Doyle announces task force on education By JENNY PRICE Associated Press Writer MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday he will bring together a coalition to study the way Wisconsin pays for public education and propose an alternative - something he once criticized his predecessor for doing. But Doyle said his task force would meet in the open, not in secret, as it finds a way to overhaul the state's formula that pays, on average, two-thirds of public school costs. Doyle has said he prefers a system that uses a per student grant to distribute state aid to schools. During last year's election campaign, Doyle harshly criticized then-Gov. Scott McCallum for a private meeting of business and education leaders he convened at a resort in the north woods to study school financing. Doyle has said his proposal would likely be released this fall. "This is too important of an issue to squeeze into a budget proposal or devise a new plan in just a few weeks," Doyle said during his State of the State address Thursday evening. Doyle's budget proposal for the two-year period beginning July 1 is due Feb. 18. The governor said he plans to bring together parents, taxpayers, teachers and community leaders who represent urban, rural and suburban districts. He also pledged that the group's meetings would be held "in full view of the public," unlike McCallum's task force. "The doors were closed. They were up north. It wasn't broad enough. You really have to slice open a community and get everybody and people who aren't even theoretically involved in public education but who pay taxes," said Senate Minority Leader Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton. The McCallum meeting was led by Morris Andrews, a consultant McCallum hired with $68,505 in taxpayer money. Andrews' report was released earlier this month, just three days before Doyle took office. The report did not offer clear recommendations. Rather it weighed possible solutions to problems identified by education and business groups. Doyle spokesman Thad Nation said the administration had read Andrews' report and the governor was "sensitive to having too many task forces" but believes his task force will produce a viable solution. "If we're going to do this, we need to do this right" Nation said. The state now funds two-thirds of the total cost of public education in Wisconsin, but the amount of aid per district varies based on a complex formula that takes into account school membership, property tax base and other factors. Critics of the current funding system argue that per-student spending ranges too widely. Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, R-West Bend, said Doyle's group should start where Andrews left off, rather than from scratch. "If you're really going to solve the school funding problem you have to deal with the formula. You can't just play at the edges. That's going to take some time and some thought," she said. Stan Johnson, president of Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union, said Doyle's effort would yield results. "This is not a governor who is just saying that to put a report on the shelf to say 'I've done something,"' he said. Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, said he will reserve judgment until he sees what Doyle's group comes up with. "I heard that and I looked over at my neighbor next to me and said, 'another task force.' How many times have we heard that before?" he said. --- On the Net: Gov. Jim Doyle: http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/