Ive always believed Wisconsin is a great state for educating our kids. We were the first state in the country to have kindergarten, we pride ourselves on having a strong university system, and our flagship university is continually ranked in the top 10 schools in the country. When the national economy stalled due to Bushs poor leadership, our state leaders still did their best to prioritize our kids education (in 2009, prioritized the education budget over paving more roads, much to the screams of special interests, Governor Walker, and talk radio). This rich history of prioritizing our kids future is not a given. It requires a continuous dedication by us and our elected leaders. This tradition, sadly, has been trumped by Scott Walker and his short-sighted management of our state. He crashed our states economy even further by prioritizing tax cuts for the rich, tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs, and shifting funds that would normally go to education to expanding highways instead. He ushered in the largest cut to education in state history in 2011 and topped that with a proposed $0 per pupil increase in his 2013 budget (the legislature added funds to make him not look so bad). So now that Walker is dealing with a self-created $2,200,000,000+ projected structural deficit, it only seems to be a question of how much he will continue to attack our dedication to education in Wisconsin to keep donors happy so he can keep auditioning for whatever job he plans on doing when hes done with Wisconsin. Well, after Walker was flirting with national spotlight all weekend, today we got a preview of whats in store for us. Gov. Scott Walker is planning to top the debilitating $250M cut to higher ed he pushed through in 2011 with a $300M cut this year. This is devastating and disgusting that anyone thinks it should be celebrated. I shutter to think what he has planned for our grade schools. We will find that out next week. It comes down to this: in a good family, the parents should sacrifice for their kids, not the other way around. So shouldnt we expect the same from the leaders we elect to represent our values? Whats it say about us as a state if they dont?
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 14:18:09 +0000