have been apprehended illegally entering the U.S., and none have been subject to a vaccine mandate.

Retired Border Patrol agent from the Del Rio sector, Frank Lopez Jr., told The Center Square that the presidential mandate “is a total betrayal by the government that is supposed to uphold the constitution Border Patrol agents swore to protect.

“Our agents swear an oath to enforce the law codified by the U.S. Congress,” he said. “We have a system in place. But by a presidential executive order, millions of illegals are allowed to violate immigration law and agents may be terminated who follow the law who don’t want to get the COVID shots.”

Another administration policy requires those legally applying for permanent resident status to receive both COVID-19 shots by Oct. 1, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mandate, or their application would be denied.

Another executive order requires millions of workers to be regularly tested for COVID-19 as a condition for employment if they are not vaccinated, but Mayorkas acknowledged on Sept. 24 that the majority of the 15,000 Haitians illegally congregating in Del Rio, Texas, weren’t tested for COVID-19 before they were released.

“Yeah, so, we did not test that population of individuals,” he said. “I do not know whether anyone was sick with COVID. We certainly had some individuals get sick, not specifically with COVID, to my knowledge, and we addressed their illnesses. In fact, we set up medical tents that had a certain standard of ability to address medical needs.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told Fox News that “the Biden administration cares far more about people who are not in this country than he does about American citizens who live in this country.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has vowed to fight the Biden vaccine mandates on employers, joining a multistate coalition.

And U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, a former Texas Secretary of State, argues, “Under the Biden Administration, illegal migrants are not tested for COVID-19 or faced with vaccine mandate. But American workers can be fined or fired for not getting the vaccine. President Biden cares more about illegal immigrants than the safety and security of Americans.”

In July, Axios reported that illegal immigrants weren’t required to receive COVID-19 shots prior to being released into the U.S. By that time, more than 18% of migrant families and 20% of unaccompanied minors who entered the U.S. illegally were testing positive for the virus, the New York Times reported.

By mid-September when pressed on why the Biden administration would require American employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or their employers would be fined, forcing them to potentially lose their jobs or undergo regular testing and mask requirements, when the same standard wasn’t being applied to illegal immigrants, refugees or migrants, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki simply replied, “That’s correct.”

The thousands of Haitians who entered Del Rio, Psaki said, who weren’t providing proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test isn’t "the same thing" as people who fly into the country legally, she said. “They are assessed for whether they have any symptoms. … If they have symptoms, the intention is for them to be quarantined. That is our process.

“They're not intending to stay here for a lengthy period of time. I don't think it's the same thing."

But the roughly 15,000 Haitians under the bridge weren’t quarantined or tested, DHS acknowledged. The majority were also not deported, instead given “Notices to Appear” to return to immigration court. While they wait during the 12- to 36-month process, they reside in the U.S.

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told The Center Square, “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Biden administration would once again put its hypocrisy on full display by threatening the livelihoods of American citizens with an unconstitutional vaccine mandate while simultaneously refusing to fully enforce Title 42 protocols and releasing migrants into the interior, many of whom are COVID positive.

“We need to hold this administration accountable for its impeachable failures at the border, fully enforce Title 42, and put the American people's safety first.”

(The Center Square) – The Republican race for lieutenant governor in Wisconsin is getting crowded.

State Sen. Patrik Testin, R-Stevens Point, joined the race on Sunday.

“I have been traveling the state and hearing from Wisconsinites in all corners of the Badger State. The single biggest concern I have heard is there is a leadership deficit in Madison,” Testin said in his campaign announcement.

Testin has been in the state Senate since 2016. Most recently he took the lead in pusing Gov. Tony Evers for answers about the nearly 13,000 Afghan refugees at Fort McCoy, specifically where they will go once they leave the base.

Testin is just the latest Republican to jump into the race for Wisconsin’s second in command.

Last week, longtime Ron Johnson staffer Ben Voelkel entered the race.

“The last two years have been tough for Wisconsin, and Tony Evers has failed our state,” Voelkel said in his announcement.

Lancaster Mayor David Varnam is also running for lieutenant governor.

Current Lt. Gov Mandela Barnes, a Democrat, is running for U.S. Senate. The state’s last Republican lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, is running for governor next year.

There are no declared Democratic candidates yet.

(The Center Square) – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would hire any Border Patrol agent fired by the Biden administration after White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said agents would no longer be permitted to use horses to guard the border in Del Rio, Texas.

Criticism of mounted agents was widespread after a photograph showing agents using horse reins was misconstrued by members of the media and some politicians suggesting the agent was using the reins as a “whip.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week said the agency would conduct an investigation into the use of the reins after President Joe Biden said the mounted agents “will pay” for how they handled the Haitians.

“There will be consequences,” Biden said.

But Getty photographer Paul Ratje, an eyewitness to horse patrol interaction with Haitians who took the photographs in question, told KTSM News, “I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” referring to the agents. “He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”

Border Patrol Council Union Chief Brandon Judd told The Center Square that he personally went through the training the agents employed at the border.

“As anyone steps close to a horse, the rider is trained to twirl their reigns, they’re not whips, and these reigns will extend about two feet beyond their hands," Judd said.

“They will twirl the reigns to keep people away from the horses. They will also use the horses as a deterrent to keeping people away from entering the United States illegally. So when taken into context and understanding the entire situation, [the agent’s behavior] was absolutely appropriate. That is the training the Biden administration is giving the horse patrol agents today.”

On Fox News Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott said the agents “wouldn’t have been in that situation had the Biden administration enforced immigration laws.”

And if President Joe Biden “takes any action against them whatsoever – I have worked side by side with those Border Patrol agents – I want them to know something,” Abbott said, “If they are [at] risk of losing their job by a president who is abandoning his duty to secure the border, you have a job in the state of Texas. I will hire you to help Texas secure our border.”

Because the Biden administration isn't enforcing immigration laws, the state of Texas has to do it.

“Del Rio was overrun by a population almost the same size as its own population,” Abbott said. The cumulative number of Haitians that have come through total 30,000 in a border town that has slightly more than that number of residents.

“As Governor, I'm going to step up and do whatever I have to do to protect the people of Del Rio as well as all of these other communities in the state of Texas that the Biden Administration is ignoring," Abbott said. "The people in south Texas, they are angry,” he added, because “the Biden administration cares far more about people who are not in this country than he does about American citizens who live in this country.”

(The Center Square) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation released crime data Monday showing a sharp spike in homicides in 2020.

While some crimes diminished in the unusual, COVID-shutdown year, homicides rose nearly 30% and aggravated assaults rose more than 12% in one year, the first time in four years that violent crime increased from the previous year.

There were about 21,500 murders reported in 2020, the highest figure in decades.

“In 2020, there were an estimated 1,277,696 violent crimes,” the FBI said. “When compared with the estimates from 2019, the estimated number of robbery offenses fell 9.3 percent and the estimated volume of rape (revised definition) offenses decreased 12.0 percent. The estimated number of aggravated assault offenses rose 12.1 percent, and the volume of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses increased 29.4 percent.”

Violent crime rose more than 5% in 2020 while property crimes dropped nearly 8%, continuing an 18-year downward trend of property crimes.

“The 2020 statistics show the estimated rate of violent crime was 387.8 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants, and the estimated rate of property crime was 1,958.2 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants,” the FBI said. “Nationwide, there were an estimated 6,452,038 property crimes. The estimated numbers for two of the three property crimes showed declines when compared with the previous year’s estimates. Burglaries dropped 7.4 percent, larceny-thefts decreased 10.6 percent, while motor vehicle thefts rose 11.8 percent.”

U.S. residents lost an estimated $17.5 billion to property crimes last year, not including arson damage.

Police experts have tied the increase in violent crime to the reduction in police forces and rioting in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody.

“The sharp increase in murder that began with the riots and lawlessness of last summer come as no surprise,” said Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. “Seeing this troubling number now officially recorded for history gives us a fresh opportunity to examine the root political and cultural causes for this historic rise in unnecessary loss of life. We can begin by acknowledging the fact that police and enforcement of the rule of law, with accountability for lawbreakers, are essential to protect our most vulnerable communities.”

“Black and Brown communities are the real victims of these policies. Their lives are being lost and continue to be put in jeopardy,” he added.

(The Center Square) – Border patrol agents will be banned from using horses in Del Rio, Texas, the Biden administration announced Thursday, after viral photos showed agents on horseback capturing immigrants who crossed the border illegally.

Initial reports indicated agents were using whips on the migrants, though that was later debunked. But conerns over the photos came up during the White House press briefing this week.

"One, we feel those images are horrible and horrific," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. "I can also convey to you that [Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas] conveyed to civil rights leaders earlier this morning that we will no longer be using horses in Del Rio."

Psaki said there is now an investigation into the issue.

"Separately ... it is important for people to understand what our process and our immigration process is, and what the steps are that are taken," she added.

The decision drew backlash from Republicans, who say Biden should be doing more to address the border crisis. The National Republican Congressional Committee lodged an attack against Biden Thursday, saying he acted faster against horses than the border crisis.

“The Biden Administration needs to fix the border crisis it created," NRCC spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair said.

The ban on horses comes as border patrol agents struggle to keep up with the surge in illegal immigration at the southern border. Federal data showed that more than 200,000 illegal immigrants were encountered by border patrol agents in the month of August alone.

In September, agents have been pressed even harder by nearly 15,000 Haitian immigrants who encamped at the Texas border town of Del Rio.

The encampment has been a major source of controversy for the Biden administration and has strained border patrol resources.

In an interview this week, the head of the Border Patrol union, Brandon Judd, told The Center Square that the majority of detained immigrants are later released into the U.S.

Judd said that of the approximately 200,000 apprehensions made by border patrol, “they are probably dealing with 120,000 people because sometimes the same person or people are apprehended more than once. Of those, it’s right about 60-68 percent are being released [into the community] ... The vast majority are not being expelled or deported. The majority are being released into the United States.”

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that medical professionals and clinicians be on alert for infectious diseases among Afghan nationals recently brought into the country, including measles, mumps and rubella, diseases for which Americans have already been vaccinated.

After the CDC announcement, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said Afghan evacuees were required to get the MMR vaccine and then be quarantined for 21 days.

“All arriving Afghans are currently required to be vaccinated for measles as a condition of their humanitarian parole. And critical immunizations like MMR are being administered for Afghans at safe havens on military bases in the United States,” Kirby said. MMR vaccines would also be administered overseas as well, he said.

As of Sept. 20, the CDC had been notified of 16 confirmed cases of measles and four cases of mumps among Afghan nationals and U.S. citizens who recently arrived from Afghanistan. Earlier this month, Afghans contracted the measles at Fort Bliss, Wisconsin.

So far, 124,000 people from Afghanistan, including roughly 6,000 American citizens, have been flown out of Afghanistan, the CDC reports. Many of them “are from areas with limited access to healthcare and vaccinations and have been living in close quarters for long periods during the evacuation process, thereby raising the risk of disease spread,” the CDC reports.

All of those who were confirmed to have had the measles were isolated and provided care, and those with whom they had contact were also quarantined. Contacts who were not immune were given the MMR vaccine or, if not vaccine-eligible, immunoglobulin.

Evacuees who are in the U.S. are required to be vaccinated with MMR and complete a 21-day quarantine from the time of vaccination at designated locations, the CDC says. Evacuation flights from designated locations and from other countries to the U.S. have been temporarily halted to facilitate MMR administration and post-vaccine quarantine efforts.

Despite these efforts, the CDC expects the possibility of additional measles infections and spread among evacuees based on ongoing transmission and low vaccine coverage (approximately 60%) in Afghanistan. Public health officials are instructed to look for people with communicable disease symptoms, isolate them, and track information to manage the spread of the illness.

Vigilance should be particularly enhanced in communities near the military bases that are housing the evacuees: Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia; Fort Pickett, Virginia; Fort Lee, Virginia; Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Fort Bliss, Texas; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey; and Camp Atterbury, Indiana.

Evacuees are also at increased likelihood of gastrointestinal infections, including shigellosis, giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, hepatitis A, rotavirus, and viral diarrheal diseases, the CDC states. The CDC says it is also aware of some cases of varicella, mumps, tuberculosis, malaria, leishmaniasis, hepatitis A, and COVID-19 among evacuees.

Afghanistan ranks seventh in the world for measles cases, the CDC reports. “People with measles can spread the virus to others from four days before through four days after the rash appears. Measles virus can remain infectious for up to two hours in an airspace after an infected person leaves an area and can be spread to large numbers of susceptible people very rapidly. Measles outbreaks in refugee camps and other congregate settings lead to high morbidity and mortality (as high as 34%).”

In 2000, measles was declared to be eliminated in the United States. However, travelers continue to bring measles in, which poses ongoing risks to unvaccinated people.

(The Center Square) – Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett appears ready to head for Luxembourg without addressing Milwaukee’s looming pension crisis.

Barrett on Tuesday unveiled his $1.75 billion spending plan for next year. The mayor was nominated to be ambassador to Luxembourg, but its unclear when the U.S. Senate will take-up his nomination.

Barrett is relying on a tax levy increase, as well as millions of dollars in federal money to try and balance Milwaukee’s budget.

Most of the headlines about the plan focus on Barrett’s plans to hire nearly 200 new police officers. But critics say the headline writers, and Barrett himself, are largely ignoring Milwaukee’s pension costs.

Milwaukee’s pension payment is currently $71 million. It is set to jump to $150 million in 2023. Barrett set aside only $10 million for Milwaukee’s pension savings.

“They’re clearly not doing nearly enough to set aside money right now for the massive bill about to come due,” Badger Institute President Mike Nichols told The Center Square. “This is going to be a tsunami.”

Barrett acknowledged the coming storm.

"The looming challenges are ominous,” the mayor said during his budget address.

Milwaukee is facing a pension crisis because it didn’t contribute anything to its pension system for years. Mayor Barrett changed that in 2004, but his “smoothing formula” expires in 2023, and the costs are anticipated to skyrocket.

“They should also be asked whether they now see the benefit of Act 10. Without Act 10 – which barred Milwaukee from continuing to pay the employee share of pension contributions for many local government workers – this situation would be even worse for the city,” Nichols added.

Milwaukee has tried to lower its pension costs over the years by allowing police officers and some other city workers to retire without filling their jobs.

Barrett says the goal in his current budget is to avoid any layoffs.

Nichols said Barrett’s goal with this budget is simpler than that.

“Tom Barrett is surely hoping he ends up in Luxembourg,” Nichols said. “But every candidate interested in his job should be asked first and foremost how they’re going to address this.”

(The Center Square) – Scratch one candidate off the list of potential gubernatorial candidates in Wisconsin.

Bill McCoshen on Wednesday said he is not running.

McCoshen is a former Tommy Thompson staffer, and was one of the top names on the list of possible Republican candidates.

McCoshen said he and his family decided not to be a candidate.

“I know what it takes to win statewide,” McCoshen said in a statement. “To run the type of positive, issue-oriented grassroots campaign we wanted to run required time and money. You need both to raise name ID statewide. While I’m confident we could have raised the money, the reality was we lost too much precious time trying to close on the sale of our primary business.”

McCoshen this week finalized the sale of his lobbying firm, Capitol Consultants, to the lobbying arm of Milwaukee law firm Michael Best & Friedrich.

McCoshen will be joining the firm to continue working as a lobbyist.

McCoshen’s decision not to run certainly benefits Rebecca Kleefisch the most.

She officially jumped into the race last week, and on Monday said she’s already raised a million-dollars.

While McCoshen is not running, he said another Republican should.

“History says the GOP needs a competitive primary to beat an incumbent Democrat governor in 2022. It has only happened twice in my lifetime. The last time was 1986 when Tommy Thompson beat Tony Earl. Tommy won a five-way primary before going on to win 4 four-year terms and become the longest serving governor in Wisconsin history. The other time was 1978 when upstart Lee Dreyfus defeated party-endorsed Bob Kasten in the GOP primary before defeating interim Governor Marty Schreiber,” McCoshen said in his statement.

There are a number of possible Republican candidates for governor, but no one has officially launched their campaign.

Voters won’t go to the polls for the primary election until next August. The Republican candidate will take-on Gov. Tony Evers next November.

(The Center Square) – Kids in Wisconsin public schools could soon be screened for reading at much earlier ages, and much more often.

The Assembly’s Committee on Education on Tuesday listened to experts about a proposal that would require schools to screen children for reading readiness starting in pre-kindergarten.

“This bill requires school boards and independent charter schools to assess the early literacy skill of pupils in four-year-old-kindergarten to second grade using various screening assessments and to create a personal reading plan for each pupil

in five-year-old kindergarten to second grade who is identified as at-risk,” the legislation reads.

Basically, lawmakers say kids are falling behind earlier in school because they cannot read. The legislation is intended to boost reading scores before it’s too late.

“We have generations of kids who are missing opportunities because we can’t get them to read by the time they’re in the third grade,” Rep. Bob Whitke, R-Racine, told lawmakers Tuesday. “We are 42nd out of 42 states in the racial achievement gap. I don’t like being in last place.”

But there’s some pushback to the idea of screening kids early to help them read later on.

Ben Niehaus with Wisconsin’s Association of School Boards told lawmakers they are worried about the costs, both in terms of money and time.

“We wholeheartedly believe the [legislation is] well intentioned,” Niehaus said. “Yet we are concerned with where we’re at right now.... Some of the funding pieces of it. It’s looking to fall under the infamous ‘unfunded mandate.’”

The legislation offers schools money to cover the testing, but only if they report the number of students who are behind in reading both to the state and to parents.

Niehaus said he’s also worried about more testing. He said public schools now test kids for over 200 hours during their time between kindergarten and high school.

But others say the status quo isn’t working, and it’s time to try something to help kids across Wisconsin read better.

"For too long, Wisconsin’s K-12 system has churned out too many students who are not proficient in reading, causing a workforce crisis,” CJ Safer with the Institute for Reforming Government said. “This legislation transforms our childhood literacy policies by equipping parents and teachers with the information they need in order to ensure all students have the opportunity to succeed.”

Lawmakers are promising to move ahead with the legislation, but are not saying when they expect to vote.