Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker wants you to believe that he’s the best presidential candidate to transform the country’s education system. And his efforts have resulted in some compelling soundbites: Addressing the Wisconsin state legislature earlier this year, Walker proclaimed, “We will ensure every child — regardless of background or birthright — has access to a quality education.”
But scratch beneath the surface of Walker’s rhetoric and you’ll find a long-running record of harmful actions that have weakened Wisconsin’s public schools and made it increasingly more difficult for students of all ages to succeed.
Time and time again, Walker has demonstrated that quality public education is not a policy priority, instead spending his tenure enacting a litany of policies from the playbook of the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
The day before officially tossing his name into the 2016 presidential race, Walker signed a state budget that slashed $250 million from the University of Wisconsin school system. This was hardly an act of fiscal conservatism: Just one month after he savaged higher education funding in his state, Walker signed a deal to provide $250 million in taxpayer funds to build an arena for the Milwaukee Bucks, a basketball team owned by several hedge fund executives.
Walker called the deal “simple mathematics.” But what Walker and his so-called “mathematics” fail to calculate is the crushing impact his higher education cuts will have on working- and middle-class families.
From 2010 to 2014, state spending on public higher education in Wisconsin fell by more than $137 million — an 11 percent drop. Meanwhile, tuition revenue increased 25 percent — or $253 million — during this same period. Instead of the state, students are now footing a much larger part of the bill: In 2010, student tuition made up 41 percent of educational revenues. In 2014, that figure increased to 48 percent. Under Walker’s latest round of budget cuts, colleges will have even less money to offer students in need, shifting an even higher cost burden onto students and families.
And while a quarter of a billion dollars in Scott Walker’s mind is better spent on sports complexes than on educating and training the next generation of workers, higher education isn’t the sole target of Walker’s budget cuts. Earlier this year, Walker proposed a $127 million cut to Wisconsin’s K-12 public schools. While the state’s final budget dropped Walker’s $127 million proposed cut, the final state budget still undermines and underfunds the state’s public school districts.
As education expert Bob Peterson explained, “A majority of public school districts in Wisconsin will receive less funding this year, and no school district’s state funding will keep up to inflation.”
At the same time that Walker proposed cuts to K-12 education, he sought to expand private school voucher programs — programs that are not supported by evidence as having a clear impact on student achievement. Unfortunately, the expansion made it into the budget, resulting in a phased-out lift on the statewide enrollment cap, resulting in less funding for already cash-strapped public schools.
Walker has further undermined public education, joining in the politicization of the new college and career ready standards developed by state and local leaders — the Common Core.
Despite once chairing a task force that praised the standards, Walker changed his position in response to pressure from right-wing extremists and started to advocate for a repeal of the standards in 2014. Repealing the standards in Wisconsin would undermine the hard work of teachers, principals and parents in Wisconsin, who have been working since 2010 to help students meet these higher standards.
Walker has also targeted the teachers in his state. On top of the proposed budget cuts that could lead to teacher layoffs — similar to layoffs that led to thousands of teachers losing their jobs in 2011 — Walker has enacted legislation that withholds benefits from the state’s teachers by eliminating collective bargaining rights for teachers.
From a child’s first day of school through his or her college graduation, every student deserves a high-quality education, regardless of their ZIP code or socioeconomic status. And while Governor Walker claims to support this very principle, the effect of his policies have dealt one disastrous blow after another to the state’s public education system. America’s students deserve a president who will support their educational success, not a candidate who undermines their education at every turn.
