The state Legislature passed four education reform bills early Friday morning in an attempt to make Wisconsin more competitive for federal Race to the Top dollars.
The legislation comes on the heels of President Barack Obama's visit to Madison last Wednesday, during which he spoke about the need for an overall improvement in America's education system.
At a news conference Friday, Gov. Jim Doyle said the legislation will ""really help Wisconsin move forward"" and will improve education for all Wisconsin students.
A controversial bill that allows schools to tie student performance to teacher evaluations was included in the legislation that passed.
Wisconsin's ""firewall law,"" which restricted such evaluations, was removed on a 47-46 vote by the state Assembly. Although the controversial bill allows teachers to be held accountable, teachers cannot be removed based solely on the evaluations.
""The president was very clear,"" Doyle said. ""If you are a state with one of these firewalls, that says that test scores cannot be considered in teacher evaluation, you can not even start the Race to the Top. We've changed that now in Wisconsin.""
Doyle warned that, though it was an honor to host the president in Madison, ""we should not assume that because he came here that we are going to get a Race to the Top grant.""
Although the Legislature will not be in session again until late January, Doyle vowed to sign the legislation when it is submitted to him on Dec. 10.
""We have an achievement gap that is among the worst in the country that has to be addressed,"" he said.
Doyle said it is ""very likely"" he will call a special legislative session to take up a bill that allows for mayoral takeover of the Milwaukee Public School system.
Some Democratic members of the Legislature have already sponsored a draft of legislation that would allow for mayoral takeover, but the Democrats continue to remain split on the issue.
