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Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.
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Whether you agree, whether you disagree, whether you have thoughts on your own, how about this?
Do you think apprenticeships are the solution to the teacher shortage in Wisconsin?
And if not, what do you think is the reason we bring this up is since I didn't know about this, I had talked about it when it was first
being proposed that maybe this was going to be a thing and it is it has been since 2024.
Wisconsin has had this really unique apprenticeship program for teachers so future people who want to be teachers earn money while they're working in schools as they get their education and certifications so instead of having to try to work
a different kind of job and not have experience.
You're just like you are if you're an electrician or a plumber or any other kind of job that has an apprenticeship.
So state officials launched this program to ease the educator shortage and offering students an alternative route to the profession one where they don't have to put their careers on pause while racking up students debt.
But as participants reach the program's halfway point, its future beyond the initial pilot phase is unclear because there's not enough people getting involved.
And it raises the question about whether apprenticeships will become a viable solution to Wisconsin's struggle to find and keep educators.
And to me, again, this was a novel and really ambitious program that makes the path to...
education to being an educator much easier because you're really finding out if you're if you're in the heat of it all the time you realize really quickly this is what I meant to do or this is not what I meant to do and you're still going through your classes you're still getting your education but in that time you're getting paid to do this.
Yeah.
You're not coming in cold, which a lot of in the past, that's how student, that's how teachers come in.
Yeah.
Maybe a student teach for one semester.
That's not enough.
I have friends who, dear friends that I met in college who have been teachers.
And I actually texted one of them last night.
She's worked her way up into an administrative role in a school in South Dakota.
And I said, what do you think of this?
Because I know for a fact that their school doesn't have a program like this.
And she goes, I think this would be sensational.
She's like, I think that this would be absolutely
absolutely amazing to to have if you had the resources to do so because she's like it's literally just being able to have people in the classroom longer to get better at their job and she's like then I think it would be great because you'd get to work those people maybe into a full-time role or get them hooked up at a school that you know absolutely needs that position.
She was all for this and she's like it's really a shame that this is happening that you know she's like this is a program that is is on a chopping block because she's like
I think that this is phenomenal.
It would be if people wanted to do it, but I don't understand why when we're being told that we're getting a lot of teachers being educated in Wisconsin.
It's not that problem.
People are going to school to be teachers, but then they're leaving the state.
That's the problem.
So this homegrown program really seems to be what
seems to be the answer and it's just I don't I don't understand why people aren't taking advantage of it and of course you're not gonna keep a program going and spending all that money right to to keep a program up if nobody's using it
What I think is really fascinating about this, too, is when you look at this program that I think is so beneficial, we already have so many districts in the state who have a lack of teachers.
They're struggling to balance their budgets.
They're dealing with the rising costs.
And you actually have people who are coming in there and who want to be involved in the school district where you can train them.
Now, I understand that that also means that there's money involved and all of these school districts are already stressed.
and they're already having a hard time retaining the teachers.
But at the same time, I feel like there has to be a way that they can keep this program and also figure out a way to benefit the school districts and these future teachers.
Because those people who want to be teachers, those individuals, are so important to the future of our...
Not only our kids, I know it sounds cliche, but it's not just our kids.
It's literally about the communities, because communities are stronger by the schools, right?
I mean, that's how I always think anyway.
When you have good school systems, you have stronger communities.
People rally around those things.
We have to fund it.
If you're not clear on how this works, so here's how this program works.
A school district hires an apprentice.
Just like, again, think of the trades.
You've got to go through an apprenticeship.
They, uh, those, those apprentices enroll at Fox Valley Technical College or Waukesha County Technical College for two years to complete a foundations of teacher education associates degree.
Once they finished that, they transferred to Lakeland University or the UUW Whitewater at Rock County to finish a bachelor's degree.
Now.
Through those four years of schooling, the apprentice works inside the classroom as an assistant for 32 hours each week, spends eight hours a week learning at college.
The school district the person works for pays an hourly wage for those 40 hours.
Then apprentices finish the training.
They are qualified to work as a classroom teacher.
That's awesome.
You're going to school anyway.
You might as well get paid.
And if you're getting
Most people, when they're going to school, still have to have a job.
So instead of working, I don't know, at Chipotle or wherever you're going to work, that's not connected, this way you're actually learning, you're getting paid to learn on the
And it's interesting to me that we have to keep having these debates about teachers and schools in this state because, and I understand the issues that schools are having, whether that is because of the property tax debate, because it always comes back to the property tax debate in the state, and the referendums that all of these schools have to continue to put on the ballot.
It's a major factor to be able to fund that, but we are losing potential teachers in the state before they ever step foot into a classroom.
In fact, according to new data, more than 5,200 people completed educator preparation programs in this state, but only about 3,500 actually went on to teach in Wisconsin schools.
So if you're doing the math this morning, and I get it, it's Friday, it's early, that's more than about 1,600 potential educators.
Compensation is a major factor.
The fact that
when
It's, uh, of course, yes, but to your point, yes, if you're not prepared and I've, you know, being in the classroom for as long as I was, I saw nude teachers come in and while they were very smart, there's
Classroom management and day-to-day hands-on stuff is like any job.
You can know all the technical things to do at your job.
But until you're actually doing your job, you're not going to pick up the finer points that are going to make you a success in that field.
So to be working in a school and watch how every day for those four years
experienced teachers do it and that's how you learn that's how I learned by watching
and I would
but
and
teachers,
That is not just since this program started.
Teachers are woefully underpaid, and I know the argument from people who are against that is, well, they get suburbs offered.
That's not the point.
You're entrusting people with one of the most important jobs, getting your children ready to move on to the future, and you're going to pay them as little as possible.
It doesn't make any sense.
Yeah.
So we need to look at that.
And you also have to have incentives.
If you're educating people in this state, you need incentives to make them want to stay in this state.
I don't know if it's tuition cuts.
Yeah.
And you look at it kind of like the military, we're gonna we're gonna get you through college, you know, some scholarships or whatever.
And then you owe Wisconsin X amount of years.
And there's a good chance if you get
Because once teachers are in a district or in a school, unless it's financial or their commute, they don't really leave.
Right.
Bad administrators will drive them out.
Low pay will drive them out.
But it's normally not the kids who drive them out.
No.
In fact, I would argue that the teachers I know, they go out of their way to make sure that their students have what they need because a couple of my friends live in really low income, work in really low income schools.
And they know that sometimes they are the lifeline to those students because they're there on a daily consistent basis.
They also know that sometimes when those students come in their classrooms, that is the adult
interaction they're getting in their day because of the districts that they're teaching in.
I will honestly say teaching was never something that I would have been good at, but I have all sorts of respect for teachers because they are underpaid.
We've talked about this, right?
You just mentioned it.
They are completely underpaid.
And in fact, in Wisconsin, when adjusted for inflation, pay for mid-career Wisconsin teachers currently.
is 22% lower than it was in 2010.
Oh,
And when neighboring states are able to offer more money, they're able to offer more incentives
Obviously, your teachers are going to have to make a jump if they feel like their talents can be utilized and compensated more fairly somewhere else.
And it's a shame because then I think we all, I think it's a disservice to all of us when that starts happening in our school districts.
And, you know, there are so many barriers for people for getting education and for entering certain professions.
this to me is one of those conversations that I guess if I'm DPI, I'm really trying to figure out how you keep it, right?
I mean, just based on all of the information we just talked about between compensation or lack thereof compensation and the fact that it is so important for our teachers to be trained, it just really feels like if I'm DPI, I'm like, is there a way we can preserve this?
Is there a way we can keep this program going so that we all benefit?
technical
program I
That's great But if they're already coming here to be educated, right?
Why not why not figure out a way to keep them?
All right.
Well when we come back
Our programs that are designed to prevent overdose deaths, a good idea, or are they just enabling poor choices?
Dane County is making a call on one of their programs, so we'll get into that.
And so much more, and more of your loving and supportive texts and calls at 855-75-CIVIC.
Yes, this is Daybreak.
I am Brian Noonan, the bane of people's existence.
I'm Jamie Martin, Sid.
Thank you for listening today.
This is the Civic Media Network.
Local news, community stories, and the conversations that matter most.
Now, more Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
Yes, so what Jamie said, 8-5-5-7-5-7-8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4.
Oh God, don't say don't.
What are you doing?
What are you doing?
Oh, Jamie.
That was Jamie, by the way.
Oh, if you're keeping your tally sheets at home, I chastised her for that.
Oh, don't say that word.
All right, I understand that drug addiction is a disease.
I also know that there are choices involved with that.
And I applauded when we...
communities around Wisconsin started putting in these vending machines so that they had the shots to bring somebody out if they were having an overdose.
Dane County had gone a little farther, but they are now ending an initiative to prevent overdose deaths by giving out pipes.
So four years ago, public health officials started giving people pipes and other supplies to reduce the health risks associated with smoking drugs.
The program was part of the department's broader efforts to reduce the harms of drug use.
For decades, syringe service programs across the country have provided harm reduction supplies to people who inject drugs.
Though controversial, these programs reduce hospitalizations and overdose deaths while increasing participation in drug treatment.
And I understand all that, but I'm conflicted with this, Jamie.
And
I don't know,
For me, I
I get what the programs are trying to do, and I understand that we need to help.
I also understand that in this day and age, money is tight.
City, state, county budgets are tight.
And while we're focusing on drug addiction, which again is a disease, alcoholism is a disease, we don't have
programs for that there are meetings there are different things but those are all not state sponsored right so while it's while it's unfortunate that the program has to end I get it and I'm not saying we shouldn't have these types of programs
in the
ago in
My family has had, as I look at my cousins and some of my uncles, drug addiction in my family has run rampant.
I've witnessed people.
almost overdosing.
I've witnessed people basically coming out of their drug induced stupors literally in our basement growing up because they'd come to my mom because she would take care of them and help them and then usher them to rehab again for the 190th time.
So I've witnessed this firsthand and it's painful.
It's agony.
It rips people apart.
It rips families apart.
And the one thing that
I learned is that no matter how many resources you take away, they always find a way to get those supplies,
And my family is, alcoholism has been a big thing in my family, but it's the same thing.
If you want to drink, you're going to find a drink.
If you want to take drugs, you're going to find a way to take drugs.
And there's this nagging part of me that goes, why are we helping?
You know, why are we, I understand the clean needle program.
I understand all the need for the clean needle.
The tools
are the tools are oh, they're they will find a way and and I don't say that to be callous because I believe there is worth in these programs I really truly do yes, but until somebody is willing to admit that they have a problem until they are willing to if you've never been there if you've never witnessed this if you've never experienced yourself and tell these people who are addicted Feel like they are they have no
other way out and they want to make that change in themselves.
they are going to find a way to find their drug of choice, whether that is the narcotics, whether it is the alcohol, whatever it might be.
Gambling is another form of that addiction.
They're going to find a way to do and use those behaviors.
And so I mean, I'm always torn on these subjects, which is why I
People will argue with you, well, you know, people aren't dying from gambling too much.
No, but they're ruining their lives.
People do die from alcohol.
alcoholism and not in not as quickly as they die from drug overdoses, but they do so we're singling this out and I would rather see the money for these programs put into treatment centers so that when so that when people do Finally hit the point where they're like I can't
I can't do this anymore.
I need to change.
There's affordable or free ways for them to get treatment rather than having to look for a rehab that they're, if they have insurance at all.
And here's the other thing that I would say to that, watching one of my uncles go through this and have a daughter who was only a toddler at the time and see what that did to her and the long.
term ramifications of watching her dad go through this.
I would love to see those resources also go to the family who has to be involved in this and watch those people go through this addiction because it is torture because there is literally nothing you can do to change their mind.
And they are fueled by the drug.
It doesn't matter how much you love them.
It doesn't matter how much care you give them.
They don't care.
They don't care because there is something that in their brain is much more important than anything you can give them at that moment in time.
More people visited health officials to receive overdose reversal medication and other resources.
But the program was probably illegal under Wisconsin law, which allowed injection supplies, but not smoking materials to be given away.
So we'll see what happens.
All right.
Oh, let's talk politics again because people love it.
What lessons can the political parties learn from the 2024 elections?
We'll get into that and welcome your comments
on the Civic
Before we jump into this next topic, we do want to remind everybody that starting Monday, Brian, we're going to accelerate the summer with our multi-state text-to-win contest.
We're very excited about this.
June 1st, it is going to be your daily chance to win either $100 or be qualified or get a Wisconsin Dells prize package, I should say.
And then every entry will put you into our grand prize drawing for $250 in gas or $250 in groceries.
which we could all use right now.
But in order to play and start qualifying for all of these great prizes on Monday morning, you need to get the Civic Media app that is free to download.
So please do that over the weekend because 7 a.m.
Monday morning is gonna be your first opportunity to qualify to win.
All right, Jamie, you know, I like to I like to hear both sides to be to try to be a little more educated on things.
I also like to learn lessons from things of the past.
So.
What lessons can the political parties learn from the 2024 election?
Because this year we have a lot, a lot of candidates
in the
ballot box without
But the 2018 race is the only Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin's last 40 years that has had more than three candidates.
This year's race could shape up to have similar number of names on the August 7th ballot.
So what does the past tell us about how this summer's race may play out?
And it does have a lot of similarities between
with 2018.
This particular primary will also take place in the middle of another term of President Donald Trump, just like in 2018.
And that might contribute, analysts in the state of Wisconsin say that that could contribute to a higher number of candidates because they see a higher energy among Democratic voters, which is why
Yeah, so one of the things that's most different in this particular race is that there's not really a standout candidate at this point.
Evers first entered the primary race in August of 2017, and he had a lot of momentum from a successful reelection campaign as state superintendent of schools in that spring.
So one of the very first polls of the gubernatorial race that came out from Marquette Law School back in March of 2018, Evers actually led the field with about 18% of voters leaning his way.
The only candidate
at that time who was polling with double digits.
Now, the polling doesn't really...
isn't really as clear this time of round.
In March, Marquette did their current poll, the most current poll that we have.
And Francesca Hong was leading the field with about 14% of the vote.
Mandela Barnes was close behind with about 11% of the votes.
And then there was just a smattering of support ranging from about one to 3% for all of the other candidates.
And which left, I believe, it was around
40 to 45 percent of voters who are completely unsure about any of the candidates or didn't have a candidate at that particular time.
So that I think is going to be the key in the caveat as we get more of these Marquette polls leading up to the primaries.
Will people start coalescing around one candidate over another or will we continue to look at a more divided front of voters?
Maybe
I know Democrats don't like to hear this, but I'm going to keep banging on this drum.
The purity test that some Democrats put our candidates through is self-defeating.
And it is, I know you didn't like what we talked to the Republican strategist, but one thing we did bring up is
Why do they seem to coalesce behind their candidate and Democrats do not?
And if you don't like hearing the truth, well, put your fingers in your ear and nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,
because
and
Right.
So were people actually voting for Tony Evers or were they just voting against Walker's years in office?
I go back to that.
However, what I will say is Governor Evers leaves the office as one of Wisconsin's most consistently popular statewide politicians.
His approval ratings were usually positive, even if they were very narrow, because not a lot of, you know, electeds get these huge swings in popularity.
He actually won five statewide elections during his political year, career, and even people who disagreed with him politically, right?
The one thing that they could also say is that he was steady.
He was approachable.
and he was less partisan than a lot of elected officials.
And I think that's why people liked him.
Tony was not a polished politician.
He's
types
of people all different political leanings all every everything across the democratic party what the democratic party is supposed to look like and it does so at this point there's somebody for everybody i would think yes if you can't find if you can't find out of the top seven a candidate in this primary that you're back i don't know who
you better run yourself.
And
a little
bit, I asked him a little bit of whether or not Tom Tiffany was going to have to basically reconcile his voting record with people in Wisconsin.
And so I
did
a little research last night, because as this campaign shifts into high gear, we're going to hear a lot about what these candidates plan to do.
And Rusty's absolutely correct.
Tom Tiffany is doing the right thing right now by focusing on the economy.
But they're going to need to look at what those candidates have already done.
Okay, so I've got some receipts on Tiffany's voting record.
He has voted against a number of federal proposals involving healthcare access, food assistance, affordable housing, voting rights, and veterans benefits.
Now that includes voting against extensions of the ACA tax credits that help Wisconsinites afford health insurance.
And remember, thousands of people are no longer insured because they actually got priced right out of the market.
So keep that in mind.
He's also supported legislation that
He also voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the For the People Act, which were both aimed at expanding voting access and election protections.
On veterans' issues, he was the only member of Wisconsin's congressional delegation to vote against the Honoring Our Pact Act, which expanded health care and disability benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substance abuse.
during military service, only Wisconsin delegate.
All right, keep that in mind.
Now at the state level, he also opposed the recent bipartisan surplus proposal that included tax relief, rebate checks, and additional funding for our schools.
So that is just a little, I mean, I could have gone on, we'd
The last one is not gonna carry as much weight.
Everything you set up to that point is indictable.
And that's why we asked, where do we...
Where's his weakness right and that's it you got to show those receipts and this is this is again where I get accused of bashing progressives don't focus on the far left things don't focus on Things that don't matter what matters right now
in this moment is the economy and his record on voting.
And no matter what he says now, he's got the actions to tell more than any campaign promise.
So if you're not attacking that, if you're trying to bring up other things and you don't have a concrete plan, you're making a mistake as a Democrat.
You have to learn that lesson.
Attack, attack, attack, and he's got enough
soft spots on his underbelly to keep attacking those spots.
Hopefully, if you are out there campaigning for your favorite candidate or whoever wins the primary in August, when you go door to door and you do your door knocking, these are the things that you are bringing up because he is going to run on the economy.
He is going to tell you how much better he would be for the economy.
Really?
You voted against all of the things that make it affordable to live on a daily basis.
And you also still, by the way, oppose a living minimum wage.
We don't want to cost businesses more money.
He's endorsed by the guy who said that our gas prices, the increases peanuts, that he doesn't think about how his decisions affect our pocketbooks.
So we shouldn't be surprised.
that this is what's coming out.
So if Democrats learn anything, it's those things.
And Republicans already know those.
Republicans know how to attack.
And you can argue all day and night, why are you bringing this up?
Because it's important to know.
It's important to know what the other side is doing.
And I'm sorry, if something doesn't make sense,
I'm gonna call it out.
Whether it's Republican or Democrat.
And
I'm hoping, I'm really hoping that as we go through this the next few months, and I'm really, really hoping that as we watch these candidates, you know, vie for the top spot, I really hope that if the Republicans, as Rusty alluded to last hour, are building a really great ground campaign and a really great grassroots effort, which they haven't always been as good at as the Democrats, I hope that that is part of it.
She said, hi, this is Lori from Heywood.
May I remind everybody that Donald Trump ran focusing on the economy.
You are correct.
Promising people a lot of stuff he never delivered.
We need to get out and campaign talking with people and listening to what they expect and running our campaigns accordingly.
Olly.
Thank
you, Lori.
Thank you,
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,
A federal judge has halted work on Trump's anti-weaponization fund.
This is a federal judge in Virginia.
Temporarily blocked the administration from moving ahead with its plans to create a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who it says were wrongly targeted.
The brief order from U.S.
District Judge Leonie Brinkema says the
administration cannot take any action, quote,
pursuant to the creation or operation of the anti-weaponization fund, which includes the transferring of money to the fund, the consideration of any claims submitted to the fund, and the dispersing of any funds from the fund.
She set a hearing for June 12th to hear arguments over whether she should issue a more lasting pause on the government's efforts to set up the fund, which is being challenged by a diverse coalition of people and entities who say they would be ineligible to receive money.
from it.
So a little sense coming into the coming into the situation.
And so now a couple more weeks, but
That doesn't stop him from doing whatever he wants Unfortunately, all right.
Yeah, let's talk a little good.
Let's have a few a few good stories from around Wisconsin This is kind of exciting a Wisconsin dance teacher and choreographer is stepping on to the national stage with an upcoming appearance on the 21st season of America's Got Talent out the ax on the long-running talent competition or vying for the coveted golden buzzer AJ Juarez grew up in Buenos Aires.
He's the founder
director of Barrio Dance Studio in Madison where he teaches and choreographs in Latin, hip-hop and other contemporary styles.
His dance troupe, which includes his wife, was recently invited to audition for America's Got Talent after a producer saw them perform at a World Dance Regional Competition in Chicago.
AJ said the Barrio group is known for bringing an infectious energy to their performances and their routine is under two minutes for AGT.
It's set to a medley of songs from the iconic
Rock Band Queen, the biggest challenge for the group, how to make the music of Queen compliment their style of dance.
Yes, because when AJ moved to Madison in 2012, he thought there was a missing component to the dance community.
He said, AGT is an opportunity to put Madison on the map.
I'm excited to see my team on that big screen and all their family, then the people that love them see them shine on there, according to AJ.
So good luck.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, that's very cool.
told,
like you know these people that
you're your best friend.
Home team, man.
Yeah, yeah, you're totally in.
In other stories from Dairyland Diaries, I love this one.
Girls Flake football programs keep popping up around the state.
More than 30 programs have begun competition in the last few years with Madison area schools marking some of the most recent additions.
Now the sports popularity in the United States
skyrocketed just in the past five years.
As of May, 20 states have sanctioned flag football programs, 15 states have pilot programs and five will vote on adding the sport in the next two years.
Madison School District Flag Football Coordinator Adam Smith says football is attached to male athletes and this version is kind of like, well, if the boys can do it, then girls can do it too.
And they can also be very athletic.
Now, Wisconsin is one of several states with independent programs sprouting up
more than 30 high schools in the state run club or intramural flag football programs.
Smith, who is a longtime teacher, he's also a football coach in Madison, started running camps this year after colleges started offering athletic scholarships for flag football.
The positive response led him to bring up the idea to creating club programs to Madison's athletic director
He gave the green light for this.
The four Madison High Schools and Verona all founded flag football teams in the past year.
Madison Memorial held its first practice on May 6th, May 2nd,
I should
Yeah, come on ladies.
Get out there.
Knock it around a little bit.
Football's fun.
Finally, this is I saw I've been seeing stories about this from all over the country.
And now there's it's coming to Wisconsin.
If you've been on the east side of Madison, maybe you've seen just a little wooden pink and purple box.
It's glittery.
It's hanging on a street light pole.
Well, it's like the little free libraries.
You've seen those
in
Those are great.
But these are trinket boxes.
Yes, a trinket trade box.
It's called the Thorpe Street trinket trade.
It's filled
with keychains, small figurines, some Pokemon cards, all kinds of little things.
There are more than 1200 of these trinket boxes worldwide, but only two so far in Madison.
The creative mind behind the trinket box is Elle Urschler.
She's a hairstylist in Wisconsin.
So we've got we've got some others around there.
Some have VHS tapes or books or little little things.
But to qualify, they say a trinket is a small, cheap thing that you collect.
She says a lot of people have a lot of different ideas of trinkets.
The only rule for a trinket box is no broken things, no food.
And if you wouldn't be excited to find it in there, don't put it in there.
I've seen like little rubber ducks or other kind of things.
Yeah, that's awesome.
It's just a fun kid.
Can't we just have fun?
No, we can't have fun.
There's no fun.
Who am I talking to?
Don't be fun.
Don't be funny.
Don't do anything.
But yeah, so if you see a trinket box, take something.
Yeah, but you have to put something in.
Yeah, you got to swap it out just like the libraries.
Yes, I like this.
I like anything that is going to even for a brief, brief moment, bring some joy,
As evidenced by this morning, joy is fleeting.
Happiness is fleeting for some people.
Not for me, I'm happy.
You know why?
Because in the immortal words of Friday at 9 o'clock...
I'm done.
We're done.
That's it.
Well, thank you for being here all week.
We'll be back whether you like it or not on Monday.
And don't forget the big contest starts on Monday.
So download the Civic Media app.
Have a great weekend.
I'm Brian Noonan.
Network.
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