Good
morning.
Welcome.
Welcome to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Buck, Calvin Butenoff coming to you live from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us, call or text.
The number is the same 855.
seven five two four eight four two leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook YouTube and what used to be Twitter it is Monday February 24th today the average price of a gallon of milk in Wisconsin is three seventeen that's actually down a penny since Friday however the average price of a dozen large eggs in Wisconsin six dollars and eleven cents that's thirteen percent higher thirteen cents rather
higher since Friday, 45 cents higher than last week.
When I win, I will immediately bring prices down starting on day one.
We have a lot of things coming up for you on the show today.
Emily Zefos will be here at 10 33.
She's a big proponent of public schools and justifiably so.
Yeah.
And she got into it a little bit with one of our lawmakers who decided
to step into her personal social media and start a fight.
Yeah, essentially.
Not the smartest move, but didn't seem to go well.
No, but we'll have an update with Emily Seppos coming up after 1033 next hour.
We're going to start off at 1106 with bad banks.
Yeah.
Some things that banks want to do now under the second Trump administration that, I don't know, call me crazy, don't necessarily seem to be in the consumer's best interest.
I know that's shocking.
Also, next hour at 11.21, just briefly, we're going to do Sink-O-Fant Olympics.
I'm concerned about Wisconsin's Republican lawmakers getting left in the dust, because they're not sucking up enough.
Well, I mean, honestly, after this...
after this weekend's town halls.
I would say those sorts were falling down pretty hard.
So we'll get to that in a minute.
Also daylight saving time, my friends, March 9th.
Daylight saving time kicks in.
Yes or no.
The eternal debate goes on.
A lot of strong feelings on both sides about that.
I certainly have mine.
Oh, I know.
Daylight saving time.
Yes or no.
That's coming up at 11.33 and we will wrap it up as we always do with this shouldn't be a thing.
Today, Calvin found this one, the Cheetos Art Edition.
Right now there's nerds all over the stake.
What?
Cheetos Art?
What does that mean?
So stick around for that.
That will come your way around 11.51.
As you kind of hinted, Greg, we did want to talk about some of the less than warm, shall we say?
Reception to some Republican lawmakers who decided to do the really scary thing of venturing out and talking to their actual constituents.
Scary times.
Scary times out there.
Scary times if you're a Republican elected official.
New York Times headline reads Republicans face angry voters at town halls, hinting at broader backlash.
We did talk about this a little bit on Friday.
Yeah.
Because Scott Fitzgerald, who knew he was still around?
We never see him.
I was surprised.
Like if you put three people up that the old name was like, my name is Scott Fitzgerald.
My name is Scott.
I would have no idea who Scott Fitzgerald was.
Yeah.
He's back.
Well, he was for one day.
Yeah.
I have a feeling that's never going to happen again.
We have a little clip from Scott Fitzgerald holding his town hall.
Calvin, can you play that little supercut for us, please?
When will you stand up to them and say that is enough?
If there were Trump voters in the room, none spoke up in support of Trump's first month efforts.
The end result of the fraud and abuse that has been discovered already.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
Certainly the discussion in and around Doge, and with the probationary moves that have already been done, they're going to have to be scrutinized at some point by, by, no, no, no, no.
By
the Ways and Means Committee, where the expenditures would be made, and by the other standing committees.
We're not in that position right now.
There was a clip that was.
that was not in there that said that he has not been briefed also on Doge.
So riddle me this.
One, how are you going to hold any committee committee meetings on Doge if you have no idea what's going on?
And also, do you really expect Elon or any of his little minions to walk in the door with
you know, boxes of information with details showing their work of what they have done in the light of all the firings.
And also, if you find there are problems, are you going to reinstate all the jobs?
I mean, this is just Scotty,
Scotty, Scotty to Hottie.
Well, the fact that he said he has not been briefed on Doge says a whole lot.
Yes.
And he doesn't seem particularly bothered about it either.
He's not bothered about it all until they start asking questions.
Yeah, we don't like the questions.
That's your job.
That was one of the best responses because it's
true.
That was courtesy of TMJ for by the way, reporter Charles Benson, who is the only one there for that particular event that was held outside of West Bend.
Yeah, on
very, very, very Republican.
Very red.
absolutely very red.
And of course, Glenn growthman also ran into some less than happy constituents when he held his town hall at the Algoma town hall just outside of Oshkosh on Friday morning.
We do have a couple of clips from that as well.
Calvin play clip number one from Wisconsin Republican Glenn growthman.
President Trump has issued a lot of executive orders.
I think by and large this is moving very quickly compared to other administrations and I think across the board he's done some very good things.
He's gone for the birthright
citizenship It's I mean it's in the Constitution you thought he got rid of birthright citizenship Glenn I Found a clip of him just being booed from his car to the door.
I mean these men these individuals I mean, I'm sure I'll stay like across
specifically is not popular.
Well, and I think they were genuinely surprised.
Yes, I do.
I think they were genuinely surprised to see that many people turn out and to have that many people who were unhappy with this.
And again, I don't disagree that our government can be smaller.
and that there is waste.
I don't think that anybody disagrees with that.
I think the way you go about fine, I identifying that fraud is a much, it's a much more surgical procedure than just coming in and axing everything.
Well, I mean, first of all, there's a couple of things that really stick to my mind here because one, in the Scott Fitzgerald supercut,
We hear Charles Benson say, if there were any Trump supporters in the room, they didn't say anything, which to me says Trump supporters don't really care about the actual outcomes, the outcomes.
They don't, they don't care about the process itself.
They just love seeing that Eli's got chainsaw and Trump's saying we're winning and all that stuff.
If they were really that involved and that invested in their party and their in the solutions, quote unquote, the solutions they're proposing, they would be there defending Scott Fitzgerald, Donald Trump and going, not, you know, not fighting them, but like there would be a discussion happening, but they're not there because I don't think they really care.
Also, if there is bloated spending, there's always bloated spending in government.
It's a bureaucracy.
It's it, it, it employs so many people.
But if there is actual fraud,
I mean, true fraud.
Which is a crime.
That's a crime.
Then we need to know about that right away.
There's a reason why, as Scott Fitzgerald, we have standing committees.
We have to go through the process to make sure these things are done correctly.
Because if, let's say, Elon Musk fires a bunch of people that wasn't supposed to be fired, well, are that lawsuits?
Are they going to be hired back right away?
Like, this is not how a government is supposed to run, not this quickly.
Not this quickly.
Well, and not by using a chainsaw.
I mean, good heavens, if you're on social media at all on Twitter or even on Blue Sky over the weekend, there have been people now who have been let go under Elon Musk, because essentially he seems to be the one who's running everything, even though he wasn't elected.
Yeah.
And the guy is like, I'm a Trump supporter and I'm a veteran.
And I did not expect that this was going to affect me.
Yeah.
Jesse Waters was on phone news saying, I have a good friend who's a veteran who just lost his job, who's been doged now is apparently the term.
Yeah, he needs his job back.
Well, he's not going to get it.
Well, these moves affect actual human living breathing beings.
Yeah.
We have John K and the live stream saying I was at the town of the Algoma one and could not get in because there was a capacity of 99 at least.
At least that many combined left were outside or drove by and did not find parking.
Growthman seemed shocked when the booze rained down while he walked from his chauffeur Dodge Rebel pickup truck.
I mean, this kind of goes along with the word we were talking about before.
These are guys who didn't have to really work for their jobs before because their districts are real
safe.
But that might not be the case.
At least at the very least, people are keeping an eye on them.
because they have to answer for the work that's being done in DC.
Elon can do whatever he wants, go home, have a kid on his shoulders, whatever.
But at the end of the day, these cuts, these actions by the Trump White House have to be explained by sitting elected representatives from DC in their districts.
And I don't think, as you said last week, I don't think these town halls are going to last much longer.
They will never happen again.
will never come back out in public unless it is a very specially curated group.
Invitation only.
If you have a question, you're going to have to submit it in advance.
This is not going to happen again.
They're not used to this.
They don't like it.
No.
If you were at either of these meetings, we would love to hear from you.
855-752-4842.
Scott Fitzgerald talking to constituents.
Also, Glenn Rothman.
If you're there, like John, who texted on a live stream, we would love to hear from you.
And what you got from the crowd.
What was your feeling?
And what did you take away from this?
855-752-4842.
Stay with us.
You're listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio
Network.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Box, sweet Calbee on the board, coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.
You can join us, call her text at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter coming up after the 1030 News.
Emily Zephos is going to join us.
She has been a Democratic candidate and she's also the county chair of the out of gamey.
County Democrats very much supported public schools and got into it a little bit with one of Wisconsin's Republican lawmakers.
Interesting way to go about talking to your constituents.
Yeah.
Although maybe that's certainly much easier doing it on social media than actually having to show up in person as discovered by a couple of Wisconsin lawmakers.
Scott Fitzgerald.
And Glenn and growth men, both last week held town halls where they got booed and were facing some pretty angry constituents, not just in Wisconsin, either Pete Sessions, who is a Republican who's been in office for like three decades.
He also had a little meeting with his constituents.
I believe it was on Friday.
I think it's important.
I just want to include this quote, I'm not going to tell you I will never touch social security unquote.
I think it's important that people hear that.
I'm not going to tell you, I will never touch social security.
What I will tell you is that I believe we're going to do for the first time in years, a top to bottom review of that.
And I'll come back, I'll do a town hall and put myself before you and let you know the options.
I don't know what they're proposing right now.
Well,
At least from a couple of things I saw over the weekend, they're considering a means test for Social Security, which isn't an entitlement.
If you want to do a means test for someone like Jeff Bezos, that's one thing.
Should Jeff Bezos really get Social Security?
Does he need it to live?
But I have a feeling those aren't the folks they're going to be looking at.
No, they're gonna look at poor folks.
Yes, most likely they will.
If you were at either the listening sessions with Scott Fitzgerald or Glenn Grossman, we would love to hear from you.
855-752-4842, John from West Bend, listening on WAUK according to Grossman and Fitzgerald Musk is not running things.
Talk about delusional.
Not wrong there, John.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
Luann Bird is on the line.
Good morning, Luann.
Thanks for joining us.
What did you want to say?
Good morning.
I attended a listening session.
I think it was organized by Working Families Party last week.
And it was
Brian Stiles.
It was in St.
Francis.
there were about 30 of us there and we were able to, his aide came out and we were able to share with her what, you know, how we're feeling and how we want, we want Brian to represent us and to stand up to these constant programs and most people there were affected by these federal programs, you know, like the section eight, they're worried that they're gonna, they're gonna die if these programs snap programs, Medicaid,
Right?
So Brian, we show up at his office or at that session and then we then I see he sends out this email where it looks like he supports people with disabilities.
And then I hear they're proposing the budget to cut Medicaid.
So I would suggest to your look who's like, we're doing here, you know, you don't mess with grandma Luke here.
We're going to go to his office in Jamesville if he will not come to us.
and meet with us.
So I think we can't just say, oh, they'll never do that again.
It's a demanded.
We have to start putting more and more information out there, showing what he is not doing to represent
us.
It is still up to us.
It is.
Absolutely.
You're right.
It is up to us.
There is no one coming to save us, except us.
Luanne, did his spokesperson have an explanation on why he could not attend his own listening session?
No, we didn't really ask that.
No, we didn't really ask that.
And she really responded.
It wasn't as much a Q&A as it was just this thing.
She was there to listen to our concerns.
And then people went in one-on-one with her to have a conversation.
Interesting.
You know what?
It's not perfect, but it's something.
Yeah.
And I left there feeling so good because first of all, Ireland.
other people's stories and how they're being affected by cuts.
You know, I got to be in community with people that felt the same way I do.
So I think there's still a lot of power in showing up like that.
But that's not the only thing.
We also have to do the letters and the calls and we have protests.
We have to
do
all right now.
But I do, yeah, go ahead.
No, you're absolutely right, Luanne.
And thank you so much for calling in.
And thank you for being as active as you are and getting out there and doing the hard work on the ground.
And as you say, this is something we're all going to need to do.
And I get the temptation to say, yep, they're not going to show up anyway.
So whatever, call their office.
And that's making a difference.
Because I've seen a number of articles over the weekend, they're like,
They're overwhelmed by the number of calls that they're getting, and that's a good thing.
And we need to keep that
up.
As Randy Manners said on our show a few weeks ago, if you don't call them and tell them this, they don't know what you are thinking.
Right.
They can't assume that you agree or disagree.
So if you call them and simply say, I disagree with this, they will then know.
And if an overwhelming amount of people disagree, it could sway them.
I can't guarantee it.
I don't want to sound naive and say, of course they'll vote against her for, but it is definitely.
something to do and it won't take you very long.
Always be nice and be polite to the person you're speaking to.
We did get a text message from Sue in Franklin listening at WAUK talking about a woman who was dragged out of an auditorium.
I saw it.
I'm looking at this right now.
She was physically dragged out for speaking up because why?
They're afraid their Medicaid is going to get cut.
This is real people.
Most definitely.
If you do not know where to call, my vote.
dot w i dot gov my vote dot w i dot gov all you have to do is put in your address type in your address hit enter all of your elected officials will come up including all of their phone numbers take advantage of it give them a call they work for us they work for us ostensibly we pay them we do pay them oh and by the way i want to report from each of them every month that they're not working to find out what they're doing because apparently
Elon thinks that's really important.
News is coming up next.
Stay with us.
You're listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right back.
Good morning.
Welcome.
Welcome to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, the Calvinator on the board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us.
Call.
You can text.
The number is the same.
855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Coming up next hour, right after the 11 o'clock news, we're going to talk about big banks.
And now, they would really prefer that you not move your money to a different bank.
Wait a minute, you saying big banks don't care about me?
Well, no, they care.
They like your money.
They just would like it to stay where it is.
And then also, next FHR, Cincofant Olympics, I'm really concerned that Wisconsin's Republican lawmakers are going to lose out in trying to kiss up to Donald Trump.
There's other
lawmakers across the country who have some ideas on how to flatter the big guy which he loves.
And our guys Tony Weed and Brian Stylen, Glenn and Scott, they're missing out on an opportunity to enter the Sink of Fanta Olympics.
So we'll talk about that next hour.
Right now we are joined by public school advocates and former teacher
and very much involved with the Democratic Party in Audigame County.
Emily Sifos is joining us.
Good morning, Emily.
Thanks for taking time for us.
Thanks for having me this morning.
I'm excited to chat with you all for a minute.
Right before we went to the news, Emily, we were talking about how important it is to contact our lawmakers, because if you don't say anything, they just assume that I must be doing a good job.
So it really is important to call or text or write a letter.
If you really want to cut through and let them know what you think, Brian from Milwaukee, I just wanted to share this Emily before we move on.
Brian from Milwaukee texting in, I agree we all need to get involved, reach out to your representatives, get involved with and support the ACLU and ACLU Wisconsin.
Plus I always tell my family and friends about the amazing work civic media is doing.
Thank you, Brian.
Thank you.
Very much.
Word of mouth is really important.
And it
really, really helps.
So if you listen to our network, if you listen to his show, if you can spread the word, that would be fantastic.
We would really appreciate it.
Tell one person.
Yeah.
And then one person will tell that next person.
And so on and so
forth.
And so on and so forth, exactly.
Emily, though, we wanted to talk to you in particular.
You got some attention all of a
sudden.
Yeah, I find myself in these situations, yes.
And all you were doing was sharing your personal experience on your own social media, correct?
Yes, yep.
So
you went to a town hall meeting and then take it from there?
Yeah.
But like you said, I encourage accountability for me is key, especially with our local lawmakers.
So whenever they offer you an opportunity to sit down and talk with them or hear from them, like take them up on that because there aren't enough of them.
And it really is important to know where they stand on things and ask them questions when you can.
So that's what I was doing last week.
We are local representatives in the state Senate and assembly side had a joint listening session.
And they do this because it's ahead of the budget cycle starting with all of the different things that we'll see coming.
next couple
months.
Right.
But I went to it and it was a pretty, you know, in politics today was pretty tame as far as the whole hour and a half session.
But afterward actually is when I was approached by our state senator and kind of like just berated for a good 10 minutes about like my stance on our public schools and things like that.
And it was a really pointed and aggressive conversation that kind of like happened.
Outside of it being the full room
right
but
I
was like wait a minute like we need to call this out like if you're gonna There were things that were said and I was just like we can't we can't not you know push back against the rhetoric that I saw coming directly at me
so You have you have a special needs son
Yeah, and a lot of the conversation that people were concerned about at this listening session was about the state of our public schools.
So it's public schools week appreciation week here in Wisconsin.
And I'm a big advocate for making sure that we're fully funding our public schools because they are the system that exists to make sure that every single kid can reach their full potential.
And so there were a lot of questions happening last week about that.
And I always share, like, and I'm very transparent about the fact that I've got two kids that go to a private school system.
My youngest son, like you said, is has an IEP.
So that's an individualized education plan.
And he was denied, like, admittance to a private school system because they can do that legally.
And so he goes to a really incredible public school like nearby because it's not the legality of things when your private versus public are very different.
And I was
trying to point that out to her.
And basically what happened afterward is that she was like, tell me why you send your kids to private and public schools and then proceeded to kind of malign our public schools saying that we should have more vouchers so that more kids can, you know, escape the system and go private.
And it was just when she's helped, you know, making some of those budget decisions, I was shocked.
at the bias that she brought to it and that she doesn't understand the real need that these communities have to have strong public schools.
So it was really, yeah.
Does
she not understand that private schools can refuse anybody?
you know when we were talking I don't think so and I don't think that there's you know unless you are a teacher or a parent frankly of a kiddo with an IEP like you don't understand all of those intricacies of how our schools function and for me I don't you know like I think that we black or white this too much where it's like you're either pro-public or pro-private.
My whole thing is let the schools exist.
Parents can make those choices, but public tax dollars should go to our public schools.
Because frankly, when they're accepting every single kid and they can't say, no, you're a little too expensive or you need too many resources, we are not going to have you here that falls to our public schools who are chronically underfunded in this state.
And it was just really apparent at the lack of knowledge or understanding that she had about how this whole thing works.
So
that's disturbing.
doesn't surprise me that she's not aware and a lot of people aren't aware when you try to tell people that you know people who are gung-ho for school vouchers and you know choice when you tell them you're funding two school systems your tax stuff this isn't the money doesn't come out of the magical private school voucher sky and fall into the laps of the bursars at these schools
that money comes from somewhere and it comes from our pockets and now we're funding two school systems and if these these individuals who are advocates for school choice are saying well send them to the private schools we'll give them school voucher money well eventually all schools will be public like these private schools will be public schools because we're paying for them essentially you know what i mean like if we're sending all the kids to private school
And
they'll be public, except that they
have
the right to turn kids down.
Exactly.
It's not the same standards.
And that was my big thing because it doesn't take into consideration kiddos that have special, you know, learning needs and also like rural districts that
don't
have transportation, for example, to privately, it just, it doesn't work.
We cannot like dissolve and get rid of our public school system because we are going to leave swaths of our communities just up a crack.
And we've talked about this many times before, Emily, and you make such a good point.
Tragically, once again, this is going to harm rural areas more than it does urban areas.
Because again, the availability of private schools in northwestern Wisconsin just isn't what it is around Madison or Milwaukee or even Green Bay.
There just aren't those options.
You don't have four options.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but...
There are different reporting standards for public schools as opposed to private schools.
Is that correct?
Yes, one of the things that was pointed out in my conversation with the state senator was that while they do better and I'm like show me a like side by side analysis with the same tests, right?
that show me that across the board, our private schools are doing better because the thing is that public schools are required to publicly put up their testing results.
And you're also including kiddos that are English language learned.
You know, like there are people that are playing, you know, they're, they're being supported, but they're catching up to where they're supposed to be at grade level.
So
you can imagine the averages would drop, but with our private schools, they don't have the same tests.
They don't have to report them.
And so when you say our kids are doing better at this private school, it's apples and oranges because it's not the same test.
And these, most of the, I mean, there are public or private systems that will publicly put out their test results, but a lot of them don't.
But even when they do, it's not the same test.
So you can't compare the two.
And again, we go back to rules for thee, but not for me, right?
It's a different set of rules.
Private schools have an entirely different set of rules that they have to follow, even though now they're getting all kinds of taxpayer dollars.
Our public schools have to report to us.
There is an oversight, but our private schools don't.
They just don't.
Yeah, and that's one of the things I said to her.
I was like, you know, ideally if you the private schools truly want to make this more equitable and open themselves up to more kiddos being able to attend, then you're going to work on making sure that you have your physical therapists, your occupational therapists, your speech therapist, your English language teachers, you know, like to support your.
student body, right?
And then, or vouchers can come vouchers, I'm using air quotes, I know we're on the radio, but they can come from within the private school system, they're expensive to send kids to private schools.
So from within that system, make those scholarships, get those grants to those kids that you want to extend but don't have it come from taxpayer dollars.
What
is
the website where people can go if they want to check on exactly
how much we're spending for our two separate school systems.
It's the Wisconsin Education Network.
I'll put that
link.
I've done that many, many times.
It tells you, you go directly to your school district and it will tell you how much money is being spent for non-public school.
Everything that's going to private school, special needs programs that are private, they're all.
line items right there and it shows where your tax dollars are going.
And the other thing too, I want to ask, because I don't know if I'm saying this correctly when I'm talking to people about this, but also the reimbursement issue too is that private schools get reimbursed more for special needs than public schools to a tune of like 90% to 10%.
How is that justifiable?
It's 90 to 30% in the new budget wants to increase it to 60%, which would be incredible.
But like we're looking, you know, like in that Greg, like kind of plays into referendums, right?
Like when you're
eating
into all of these costs every year and you only get 30 cents back on the dollar that you're investing in these kids.
I mean, my youngest son's C seven professionals to get them through a school week.
That's expensive.
Yeah.
You know, and you make and they only cover 30%.
So they're dipping into their general education fund
to cover, which
means that they are category funds so that they don't have the money to be able to do everything else they need to do to retain their teachers and keep their buildings up to date and make sure that their technology is competitive.
You know, like it's we're, we're completely, it's a disservice to Wisconsin kiddos.
It's a disservice to like our economy, frankly, because we need these kids to be competitive and be good, you know, contributors
at the end
of it all.
It's really just a sad thing.
We need to invest appropriately.
And part of that is making sure our legislators know how things work, or they don't.
That's so,
oh Emily, oh stop.
They should actually understand the issues that they're talking about.
And to the
state senator.
I know.
And to the state senator.
This is coming from someone who's worked in politics and campaigning.
Don't go into their, don't go into their comments.
caps locks a blazing to like try to make your point, you're never going to win this argument.
The other thing too, I think you said those very important Emily is like, this is not a black and white issue.
I, I remember having a conversation many years ago with a public school teacher union, like Stuart person who was, you would think that they would hate this issue.
Her whole thing was.
It's not that I hate vouchers.
It's that I don't like the non-accountability.
If you worked on the accountability factor of it all, that could make leaps and bounds for these projects and to help these kids out.
But when you don't, then where we're left here is we have lawmakers maligning the public school system and saying that private schools are the answer when we don't know.
We have no idea.
Again, you had to show
as you like to say, show your
work, show us
where all the savings are.
Hello, Elon.
Take a clue.
855-752-4842.
Cindy from Appleton is on the line.
Good morning, Cindy.
What did you want to say real quickly, please?
Well, I would just like to say that I know that this culture system basically hurts and, you know, defunding our private schools hurts the rural people the most, but yet they continue to predominantly vote for the Republicans.
What is it going to take before they finally wake up and smell the coffee?
Good question, Cindy.
I don't know that we have the answer to that.
Unfortunately, it's going to have to affect them directly, I think, in order for them to wake
up.
And I think showing up, I think, I mean, honestly, like I am a big believer you're seeing across the, you know, things are going viral about all these town halls.
Make that happen in your local community with your local legislators too, because too often they pass these rules from Madison and then none of us show up in district to be like, wait a minute, you actually did harm to us here and you deserved to hear about it.
And that's I think what led to her comments in my, on my posts and things like that is that they don't get that a lot.
It's like
really like gets under their skin and you hope that.
you know, you're bringing to light maybe some biases that they bring and some misinformation that they're operating with and that we can get down, you know, get down the road and educate
them.
Look at it as a public service.
You are helping to educate our lawmakers on things on which they're making laws.
Good for us.
We're going to continue our conversation with Emily Zephos.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air on the Civic Media Radio Network.
you
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, Sweet Calbee on the board coming to you from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us, call or text that number is the same 855.
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We were just talking.
Emily Zofos is our guest public school advocate, a former teacher, and head of the Out of Gamy County Democrats.
And talking about public schools and the difference between
Public and private schools now Wisconsin taxpayers essentially funding two separate school systems because private schools get our tax dollars for vouchers and yet shockingly they do not have to report.
They do not have the same oversight that public schools have, which I would think should be a problem for all of us.
I don't understand why they get this free pass.
It's just like, just trust us.
We're a religious school.
We would never lie to you.
Our kids are doing really well.
Oh, okay.
Not a great track record on some of them.
No kidding.
855-752-4842.
Jack from Racine is on the line.
Good morning, Jack.
Thank you for joining us.
What did you want to say?
Good morning.
Thank you.
I really think it's true that we can't afford to finance
two separate school systems which we're doing.
I'd like to look at where the tax money is going.
I had a friend involved with a church that had schools.
I'll tell you, they were very happy to get the money that they didn't have to spend on schools anymore, back to spend on their religion, which to me, of course, violates the separation church and state, which I know we have to put up with until we get another Supreme Court decision someday, hopefully.
But that's an amount of money which is coming
Back to the churches, and I think people need to realize that, that the money they used to spend to help their church schools now goes to the religion.
The other part is they're a private for-profit people in this.
My understanding is that even when building new schools, they got special breaks and grants from the government to help to build the schools.
And then following that, the money that's coming in is going into their profit line.
Some people hire their family members and things in the schools, and the profit comes back in a number of ways.
And I don't think there's been enough investigative reporting on what really is happening to the money that goes into the schools.
That's a great point, Jack.
Really, thank you very much.
I think one of the problems with trying to get an investigative reporter to look at this is because they don't have the private schools don't have to play.
There is no requirement for them to report on those things.
And therefore, they're not going to share that with the media.
Yeah, I hired my cousin.
He's not really qualified, but he's a good kid, you know.
Oh, you're from the press?
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to say that.
Goodbye.
Cassandra from New London is also on the line.
Good morning, Cassandra.
Thanks for joining us.
Hi.
Hi, Emily.
Hi, Cassie.
When I saw you were here.
Yeah, I was actually at this meeting with the rep and the state senator, and I was appalled.
She was very abrasive and aggressive in the way she talked to everybody, not just Emily in the end, but, um, and it was incredible to me how both of these people did not understand or at least, you know, say naivete, if you will, like that they thought that they, you know, oh, of course the private schools can take any kids.
I have a kid with an IEP as well.
And, um,
You know, it was it was very frustrating to listen to them.
Just be like, oh, yeah, that's the private school.
They're doing great.
It's wonderful.
Just take
our word for it.
And.
Exactly.
And, um, you know, I brought it up and then, you know, dealing with the child care stuff too.
We talked about that and, um, they made some other comments that were very disturbing to me in general, that they would be in charge of making these laws.
And it was very disappointing and.
I'm very glad, and I've told Emily this before, I'm very glad that Emily's out there advocating for everybody.
She's definitely got me more involved.
That's great, Cassandra.
Thank you so much.
Really appreciate it.
And good for you, Emily, because, but that is what, that is what we, that's incumbent on all of us now to do something.
No one else is coming to save us.
No one else is coming to fix democracy.
We are democracy.
We need to be democracy in action.
And just briefly, because we're just about out of time, seven Western Wisconsin lawmakers, including Tom Tiffany, Derek Van Orden, Rob Somerfeld, Tric Pranchke, Clint Moses, and Senators Jesse James and Rob Stepholt, all were invited to an event last week by the Wisconsin Farmers Union in Chippewa Falls and not one of them showed up.
Don't let them get away with that.
You can call.
You can say hello.
How do we do that, Jane?
You go to myvote.wi.gov and just put in your address and that will give you the phone numbers and contact information for all of your elected officials.
Take advantage of it.
Be nice.
Don't swear.
I'm sure their people are like we are on this show.
If all you have are profanities and insults, you got no argument.
So bring something better than that.
But make your voice be heard, because if you don't, and frankly, to the points that we keep hearing today, I mean, I will give them that in Madison or Washington, they're inundated with things, but they really need to hear from the people on the ground that are on the receiving end of these policy decisions so that they understand.
the impacts and implications of what they're doing.
And that they might lose their job and their nine month vacations, which by the way, now we want a monthly report on what they've done on their eighth month of vacation.
Because Elon's asking for it on a federal level, I think we should be able to have on a state level too.
I love that.
Emily Zefos has been our guest.
Thank you so much, Emily.
Keep doing what you're doing.
And we'll get you back on very, very soon.
News is coming up next.
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