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Doyle declares ‘Covenant Day’
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In less than one month, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle will allow eighth graders across Wisconsin to officially pledge good grades to a program that has not yet been approved by the state Legislature.
On Monday, Doyle announced May 10 as "Covenant Day," the first day for eighth graders to sign the proposed Wisconsin Covenant program, which promises students of good academic standing and community service admission to a Wisconsin university or college.
Officials have not promised Covenant participants admission to their college of choice, but students would be eligible to attend a school at the University of Wisconsin System, the Wisconsin Technical Colleges or one of 20 private nonprofit colleges.
Along with the signing date, Doyle detailed some eligibility requirements to become a Wisconsin Covenant Scholar. Eighth graders would need to earn a cumulative GPA of 2.85 on a 4.0 scale throughout high school and a higher GPA of 3.0 for five semesters.
Along with admission, Doyle has proposed new financial aid for Covenant participants and the creation of an Office of the Wisconsin Covenant through his 2007-09 state budget. The office would create two new positions and be funded by a $360,400 budget, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau.
In public hearings, state Republicans have challenged the Department of Administration to outline further details of the program, but Doyle has responded with few answers.
"He still hasn't told anyone what the Wisconsin Covenant is," said Mike Prentiss, a spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau. "All he has is a slogan and one paragraph."
So far, the Doyle administration has outlined eligibility requirements, broad responsibilities for the Office of the Wisconsin Covenant and the program's overall goal, which is "to make sure every young person knows that if he or she works hard, college will be an option for them."
State Rep. Terese Burceau, D-Madison, said her support for the program is all about prioritizing education. She said it is unnecessary to figure every detail out in advance.
Burceau said her concern, moreover, is whether or not future legislators will be able to keep their end of the bargain.
"I admittedly know we cannot commit to future legislators allocating money," she said.
Current eighth graders would be the first eligible class for the Wisconsin Covenant program but it remains uncertain whether the program will exist in 2012.
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The Wisconsin Covenant is a good idea for the future of Wisconsin, but it lacks a provision that would accomplish the desired goal while reducing the cost to Wisconsin taxpayers — a provision should be added that requuires the student to attend the least costly public insitution of higher education (least costly to the taxpayer, that is). Given that the first two years is pretty much universally the same no matter where a student attends and that most of the campuses have the same majors (talk about duplication!) we should recognize that the quality of education is much the same UW System-wide. But students and their parents make decisions about which college to attend for reasons outside of academic quality. Indeed, one has to wonder if non-academic features are not considered more important than what takes place in the classrooms. That’s costly for everyone. Students in Superior, for example, could attend UW-Superior (or even UMD), live at home and either save that money for the future or spend it in the local economy, rather than on living in dorms in a far away city. Students who live in Wausau could attend the college campus there, at least for the first two years and not spend money driving for those first two years to UWSP or living eleswhere. Does that make just too much sense?
No, it doesn’t make sense - at least not for everyone. A big part of college for many people is growing up, living on your own and experiencing life. Living away from home is many times a big part of that process. I share your concerns about the covenant, but I don’t think your solution is necessarily the right one.
the laughable comparison from the quality of education at say UWSP and UW Madison are rediculous I dont think anyone would agree that you get the same education at those 2 schools