Boom.
In your face, busted pencils.
Fully.
Let it education talk.
Educated educators talking.
Education.
Class is in session.
Dr. Johnny Lupinacci in the house.
Jacob Chairman of the board in the house.
Me, Dr. Tim Slecker in the house.
And all, most importantly, representative
Angelina Cruz is back in the house joining us on Busted Pencils again.
Representative Cruz, what's shaking?
Well, thanks for having me back.
Happy New Year.
You know, we're back in session.
We'll be on the assembly floor next week and
There's a lot going on, public education related.
I know you probably have noticed that there's pretty statewide disdain over property tax bills happening right now.
Yeah, and displeasure in local school districts about what is going on with this special education reimbursement that was passed in this past state budget, which was a 42% reimbursement rate and a 45% reimbursement rate for the next school year, which Republicans were touting as a historic investment in special education and in our public schools.
And they did that while putting zero dollars of general aid into public schools for the...
So for two years, public schools will be receiving zero dollars in general aid.
But we were told rest assured with this historic special education reimbursement, school districts shouldn't have to worry about anything.
And fast forward to November, about mid-November, the Department of Public Instruction came out with their projections about reimbursements, about where the reimbursement level would lay.
land for local school districts, which came in at about 35%, which- That doesn't
sound like the number.
It sure doesn't.
For our master experts out there, 42% is significantly higher than 35%.
And so those of us that pay attention to how-
budgeting, particularly budgeting for local school districts works who were calling on lawmakers to modify the language from some certain to some sufficient.
We're not surprised that the rate came in lower in terms of the
DPI's estimate.
And so for listeners who aren't super aware of the difference between some certain and some sufficient funding, basically some certain is a fixed amount.
It's a fixed dollar amount.
Some sufficient is the number that we say that it is going to be, for example, 42%, right?
So
And also like full disclosure, everybody knows that I'm from the camp of like we should have been investing 90% some sufficient special education reimbursement so that there's parity with what the private school system is receiving.
The private schools who are receiving public money receive 90%.
Some sufficient reimbursement for special education.
So people are upset 35% some certain Some certain 42% came out to be 35% local school districts are sort of in panic mode Trying to figure out what that means for their budgets moving forward It is a larger
gap that they're going to have to make up in funding, then they were anticipating many school districts budget for lower than a some certain amount because they know that some certain amount doesn't account for.
increased costs.
So whether it is delivery of specific services, staffing, whatever costs associated with special education, and the reimbursement rate doesn't account for that fluctuation.
And so, you know, people who are organizing their own home budgets right now know that the cost of everything is going up.
And certainly the state legislators that advocated for 42% and 45% some certain reimbursement either didn't realize what that meant or they just don't care what that meant.
And so now we're caught in a cycle of trying to figure out which is true.
Okay, but so, so much there and this is why we love having representative Cruz on the show because he's just pointing it out.
But I just want to think, OK, first of all, too, we're going to get to the press release representative Angelina Cruz, Democrat Racine introduces the quote, keep our promise legislation on special education reimbursement.
We're going to get into that.
But for somebody else who's out there going, why is it?
that we're even talking about like not fully funding special education when it's a federal law that I mean, you know people are like like like Why is there a debate even about you know getting fully reimbursed?
for the costs.
And then like you're saying, it's like, well, we were looking for an increase finally, and we can't even get to that.
I mean, Angelina, if there's a way to even help a listener understand, why is this a debate?
Why isn't it just 100%
reimbursed?
I certainly could not tell you.
I mean, one of the debates that I've engaged in with my colleagues in the majority party is that I
Personally, I know I'm a new legislator in this building and I'm learning about how things work, but I think a pretty fundamental function to my role as a state representative is to uphold the Constitution to which I took an oath to uphold.
And very clearly,
is it stated in article 10 section three that the legislature shall provide by law for the establishment of district schools which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable and such school shall be free and without charge for tuition to all children between the ages of four and 20 years and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein.
Now I interpret that as we need to
fully fund our public schools and provide access to the children of Wisconsin to said schools.
Apparently people are are.
running fast and loose with their interpretation of that section of the Constitution.
So that is a question for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
I'm not quite sure why.
You answered
it beautifully right there with that because that's the point.
Well, sure, it's easy to get that impression if you read the words that are in the law.
But that's not what we're about here.
We're trying to push our agenda on these things.
I don't know.
It is very concerning.
And Representative Cruz, I want to say and ask you about this.
This bill that was passed, this budget, was a compromise.
And we have our own views on this.
Some people think it should have been more.
I guess people on the other side think it should have been less.
But it should be pretty uncontroversial to say that after we make a deal, they should stick to the deal.
I mean, this was agreed upon funding.
And if they don't do that, then what's the point of even working together and coming up with these bills?
That is absolutely correct.
So I suspended my disbelief that
in any nefarious plot to dismantle public education when the DPI numbers came in at 35%.
I thought surely people perhaps did not understand that this is what was going to happen.
So I put forward legislation, which I'm referring to as the Keep Our Promise on Special Education Reimbursement.
It's LRB 5599.
It is currently circulating for signatures.
Because it was so ill timed in terms of the holidays, it was the
I extended the date for people to sign on.
So this is really, it's a timely that I'm talking to you now about this.
The new deadline to sign on is this Friday, January 9th.
To date, every Democratic lawmaker has signed on to my bill.
Not a single Republican lawmaker has signed on to it.
But the bill very...
Generally speaking would guarantee public schools at least the 42 percent reimbursement promised in this year's state budget and then 45 percent in the subsequent year.
So it would change that word from some certain to some sufficient and would allow for the state legislature to actually deliver on the promise that we made to people very publicly about what school districts would be reimbursed for special.
education.
That's all.
It's pretty simple.
It's pretty straightforward.
Do what you mean or say what you mean.
Say what you mean and do what you say.
So it's becoming very clear to me that my colleagues in the majority party had no intention.
of reimbursing special education at the rates of 42% and 45%.
I mean,
thank you for all the work that you do, Representative Cruz, and for being on the show with us today for our listeners, because this is a huge thing and it's not something that's only unique to your district or to our local listeners there.
This is happening around our country.
I really love how you phrase it and kind of put language to it that we can talk about with our neighbors in terms of imagining if, you know, let's even set aside that you shouldn't be doing this to children and families or teachers, but just thinking in terms of like anything we do, if I'm building an addition on my house or if I'm, you know, paying for any kind of service.
And then I decide after the fact that I'm only going to actually pay certain percentage of that.
that that wouldn't be outrageous.
You just don't get to do those things.
So it's not like we're just picking something to, to be in opposition with here as Democrats, you know, speaking to, you know, our, our Republican counterparts or even our, you know, our colleagues in the Republican party that it's, this is outrageous.
That's that simple.
We can't just decide, well, we're only going to pay, you know, 40% or less.
Or in fact, I think I'm not going to pay what we agreed on.
I'm going to pay less.
That's just not how the world works.
It shouldn't work that way.
And it especially shouldn't work that way.
We're talking about children and families and the most vulnerable children and families in our community when we talk about special ed and our most overworked teachers around the country, our special educators.
But, uh, Republican Cruz, I'm, so thank you for
giving us language to that representative Cruz, Republican Cruz.
That's a guy down in Texas.
He's not on the show.
Thankfully.
Yeah.
Thank you, Jacob, for, for fixing that, that mistake I made.
What a, what a massive one there.
Oh, no, thank you for
what
you do.
And I'm, and I'm just curious too, like, while we have you here for our listeners,
regarding education.
You know, you're a former teacher.
We talk all the time about this on Busted Pencils, how valuable teacher voice is, and the political arena, how much we really like advocate for that.
So we're glad to have you doing that hard work.
But as we go into 2026, can you give us a little bit of like what's what?
What are you seeing happening?
Besides just the bill you put forward, what's going on in terms of, you know, from a teacher's perspective in the political arena?
What do you see in the forecast?
Yeah, so I find troubling right now about our majority, my majority colleagues, is that rather than owning what they're doing with public education, they're shifting the blame.
They're sort of playing this shell game and not taking any responsibility.
responsibility for what they're doing.
So I alluded to this sort of creating the property tax debacle, if you will, crisis, if you will, people's property taxes are sort of shooting through the ozone across the state.
And rather than saying, okay, well, you know, we could mitigate this problem by
keeping the promise and funding special education at the rate at which we said we would, that would be one way to do it, but also we could fund special education, or not special education, we could fund general aid.
and that would mitigate property taxes.
Instead, they're saying things like, well, it's DPI's fault for not making the correct calculations for special education, which is just not, that's a blatant lie.
they are saying that it's governor Evers fault for signing a 400 year guarantee that per people funding would be at the rate of 325.
So there's two ways to fund that, right?
The state legislature could fund the 325 every year out of the state budget, which does not keep school districts at the rate of inflation.
So it's still an inadequate amount.
However, what it does offer to school districts is a promise level that they can budget based upon, right?
So they know at least we're going to have this amount of money every year.
That could come from the state budget.
what we decided to do in this past budget cycle was to fund $0 of that.
And so what school districts were forced to do was then levy local property taxes.
And so what the state legislature has forced local communities to do is to
choose to fund their school districts, school districts being pitted against their communities who are having to go to referendum over and over and over, racing unified just passed a referendum this last spring.
But when the rubber hit the road on the state budget in July in talking to the local school district, they're being put in a very precarious position in terms of
having to consider more referendum much sooner rather than later.
I mean, it was a sigh of relief when the community came around funding another referendum to just keep the lights on is what most school districts are doing.
And so when you are using referendum and levying property taxes just to keep the lights on, when something like this happens and you have an
on unexpected shortfall in your budget.
Now you're looking at having to cut programming, you're looking at having to cut staffing, and that has direct impact on student, student learning, classroom sizes, just resources in general.
I mean, just pick, pick, take your pick.
And so it's going to get worse before it gets better, I think.
That's, that's
I mean, we just have to look really hard at the people that we are electing and
what
their priorities are.
And priorities are reflected in the budgets that you pass.
I say that all the time as the president of a local teachers union to my school district and school district administration, your budget reflects your priorities.
And so for us as a local association union,
We hope and we advocate and we pressure our district always to prioritize the needs of kids in a classroom, which also means prioritizing teachers resources.
So our working conditions, our kids learning conditions, and so.
you know, I try to apply the same logic to my colleagues in the state legislature.
I know what you stand for by listening to what you're advocating for and paying attention to what you're voting on.
So, you know,
there you
have what your people are doing, everybody.
You know, it's when you
point this out though too and we've said this too with the property taxes and stuff again yeah just to remind people it's like you know the need to raise property taxes you know the start understanding the cause as opposed to just getting angry that it's happening and and realize that
If the state did something like Representative Cruz did, which was read the Constitution and then agree to swear an oath to abide by it, fully funding public schools, maybe property taxes wouldn't be used to be filling in the gaps.
right now on some of those on those property taxes.
I don't know how many times you can point that out that you know this I well I do know understand why does that happen because actually raising taxes irritates voters anybody and in fact if you're
strategically making sure that if there's any type of increase to public schools, it's going to come on the backs of taxpayers first.
There's a way to create that animosity that ends up being framed as there's public schools asking for more money again.
And as opposed to really getting down and understanding that, you know, we're asking for money to fill gaps.
to keep the lights running, to make sure that when the custodians come in to clean the toilets, they have the supplies they need to keep things sanitary.
You name it, it's all there.
Representative Cruz though, so think about this, you pointed it out to remind again listeners, you're...
We're a teacher, head of the local union.
Recommendations of saying, you know, what do you think?
Good idea to do this?
Need more former teachers or current teachers to be stepping up?
What would you say to your friends, colleagues, peers out there in the ranks?
Would you like more of them to join you?
Absolutely, 1,000%.
I would love a building full of union organizers to get people on the ground tapped into what was going on in the Capitol and advocating for the needs of our local communities.
That's my utopian dream world.
I think if more people,
were paying attention or had access to or whatever the barriers.
If we could break down the barriers for mass local participation in democracy at the Capitol, people would be really angry about what's going on and compelled to act.
And that action would translate at the ballot box, I believe.
I mean, one of the bills that I'm just like,
constantly and I'm I almost hope that I'm not so surprised and appalled with the horrible bills that are brought forward.
But one of the bills that we had to come in for a hearing about just right prior to the winter break was about funding the funding the
study for multiple school districts to consolidate.
So Republicans are proposing that we invest in allowing for schools to explore consolidation, but we don't have money to actually just fund the school district.
And I think the other consideration
If oftentimes public school districts, it's not...
They are the hub of communities.
They're the heart of communities.
And not just because they support our children, but like they are economic drivers, right?
Oftentimes they're the largest employer.
When people are thinking about moving to different communities, the first thing that they look at is the public schools, the wellness of the public school district.
Where can I send my child?
And
so when we think about declining population in the state of Wisconsin and the different considerations people have in terms of
where they want to live and where they want to work.
Public schools are central to that.
And so for my Republican colleagues to just continually bring forward legislation that divests in
in an institution that is like just like the largest investment in our local communities.
I am just like at the core.
So it is difficult to sit through those meetings and listen and ask questions that are not treated with any level of seriousness that they should be treated with.
And I know it's going to get more difficult for people to to tune in.
And I think as legislators, we're going to have to come up with more creative ways to
connect with people with Wisconsin I being shut down because of the lack of funding.
So now we're sort of like operating in a dark cave where nobody can watch what's going on, which is also frightening.
And so I just...
Looking for information and connecting with your local legislators is so important, but then also connecting with people in your community.
I know there's a lot of good, there are a lot of really great grassroots groups in communities, whether we're talking about organizing around public education, talking about organizing around, I mean, there's so many data centers, the funding for city and county government.
There's just so many people doing such good work, just finding the inner
So that we can just bring everybody along to really move on the change that we need in this state because this state is in just dire dire need of of a change in leadership and direction So I believe I
the speaker was interviewed earlier this week about, and one of the questions touched upon the decline in population in the state of Wisconsin.
His solution was to tack the tack on to the Trump $1,000 if you have a child offer another $500.
So that were like, how could you not be embarrassed saying that out loud as like a serious proposal to meet the needs of people at a time like this?
Like, I it's appalling.
There's there's so many things with that one that I was like, Oh, my God.
I could jump into that and be like, hey, yikes.
And Representative Cruz too, first of all, thank you, thank you, thank you always for coming on Busted Pencils.
One of the things you pointed out, yeah, with Wisconsin Eye, the defunding of all public, the need for information to flow and I would
you know encourage you to also with any of your other colleagues in the legislature that you know right now civic media and busted pencils particularly I mean we are here um you know we're we're not going to fill the gaps that are being actively shut down for media and communications but but boy we are fully committed
to making sure that your neighbors and people in Wisconsin and civic media too, Michigan, Minnesota, let's keep that information as long as we can do it here, keep it amplified so that people do have an opportunity to hear, to know, to meet, to have these conversations so they can go back out to their neighbors and say,
Wow, you know, just listen to class in session podcast busted pencils with representative Cruz.
Did you know?
And it's like, yeah, that's the kind of stuff that we're doing.
Representative Cruz, we could keep you for hours and hours and hours.
We are not going to do that to you.
As always, thank you for busting pencils with us tonight.
Thank you so much for having me.
I can't wait to come back.
Awesome.
And now, it's time for your moment of zen.
I had always insisted that a good education was a synthesis of book learning and involvement in social action that each enriched the other.
I wanted my students to know that the accumulation of knowledge while fascinating in itself is not sufficient as long as so many people in the world have no opportunity to experience that fascination.
Thanks for listening to busted pencils class in session.
And you can always grab great podcasts like this one.
Just search busted pencils on Apple podcasts, Spotify.
And of course you can always find us on the civic media website or at busted pencils.com.
Hey, and don't forget to find us throughout the week every Monday, Wednesday, Friday with homerooms class in sessions and always loads of fun with Jacob's producer's choice.
And listen up, pencil busters.
You know you can always catch the Busted Pencils broadcast at 3 p.m.
central time across all the civic media network stations for one hour of your favorite book collar scholars Tim and Johnny.
And keep busting pencils.