By Rep. Warren Petryk

Representing Wisconsin State Assembly District 93

Since being elected to serve as your state representative, I always have supported, and will continue to support, our local schools, students and teachers. That is why I was proud to support and vote for a bipartisan budget that contributes a historic $13 billion in funding for our Wisconsin schools – with 46% of each and every general-purpose tax dollar going towards education. In addition to this historic funding, I also worked with Sen. Bernier in the budget to double Wisconsin’s investment towards grants to support our gifted and talented students.

This investment is crucial in curating a curriculum that is challenging yet exhilarating for students to be able to achieve their educational and personal potential. Unfortunately, Wisconsin has a considerable “excellence gap” wherein low-income rural, suburban, and urban students are less likely to be equally expressed at higher levels of achievement as compared to the rest of the Midwest and nation. That is why Sen. Bernier and I worked together again to introduce Assembly Bill 903 that will build and enhance programming for our gifted and talented students. Assembly Bill 903 will provide additional information for parents to be able to access their local gifted and talented program(s) while also collecting important information on pupil identification, participation in advanced programs, the types of services schools provide, and how much time a school district dedicates to this important issue. Without this data, as parents and policy- makers, we will not be able to understand the state of gifted education within Wisconsin. Meanwhile, this data would help us be better informed for future investment, policy, and strategy, as well as the adoption of best practices throughout the United States.

In addition, as Chair of the Assembly Workforce Development Committee, I will continue to work to make sure that schools have the tools that they need to address and correct the workforce shortage of gifted and talented teachers. Assembly Bill 903 expands the Wisconsin Fast Forward program to allow schools, or groups of schools, to apply for grants that would increase professional development for teachers to serve this needed population. In 2021, DWD provided $574,000 to help train additional teachers, and we feel this supplementary scope language will provide additional access to this program and help future students achieve their full potentials.

It is my hope that these steps will develop into an advancement of gifted and talented programming as a whole within Wisconsin and indicate the importance of reassuring that our students reach their educational and personal potential. It is this sort of bill that I look forward to bringing to the Governor’s desk for signature, as well as working on in the future.

State Rep. Warren Petryk