As Governor Scott Walker announces his education reform plan at a Wisconsin Association of School Boards convention in Milwaukee, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers says he’s a little disappointed that he hasn’t seen the proposed legislation, even though he participated in all the taskforces. “We wanna make sure that we have to be true to the fidelity of the process, that that legislation reflects what everybody agreed to.”

Among other things, according to Governor Walker, the legislation would implement a package of education reforms that will improve accountability in schools, improve teacher training, and measure student achievement while laying the foundation for kids to succeed. “And I wanna particularly highlight and thank Dr. Tony Evers … because while he and I, in the past, have disagreed on an issue here or there, I think we both have a shared interest in making sure that every kid — every young person in this state no matter what zip code they come from, no matter what their background, no matter where they live, no matter what their parents do — every kid in this state has access to a great education.”

Evers has worked on a wide array of education reforms over the past year and while he and the governor don’t agree on everything, they do agree on the recommendations of the reading taskforce. “We’ve agreed that it’s important that we have a different way of preparing teachers to teach reading in our schools … provide more professional development for teachers around reading instruction … an early screener for the kids going into kindergarten. All these things we agree on, how that looks in legislation is a whole different matter.”

Walker stresses the importance of reading, saying it is the fundamental building block of education. “From kindergarten to third grade you learn to read; from fourth grade on you use your reading skills to learn. You go from learning to read to reading to learn.”

Evers says it’s important to make sure any action is transparent. Also, he says, education reforms must be fully funded because schools are already dealing with cuts to funding. “We’ve got some good ideas on the table; they have to translate accurately into legislation that reflects those good ideas. That’s my only concern now.”

Evers says overall it was a positive meeting, still, many board members and administrators are concerned about the future.

AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report 2:33

One of the Republican state Senators targeted by a recall is raising questions about the timeline for collecting petition signatures.

Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) argues groups collecting recall petitions are being given an extra day to finish their work. The recalls against the governor, lieutenant governor, and four Senate Republicans were launched on November 15th. Counting out from there, Fitzgerald says Friday, January 13th would bring them to the 60 day mark and petitions should be due.

However, the timeline set up by the Government Accountability Board when the recalls began and supported by a memo from the Department of Justice indicates the final day to collect signatures is Saturday, January 14th. Fitzgerald says that gives recall groups 61 days.

Fitzgerald has filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Board, which asks the agency to either order the petitions to be turned in by the end of today, or to strike signatures gathered on November 15th or January 14th. If the agency does not, Fitzgerald says he is ready to take the issue to court.

Recall committee attorney Jeremy Levinson dismissed Fitzgerald’s argument, noting the timeline has been clear from the start and has been used by the GAB, DOJ, and even in legal challenges brought by Republicans and Governor Scott Walker’s campaign. Levinson called the complaint “pure circus, and nothing more.”

While the GAB says recall groups have until Saturday to collect signatures, the petitions are not going to be turned in until January 17th. That’s because the first business day after the end of the signature gathering phase is Tuesday, due to the weekend and Martin Luther King holiday.

: Andrew Beckett reports (:57)