MADISON, Wis. — New Republican-backed proposals announced on Tuesday would allow candidates to remove themselves from the ballot in Wisconsin, restore the state’s standardized testing benchmarks to previous levels, and exempt gun safes from the state sales tax.
The measures all come in response to major news events in recent months.
Last summer, the Department of Public Instruction changed how it evaluates student performance on standardized testing. Republicans, parents, and even Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, a former state superintendent, have criticized the move.
Without using the same benchmarks from year to year, it’s nearly impossible to compare data to see changes over time.
“We should keep our standards high,” Republican Rep. Robert Wittke, one of the authors of the bill, said. “We have a literacy problem and a math problem in this state. Setting the bar lower doesn’t solve that.”
The measure would restore Wisconsin’s standardized testing benchmarks to a stricter set of national guidelines.
Watch: Wisconsin Republicans propose gun safety bill, restoring K-12 testing standards
Another bill Republicans announced on Tuesday would allow candidates to remove themselves from the ballot. Currently, Wisconsin law says that a name can only be removed when a candidate dies.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried and failed to get off the ballot in Wisconsin last year after he suspended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed President Donald Trump.
The proposal to exempt gun safes from the sales tax is a narrower version of a gun safety measure that has been proposed before by Democrats. It comes after a deadly school shooting in Madison and could gain bipartisan support.
“We are offering this legislation to encourage people to store guns securely, and keep children safe from accidental injury, death, and suicide,” the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Van Wanggaard and Rep. Adam Neylon, wrote in a memo announcing it. “Simply put, this bill promotes responsible gun safety.”
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