Hancock explained that when the district was mandated with the cuts, it was the good relationship it had with the unions that helped to fill the gap. "Not only did they fill that gap, they went beyond," Hancock said. "I have every confidence we would have done that whether you legislated that or not."

"There's nothing to prohibits you from doing that in the future," Kapanke argued.

Hancock and Jagodzinski expressed concern that the transference of funds from public schools to fund voucher programs would inevitably lead to the privatization of public schools and wanted to know whether Kapanke supported privatization of public schools.

Kapanke argued that it was a big problem in Milwaukee, not La Crosse. "I support the voucher system in Milwaukee because they need help down there," the senator said.

When asked by Hancock if he supported waiving some teacher requirements for licensing, he said that no, on the face of it, he didn't understand the rationale behind it.

Jagodzinski concluded her comments by saying, "This has been the saddest month of my 48 years in my state. It is heartbreaking. I don't think anyone in the state feels they are listened to in this state. People are called thugs. What can you do to repair this? How do we fix our state?"