"How can we restructure some things in state law and DPI to make that pathway possible for more people who are likely to already live in these communities... they want to be certified and be part of a team that values them so they can share their skillset with a different generation."

"When we walk around in your schools and you introduce me to teachers who were engineers or had other parts of their careers where they had found these other opportunities and then said I want to share this skillset with kids."

"I think providing even more focus on mid-career individuals who want to join the teaching force. Maybe they've been in the workforce 10, 15 years and now they're curious about being a teacher... What pathways can we put in place to add this richness to our workforce with their lived experiences."

"My teachers have voice and power in how their schools are run. They feel they are part of a team, they're valued, and they see the impact of their work every day. That feeling of impact means a lot more than the world's best benefit package."

"When teachers see the impact of their work because they're part of a team we do keep teachers on those teams and that's whether that's in urban or rural communities. My district has 4 elementary schools and in the past year to this year I didn't have a single elementary teacher leave my team."

"Nobody's child deserves to be in a classroom with the applicant of last resort or only resort and it's a culture thing too. One thing that we have to make sure we do is honor the art of teaching and make sure that educators have a voice in what their schools look and what they feel like."

"There is an urgency in this issue that we need to be responding to right now. There are a lot of districts that used to have 50, 60, 80 applicants per job and now we can only get 1 or 2. None of us can afford to have that reality continue."

(About Teacher Shortages) "We've known about the teacher shortage for many, many years. The admin association, the teachers union, our college preservice education programs have been trying to solve this in meetings for years, and DPI hasn't even show up."

"The DoE helps districts especially those in economically disadvantaged areas to meet kids and family needs before we decide to say we're getting rid of the department. We need to answer those hard questions about what's going happen to the important work that's currently being managed by the DoE."

"So to just sweep away the DoE without first answering these hard questions about: Does this mean we are getting rid of these programs, or are we having 50 individual programs that are running college financial aid? We need to be having discussions about what the department actually does."

"So many of our districts rely on Title 1, 2, 3, and 4 funding. These federal dollars that are funneled through USDoE for students that are most economically disadvantaged. Where does that go? Head Start is funded by the federal government and is one of the programs that our communities relies on."

(On the potential shutdown of the U.S. Department of Education) "College loans and grants are all administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Who does that if we close it down?"

"The 2nd challenge is making sure that student data privacy is protected... We have to be really careful in how we're using student info with new software programs and AI technologies so we're not accidentally putting students at risk by introducing them to tech that's really new to the market."

"We need to figure it how we're going to fund advanced technology and advanced manufacturing so the districts that don't have the resources don't get left behind in teaching 1980s versions of technology."

"Working with the Wisconsin Economic Development Cooperation and the Workforce Development Department, we completely transformed the space and now adults in the community can use it and the students can use it. Our advanced manufacturing lab is now reflective of what they will see in the workplace."

"Whether it's a charter school, a voucher school, or a public school. I want to be present in those buildings. The decision to be present and making sure schools are being held accountable for delivering quality instruction is something the state superintendent can do."

"I hope to be a state superintendent that is present in school models where the state superintendent hasn't been in the past because we need to make sure our students are learning to read, and doing that math, and getting access to job writing skills in all types of schools the state is paying for."