'I loved every minute of it': Entering his final school year before retirement, Gov. Evers reflects on 50 years in the public sector
DE PERE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- This fall marks 50 years since Gov. Tony Evers first stepped into a classroom as a teacher. Over the next five decades, Evers has held the titles of teacher, principal, superintendent, deputy state superintendent, state superintendent and, for nearly the last eight years, governor.
Evers announced last summer he will not seek re-election, instead opting to retire after the end of his term in January. Evers agreed to an exclusive sit-down interview with CBS 58 reporter A.J. Bayatpour earlier this month, reflecting on his time in the education field and the challenges facing schools now and in the future.
Here is a transcript of the nearly 30-minute interview at De Pere High School, edited for length and clarity:
A.J.: In 50 years, what have you learned?
EVERS: I learned, and this is the reason I wanted to become governor, that some place along the line, I determined it's important to be part of a school, a school district, a classroom...Going from a classroom teacher to principal to superintendent, I loved every minute of it. Working with kids is so important, and it's fun.
A.J.: What would your message be to your successors, the people who are gonna run this state after you? How do you ensure that any additional school funding is tied to improved outcomes?
EVERS: I think that expectation is still strong, and I don't think people believe our schools are failing right now, but I think it's a fair assumption that if indeed they have more resources in the schools, that will help increase our ability to teach kids well. There are all sorts of other things that go into a kid. We have to have affordable housing; we have to have good healthcare systems; all those types of things. I just think that, in general, schools are underfunded, and whatever we can do to lessen it, that's important; that should be a goal. Legislators have that goal, too.
A.J.: How do you define 'fully funded' as it relates to education?
EVERS: I would put it this way, and this may be too crass, but if we can get school districts -- that's the way it used to be when I started out, it was you never went to referendum unless you're building a school or doing something physical to a building, so right now, that just is not the case. A lot of it is day-to-day stuff that's being paid for by referendum. We have to get away from that. That creates problems with families fighting families, people that have kids, that don't have kids, that sort of thing, and so, the good old days would be referendum for school buildings only.
A.J.: What is something that, if you had the ability to go back and do it differently as it relates to education, what is something that you would take a do-over on?
EVERS: Difficult situations; we made mistakes every day, just like everybody else. As far as big mistakes, I think going into it as state superintendent, we probably could have been more thoughtful around the politics of education...We didn't play the politics very well, and as a result, that took a little more time to get more resources for kids.
A.J.: We've gotten to a place where states like Louisiana have passed Wisconsin on reading scores. Why did that happen, and how do we reverse that to get Wisconsin back toward the top?
EVERS: Well, we worked with the Legislature and schools of the state, creating a different way of teaching reading, and I think we're in a much better place there. It's gonna take some time...I anticipate that reading scores will go up around the state, and from I've seen so far, it has, so I feel good about it.
A.J.: Is there something you wish you had done differently, specifically as it related to the pandemic in schools?
EVERS: No, my first job is to keep people safe, and I know that made it difficult for people to be in school. It made it much more difficult to be a successful student, but we were talking about kids dying...I think as a result, we kept some people alive, some kids alive. Did that impact education? Yes, of course it did, but when it comes down to living or not, there's no question what the answer is.
A.J.: What do you think the role of AI is in education?
EVERS: It's gonna be amazing, and I'm just thinking ahead because I think it has changed our education system already, and I think- do we need to be concerned about it and put some barriers around it? But I think it's an exciting time for schools; I think it's an exciting time for our systems, whether it's education or not...It is scary in a way because we don't know exactly where it's gonna end up, but at this point in time, I'm not an opponent. I think it's an important thing we have to utilize in the best way possible. It's not that I'm not concerned about it, but we just can't assume that it's an evil thing before we understand how important it is and how helpful it is.
A.J.: Does the funding formula for schools have to change, and if so, how?
EVERS: Yeah, I'm hesitant to say that there is an answer now. All I know is it's so complex that even people that spend all the time thinking about it get it wrong, and so, if I had any way of dealing with this, it would be to make it simpler. And I know there are different things in different places -- small, big, rural, urban -- all these things that work into it, but we have kind of bastardized it because, 'We're gonna take care of this issue now, and by doing that, this issue is gonna be left open.' We have to simplify it because there's just no way.
A.J.: Now that you've had a couple months to reflect on it, how do you describe what happened this summer [with the failed surplus agreement]?
EVERS: It was a mess. It should've passed. It should've passed unanimously. We had the leadership, I was involved, people were excited about it, but it didn't happen. Feel badly about that...I hope it's a lesson for my successor and the two new leaders. It should not have happened...It was political; it had to do with Democrats versus Republicans, and it had to do with Tom Tiffany calling certain legislators to say, 'Don't do this,' and then they didn't do it. So, it was a political mess. I apologize to the people of Wisconsin. It should've happened; it would've made a difference. Maybe they'll do it when they get back into office, get back after the first of the year.
A.J.: After 50 years of public service, going back to your time as a teacher, how do you hope people remember you?
EVERS: I don't think about things in that way, but if I had anything, I just hope people realize I am not somebody that is out there doing anything other than trying to do the best I can. Doesn't always work, but I'm just a regular guy. I am just a regular guy, I am nothing more, nothing less. So, hopefully if they remember me as that, I'm good with it.