This is Busted Pencils, fully-ledded education talk.
Here are your hosts, Dr. Tim Slecker, and Dr. Johnny Lupinacci,
educated educators talking education.
Yes, Busted Pencils fully-ledded education talk,
educated educators talking education,
Saturday afternoon, loving it.
It's the weekend.
I know everybody out there's, you know,
hanging out, kicking back, wondering,
is it really spring?
Is it really coming to him?
I don't know.
You don't ask me.
Why don't we ask Johnny and Jess?
Jess, what's happening?
You feeling like a little bit of spring?
Out days?
I am, every time I take my daily walk,
I'm making a note of passing every single tree,
every single bush, and looking for those
eeeety, bitty, little buds that are now coming out,
and every time I pass them, they're a little bit bigger,
a little bit fuller, and I know, I know.
Within the next couple of weeks,
we're gonna have that gorgeous Wisconsin spring
where everything will be in bloom,
it'll be gorgeous, I'll be sneezing,
and it'll all be worth it.
Johnny, what about you, man?
Yeah, man, I love Saturday afternoon's
with all the listeners, I love our teachers out there
who listen and folks through civic media
who tune in and are part of this conversation,
and I'm excited because that's a little special episode
today, a little rekindling of our great friendship
and working together with the Wisconsin public education
that works.
I'm excited about that.
Yeah, I'm feeling like it's spring,
but that little bit inside of me has been like,
you know, it's not uncommon for there to be a big snow.
And March, it wouldn't shock me if we got dumped on
any one of these days, but I'm with Jess,
I'm enjoying, you know, the nice afternoons
taking breaks between teaching classes going outside.
In fact, even taking the class outside a bit
to just breathe some of that air.
I mean, the flu was going around this year.
We felt like we've been inside teaching way too much,
and we know that when school starts to seep in,
so it's good to get outside, breathing,
and feel some of that spring energy.
Yeah, definitely.
Well, you know, I saw out there absolutely, Jess,
you're looking at the buds in my front yard under the bushes.
Yeah, the crocus, they're already pushing through coming through.
I know I'm probably a little bit advanced.
Yes, I'm here in Ohio, a little bit further along
than Wisconsin, but yeah, it is on its way.
It feels, you know, there's something about that when you go out
and you see that you're like, wow,
it is going to be spring again, you know?
The darkness and the coldness and the sadness
that has really ushered in this winter.
Maybe we can push it away and move on to something better.
Hey, you know, check it out though.
BustedPencils.com.
Want to put this out there first and foremost.
Yes, everybody's like, what about the website for busted pencils?
Well, I've been going to it, it says not there
or it forwards to civic media.
Yeah, and we love that with civic media
because the connections that we have there,
but bustedPencils.com is up and live,
new and improved reformatted.
Great pictures of the hosts, great pictures
of the supporters, connections to all of our partnerships.
Check it out.
Hey, there's even some awesome testimonials.
Producer Jess even gave us a really amazing testimonial.
Just course.
We didn't even pay for it, right?
No, no, you didn't.
You didn't have to love it, love it.
Hey, Johnny, you made a reference to, yeah,
we are back.
We are so glad with Constant Public Education Network.
You said, when we were five days a week,
we knew we had them once a month.
They were there all the time with a great executive director,
Heather Du Bois for Nane.
Heather, welcome back to bustedPencils.
What's going on in your world?
Hey, thanks for having me.
It's great to be back and nice to see you all
are still keeping the show going.
We really need your voices out there.
It's snowing here.
So I believe in the promise of spring
that you've alluded to Tim, but I'm yet to see the proof of it.
That's all right, though.
You know it's coming.
Heather, you know, there's not been a whole lot of,
no, I'm just being sarcastic.
What is going on in the world?
What's WPEN been up to?
I mean, I know we have got plenty to talk about,
but just kind of a little, what's been going on since last
we talked to you?
Well, gosh, I am trying to remember
when that was.
Was it before or after the fall election?
It was before the...
Maybe I'll just start there.
I mean, I'll just say we hit the ground running
after the fall election and haven't stopped since.
Wisconsin had the opportunity in that election
to put its new maps to the test.
And voters have elected some new public education champions
at the state level who are really elevating the discourse
and how we talk about what kids need
and what they're getting from the state at that level.
So that has been something kind of positive to see.
And even though there is still an imbalance of power,
you know, we have a check and balance system
in the governor's veto at the Capitol,
which has given us a little bit of a safety net
against some really bad ideas,
which of course came right out of the gate, you know,
when the legislative session started in the fall.
So we've just been trying to keep tabs
on what's happening at the state level,
but you might also remember that last fall
and last year in general,
Wisconsin had a record number of school districts
that were going to school referendum.
So people have voting to raise taxes on themselves
at the ballot box.
And I'm really proud to say that of that record number
of people we had on the ballot
with those school ballot measures
a whopping 78% of them passed.
So even in the reddest, most pro-Trump districts in the state,
we saw bipartisan support for strong
and thriving public schools.
And once again, more evidence in case anybody needed any,
that the public education is not a partisan issue,
that people want to invest their tax dollars
in making sure that kids have what they need
and that they're even willing to raise their own local
property taxes to do it when the state isn't stepping up.
And so that was affirming and reassuring.
But the bad news is, since the state isn't doing its job,
we've got record numbers coming up again.
And this year already in both our February and April
first elections, we have 86 school districts
that are going to referendum again.
That's out of our total 421.
And so we are just in really unprecedented times right now
where we've been forced to fund our schools
through these local pass or fail measures,
which some people say, well, that's the way it's supposed to work,
trust voters to do what's right,
but what happens when they don't?
Our gaps get wider, the problems get bigger,
and everything that we've set out to fix
just becomes a bigger problem.
And so here we are again, kind of spinning our wheels
and dealing with that.
And that's been kind of priority number one so far for 2025.
Johnny, yeah, you know, how did thanks for being back with us
and being on the show for our listeners?
And it's just dawning on me too since you did mention,
it has been a minute while we blinked.
And here we are back again.
So for listeners tuned in, who aren't familiar with the WPN
and with like, wow, this Heather really knows a lot
about what's going on in education in Wisconsin,
reintroduce our listeners to the organization.
And that'll help bring us up to some of the,
I mean, you alluded to it,
but some of the public schools week day of action
shared a video with us.
And we're going to talk about that listeners.
But before we do that, Heather,
reintroduce WPN to our great listeners.
Yeah, thanks for, I totally skipped that step.
For people who are listening, they're like,
who the heck is that lady?
Why is she so mad?
We are, we are statewide coalition of people like me
who are kind of accidental experts in school finance,
who have been on a, you know, watching what has been going on
at the school level, at the district level,
at the state level, at the federal level
and wondering how do we protect our kids
from all of these cuts, from all of these crazy bills
that don't seem to have anything to do
with what kids really need.
How do we make sure that our funding formula
which seems so broken and unfair is actually fixed
in real time, you know, while kids are still in our schools.
And we're getting organized where we live across the state
and then standing up together where democracy
gives us a chance to do so
and to be a stronger collective voice too.
So sharing resources, sharing information and ideas
and trying to make it easier to do local level action
that'll have statewide impact as our whole theory of change.
So folks can go to Wisconsinnetwork.org,
find a local advocacy group near you.
All of the groups in our network do nonpartisan organizing
where they live to make sure that voters know
what's going on on their ballots
and that we are paying attention to what's happening
at our local school boards
and that we're following what's going on at the state house
so that when it's time to stand up for kids
we're ready to do that and that's what we do.
We connect people to information, actions and each other
all over the state and we've got folks in all 72 counties
and we'd love to have you join us
because frankly it's gonna take a much bigger army
to fight back against some of the threats
that we're seeing to our public schools right now
and this is not a test.
There's some serious stuff at stake
and we're really worried about some of it.
Yeah, we definitely are our guest for you out there.
Heather Du Bois, Mornaine, Wisconsin Public Education Network,
bringing it back, making sure everybody is aware
of organizations, particularly this one
who really puts together the advocacy around public schools.
Heather, as you said, this accidental expert,
I love that too because what that shows though, too,
is that people going, well, I don't know what to say.
I don't know what to talk about.
I don't know what to do.
Hey, guess what?
You can do this, too.
You don't need to be Dr. Tim and Dr. Johnny.
In fact, what you really need to be
is a concerned, passionate parent, citizen,
resident neighbor who recognizes
that the public schools of our neighborhoods
of our communities, of our townships,
they really provide something that we just don't want
to give up.
We don't want to see it demonized.
We don't want to see it underfunded.
We don't want to see it cut.
That's why we have organizations
like Wisconsin Public Education Network.
Johnny, you made reference to making public schools
weekday of action.
We're going to have a lot more to come back with
that. Heather gave us a little video.
We're not going to show the video,
but we're going to talk about it.
Busted pencils.
More when we get back.
I had to let that go for a little bit, checking it out.
Yes, that was a bad impression of dancing,
anybody watching that one.
Sorry about it, but love it.
It's busted pencils fully, let it education talk,
educated educators talking education.
Before we get back into the interview, though,
just, yeah, we want to plug this and let you know,
busted pencils.com.
It's up, it's live, it's back.
Check it out.
It's gorgeous.
It's gorgeous.
We love it.
Find all the shows, find, you know,
lots of other extra things to be surprised, enjoy, love it.
Let us know what you think about it too.
There's a direct way you can contact and let us know
everything that's going on.
Busted pencils.com.
And you know what, special shout out to educators amplified,
particularly teacher Halley, we've got to put it out there.
Teacher Halley is a web designer extraordinaire.
Where did it come from?
Teacher Halley working in combination, though, too,
with that team at Nerdy Bird and really getting that branding
put together, Michelle and Lisa at Nerdy Bird,
working together with Teacher Halley.
Man, it's amazing, busted pencils.com.
Check it out.
We are so happy to be joined by our friend,
our connection, our partner.
In fact, we even list them on the new busted pencils.com.
You can find them.
The Wisconsin Public Education Network.
We've got our friend Heather with us, executive director,
talking about everything, reacquaining each other,
but Heather and we know we're going to have the video up
so that people can link and watch this video.
But the public schools week of action,
you provided us a week day of action video from the 28th.
What's happening there?
What's going on?
What the heck were you so mad about?
Well, we were mad about a lot of things,
but we were also enjoying the opportunity
that National Public Schools Weeks affords us
to do something we don't do enough,
which is just celebrate all of the amazing things
that are happening in every single public school
in the state, in spite of it all.
And so just sharing those stories,
seeing people's local celebrations,
amplifying those great stories of people
who stay connected to their educators
or sharing impacts of public schools on their lives
over their years was such a refreshing break
from the chaos and madness that has been 2025
so far on all fronts.
But we also recognize that appreciation is hollow
if it doesn't come with some action.
And so we encourage people to put their appreciation
into action year round, not just on public schools week,
but during teacher appreciation week.
And really every time they see some way
that they can stand up for their public schools.
And so we challenged ourselves this year
to really bring people together
and close out public schools week strong
by connecting the dots between what we want to see
our vision for thriving public schools
where every kid truly does have equal access
to the resources they need to shine and thrive
and be happy at school to what they're getting
from their local leaders, from their state leaders
and from kind of the system writ large.
So we gathered at the Capitol
and we invited some representatives
from those 180 some school districts
all over the state that had gone
to referendum in the last year.
And we asked them to come tell their stories
and say what are you fighting for?
And what's standing in the way of getting that?
And so we had one hour of amplification time
because that's how long you can get a permit
in the Capitol, Rotunda.
And we tried to squeeze as many stories
as we could into that hour.
And we were just overwhelmed
with the enormity of the struggle, the frustrations
and the hope and the love and the success stories
that were side by side with some
of the hard failure stories.
And we're able to remind people
that none of this came from nowhere.
The reason that so many districts are forced to go
to the ballot box and vote to raise taxes
to fund public schools is because we are currently
in our 16th year in a row of state budgets
that have not even kept pace with inflation.
So every single year has been a cut for the past 16 years.
And that and one of those years,
you might remember 2011,
that was the first Scott Walker budget,
was the biggest cut ever to public schools.
And so not only have we not recovered from that,
we have gotten worse since.
And so that is a hard and bitter pill to swallow,
but we're seeing the impacts of it statewide.
At the Capitol, while these folks were speaking,
we had one of our colleagues, Jenny Hofschelty,
who's been on your show before.
She's our Milwaukee-based regional organizer,
stood up on the second floor balcony in the Capitol
and unfurled a scroll of paper
that had the names of every district that has gone
to referenda just since the passage
of the last budget two years ago.
That scroll went down to the floor of the below
over the next balcony, down to the Capitol Rotunda floor,
all the way across that floor
and like way deep into the hallway.
There have been 419 standalone questions on ballot
since that last budget.
And Wisconsin only has 421 districts.
That's over two thirds of our district
have gone to referenda in the last two years alone.
Some of them more than once
because the first ones didn't pass.
And that includes both Capitol
and operating and building referenda.
But part of the reason we're seeing
so many building referenda is
because there are so many building needs
with deferred maintenance issues
that districts can't afford
to keep their buildings in order anymore.
And so just the cumulative effect of all of this
is staggering and we use the opportunity
to call on the state to set the story right
by doing better in the next budget.
We could fix all of this tomorrow
if we just, for example, funded special education,
which we currently fund at the worst rate in the nation,
29%, let's fund it at 90%
like the voucher kids get.
If you have a special needs voucher,
you're entitled to both 150% of that actual voucher,
plus a 90% reimbursement rate
if you need more support on top of that.
Why do we have a double standard
for public and private schools in that category
when we know the needs are so great?
Let's level the plain field all around,
give our schools the spendable and adequate need,
aid they deserve and close that special funding gap.
Two simple things we can do in the next budget
and frankly, we can afford to do it.
There's enough money in this state to cover that.
We just need to reset our priorities a little bit
and align them with the needs of our children.
Wow, people listen out there going, who think was that?
Hey, that's a good voice, Renee.
That mad lady, Wisconsin Public Education Network.
Yeah, lots going on.
Check it out though, when we get back, Heather,
maybe dig a little bit deep into the reality
that we are all now dealing with is a Trump administration
and the directions to dismantle the department of education
and how that might be playing out
and some thoughts that Wisconsin Public Education Network
has regarding that.
It's busted pencils.
We'll be right back.
Fight.
I've been to the Capitol a few times in Madison. One of them, my first visit being the teachers occupying the Capitol building and it took me back to that it reminds me this is what democracy looks like collective voice of educators collective voice of concerned parents of students who are saying, hey, we the people.
People demand a better public education and I love how there that you reminded us listeners and Tim and I that this is an interesting time because we are really seeing in the voting numbers that public education is not only nonpartisan, but it's valued across our different communities and this is a really important thing for folks to know about and listen, you know, to the information on that.
So I'd like to take us in that direction if we can. Let's kind of get into well, I guess we should probably touch on things happen at the federal level because it is going on, but then turn our attention to the powerful local things that are on the dock that are coming up really soon. I mean, it's spring. We talked about the promise of spring spring, but really soon we have some very important elections coming up for public education.
So Heather talk a little bit about federal stuff happening, how the network is kind of, you know, responding or thinking about things and then let's just talk about that really important local stuff that listeners are probably going to be excited to be active in.
Yeah, I know first of all, democracy is giving us a lot of chances to raise our voice right now and it can be overwhelming.
There are there is just so much news to track and so many distractions that are being thrown at us at the state level. We have all these crazy bills that you know no one in the public education community has been asking for and yet nonetheless are sucking up time and energy on the federal front.
We have ridiculously dangerous ideas that have actual traction for the first time around such things as abolish the Department of Education and you know unfund IDA right and you know these are ideas that really significantly put kids at risk.
And so yes, there is a time for letting letting your congressional representatives know that you expect them to protect Wisconsin kids and protect federal dollars to our public schools, which are so critically needed and to protect the Department of Education that our schools depend on for guidance and transparency and predictability and all the other things.
So yes to reaching out, but also yes to showing up and one place that people really have to show up right now is at the ballot box.
We are two weeks away from a big election on April one and I am I'm not using hyperbole in saying that this election is just as important as the November one for public schools.
We've got school board races all over the state. Like I said, we've got 86 school referenda questions in communities around the state and we've got two things at the top of the ballot that matter to every single kid in every single public school.
The race for the state superintendent of public instruction and the race for state Supreme Court, both of which have you know dramatically meaningful impacts on just how we do school and how we hold our state accountable to doing right by its kids.
And let's let's jump into it. Department of public instructions, state superintendent, two candidates, who are they? What are we thinking? Come on, jump in there.
Well, well, first of all, I will say that, you know, we are a nonprofit organization here 501 C3. We do not endorse candidates, but we do try to do whatever we can to make sure that people are educated about who's running and where they stand. And here's what we know about the two candidates.
We have the incumbent, Dr. Jill under Lee, who is seeking her second term. And it came through the primary as the very top vote getter by quite a bit.
She has been a great friend to our network and has been an active partner since the time that she was a superintendent herself in the pechatonica school district and has been very strong on a lot of the issues that we champion for just making sure that kids basic needs are being met and she put forward a very strong budget which the governor, you know, moved forward in his budget address as well.
As well that, you know, calls for closing our special education gap and really restoring some of our commitments to some key areas. And so she's, she's hoping to get a second term and she's being challenged by a woman who lives in the Milwaukee area who used to work for the city forward collective, which is an organization that promotes voucher and charter expansion.
And she's herself as I would say most generously, maybe a critical friend of public schools, you know, and is a very reform minded person.
So the choice is pretty clear there ideologically and where those those two candidates stand and voters would do well to look into the policy positions of the two candidates before casting their their ballots on April 1st.
Well, you know, yeah, he said nonpartisan WPN just making sure that the education around candidates is, you know, number one. And so who are these these people, you know, check it out, make sure you are well informed.
Questions regarding those those candidates find their platforms put out a call if you've got something, you know, that's what they're there for.
Dig deep because being informed, Johnny say democracy, right.
Partially or maybe full 100% you want to really be a participant.
You got to know what's happening. You got to understand what's going on.
Johnny, I see you nodding in.
Well, we have Heather here. And I think this is clear for us. And maybe some of our listeners, a lot of them, you know, season vets of education and especially of super intensity races.
But you know what Tim, we always talk about our neighbors.
And I just thought while we have Heather here, too, Heather, let's just talk about like what is the superintendent do. Why is this such an important election.
Because I think we hear about it often as a cat night, I won't say casual voter as an active voter that might not be clued into education, but kind of just overview.
Why is the superintendent race so important.
Personally, I think of the state superintendent as kind of the champion in chief.
This is the person who has the largest microphone in the state for standing up for what kids need and is our number one ambassador to state leaders at the Capitol Wisconsin is in a unique and lucky position in that this is an elected position for us.
A lot of states don't have that right.
And so we have a lot of say in what kind of school policy priorities we want to put forward and we we use our voice in making that say by electing somebody who shares our vision and values for kids.
And so it's really important to make sure that the person who's holding that office is somebody who's going to stand up for things like making sure all kids needs are being met for making sure that no kids are having their rights violated and publicly funded schools for making sure that the state is doing its job by providing adequate resources to implement all the policy measures that it's putting forward and so on.
And so that's what I'm looking for in a candidate for state superintendent is somebody who has a track record of really fighting for those things and making sure that the state is meeting its constitutional obligation to make sure that our public schools are as uniform as practicable as our constitution says and that our teachers are schools in our district have the sports supports they need.
From the state level to meet those goals it's a very big job and making sure that you're choosing somebody who is like fully credentialed to meet those needs and understands the operations of public schools from all levels is really critical.
I love that I love that thanks Heather so if you're out there listening saying yeah I know the superintendent thing but why is it so important perfectly heard right here why it's so important in Tim we happen to have had one of the we the the current current superintendent on busted pencils so you can always look back and listen to this she isn't advocate for public schools and for children and we've been quite honored to have her on talking specifically when we add her on.
About school lunch and nutrition and not important in the and a budget she had proposed but this is an important election folks as is your local elections for school boards.
Heather while we have you know me and we keep grilling you with questions but this is stuff that the Wisconsin Public Education Network they are as Heather said accidental experts but I'd say experts on this for their civic responsibility and defenders of public education.
Heather school board elections those are also really important help our listener understand the importance of those.
I know the listeners out there know how important it is to elect good people to your school boards because these are people who are paying attention to these issues and they know that policy at the local level can help her harm kids in a lot of serious ways and we have seen what what I can call some hostile takeovers of Wisconsin school boards by people who are
motivated not by meeting what kids meeting kids needs but by ideological or political agendas that are leading to things like totally unproductive book bans or you know trying to restrict how teachers can and can't teach in their own classrooms or you know whether or not we're going to.
You know treat students with dignity in our in our schools and respect the right set of LGBTQ kids to thrive in our school buildings our boards actually have a lot of authority in this state to to to to do good or do damage and so making sure that we have strong local level leadership is super super critical.
We also need our to be electing school board members who are going to fight for our districts to and show up at the state budget fight.
We are just on the cusp of that moment here the governor has released his budget the joint finance committee is about to tell us when the public hearings are going to be and I want to see school board members at those hearings I want to see parents and and superintendents and anybody who cares about public schools showing up to raise their voice there.
And if we don't get the budget we need we need to make sure that we've got people on our Supreme Court who are positioned to hold the state accountable for doing right by its kids and that's why it's just as important for you to vote every single thing on your ballot this this spring because we we have an opportunity to send somebody to the Supreme Court who either will or won't make sure that the state is meeting its constitutional obligation to its public schools.
Wow Heather they crap trying to get us we only we only got a couple minutes I mean I know I know.
And Johnny's rocketing in the text after this ask her that so much going on I hey Heather though most importantly though again thank you for your for coming on where can people go to get more about what's coming up where should they they find you know you and potentially themselves become an accidental exit.
Accidental expert yeah and and also you already are an expert right like by accident or not like everybody has their own story to tell and like we want to pass you the mic so you can tell it we want to help you.
Be an everyday ambassador for the things kids need in your community and if we don't hear from you we don't know what those needs are so being connected is really the secret to.
Making a difference in like being effective change makers wherever we live.
You don't have to give up your whole life to do this work you can just tag in where you can and we'd love.
For you to visit our website Wisconsin network dot org fool around there connect with us send us an email get join our mailing list check out our.
Question here from the superintendent candidates and see where they where the candidate stand on the issues check out our budget action hub and where you can tag into.
Opportunities to speak up on the state budget find out more about what's on your own ballot this spring and why it matters to local kids we've got all these resources to you and much more what are vouchers what are charters why do it should I care about any of this if you have questions about what's wrong and what's right with.
Right with how we do public schools in Wisconsin we've got the resources to to help you share that with others.
That is truly busting pencils man Heather Wisconsin public education network thank you Johnny and Tim we're going to try to.
I don't know we can do anything better will be back right now after this.
Yeah.
Man perfect perfect music busted pencils fully let it education talk educated educators talking education.
Wisconsin public education network executive director Heather Du Bois for name was our guest check it out make sure you go to their website get active make sure that you are you know engage because as Heather points out.
Anybody who knows public schools are those places in our communities those places in our hearts who know that they need advocates they need you particularly all of us as neighbors to be just like Heather.
Cook up with the people right there though too if you're you know you're saying I want to get involved well then do it what a great group of people to get involved with because yeah these are just your neighbors who are taken on the public schools and advocating and championing for them.
Speaking of that too you want just you know got to throw this out there to remind everybody busted pencils dot com it's up it's live again yes people like where's it been hey doesn't matter it's where it is it's busted pencils dot com check it out you can get all of the shows.
Figure out what's happening and hey yeah guess what Wisconsin public education network they're one of our partners in fact you know what if you're looking you can go right to the busted pencils dot com.
Check on partners find them and then get in touch with Wisconsin public education network Johnny holy crap Heather delivered well yeah it's Wisconsin public education network and why we love checking in with Heather is often as we do.
Because they really have their fingers on the pulse of what's happening in communities right like Heather Heather jokes about being you know mad but she's passionate and informed and you know and advocate for public education and really means it when.
You know she shares here's what's going on but we need to hear more from folks out there what their experiences are what their needs locally are so that we can really continue to you know share that story that public education.
For all kids in our state to have these wonderful opportunities but also it is important education is a state right so when faced with so much you know trickle down from our federal policy changes and shifts that we've been talking about.
The last couple weeks here right they're really coming down hard and fast and we said remember education is a state right it's really important that locally we say what it is we need and even the ballot boxes from the you know the elections in the fall right showed us that even in the most red areas public education was valued and so we really need to hold all levels of government accountable to valuing public education.
Hey listener if you ever have a comment or question right you can call our Texas at 608 557 8577 maybe you want to make a comment ask a question or say hey how can I get more connected.
You can always reach out to us here busted pencils right you can call our Texas at 608 557 8577 not Tim we've talked a lot about elections.
I mentioned the busted pencils website and you mentioned that the busted pencils website was was created by one of our very own special guests educator teacher Halle but Tim teacher Halle is also running for school board monomy fall school board 2025 election teacher Halle Newman smelling I mean I couldn't be more excited she's a great educator so if you're out there monomy fall school district area.
Halle Newman smelling couldn't endorse somebody more personally as an educator really excited but in general Tim it's important that people get involved right so when is election day April first but early voting starts March 18th that's just around the corner right so if you need to get more details about where you can go to vote you can go to my vote dot w i dot gov great resources you can always of course connect with the civic media website.
And they're going to direct you towards where you can get information about voting to Tim what a show.
Absolutely Johnny man I love I love it love it when we have Heather Wisconsin public education network joining us she just really creates that kind of she gives me a passion again for for for the work and you say you know we know why busted pencils was out there it's you know to be an advocate for public schools.
But to get reacquainted with that energy that comes from you know our neighbors just like Heather being able to engage in that work you know in particularly now I said you know it's been we've been a little bit gloomy and do me lately since things happened in January that have kind of rocked our world to hear that excitement that says hey guess what our public schools matter and in fact.
Heather reminding us that despite what happened in that national election public schools 100% across guess what they continued to dominate in favor people in favor people that voted red people that voted blue when it came to making that decision on public education.
It didn't matter if they were red or blue they 100 you know while not 100% but depending on where you are overwhelmingly said hey our public schools matter it doesn't matter what color baseball had I'm wearing.
I support public schools and that's you know again that's why we loved having Heather on Wisconsin public education network make sure everybody else is out there man what a great show.
And now for your moment of sin.
But it seems to me that people who teach social studies want something more they want young people to come out of their classes in viewed with a desire to change the world.
Thanks for listening to busted pencils today and remember to grab great podcasts chock full of more fully let it education talk on apple podcasts spotify and of course the civic media website hey make sure to leave us a review we want to know what you want to think give us a rating guess what the more you do that the more you're going to hear busted pencils that support means anything.
And hey don't be late for home room on Monday make sure you catch next week's class in session Wednesday find us for free throws and face offs on Friday and of course just like today catch busted pencils live at 3 pm central time across all the civic media network stations for an hour of your favorite blue college scholars Tim and Johnny and keep busting pencils.
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