1-27-16 fdl school superintendent react to walker speech

The Fond du Lac school superintendent  says it remains to be seen how much money could be saved by restructuring state employee health care coverage .  Superintendent Dr. Jim Sebert was in attendance at a conference last week when Governor Scott Walker said he would invest any savings created by the move into public education. But Sebert says just how much money could be saved is unknown.  “If you really break it down, I appreciate that he’s saying he’s going to put every penny into education, I hope that happens.  If we want to talk about creating more jobs, drawing people to the state of Wisconsin and having the best possible workforce that we can it all starts with K-12 education,”  Sebert told WFDL news.  Responding to the governor’s comments calling on school officials to change the mind-set of parents, educators and society that values four year university degrees over technical training.  “I think its a good reminder for us in education as well as for parents because generally speaking as parents we always want better for our kids than we had for ourselves,”  Sebert said.  “We often think a four year degree is the path but when you look at a lot of the studies, a lot of the jobs in our local community, many of them can be achieved with a solid two year, technical certificate or diploma.”   Walker insisted he was not diminishing four year degrees and universities.  Critics have said the governor’s track record is slashing funding for the UW system.