Ann Groves Lloyd, the single Democrat vying to represent the 42nd AD, is running on a campaign to restore her version of Wisconsin’s values.

Lloyd, a UW-Madison career adviser, said her version of those values — clean government and environment and excellent education and transportation systems — are what have set Wisconsin apart.

But she now worries about the legacy being left to her children.

“From where I sit, it’s not a pretty one. I’m deeply concerned about the Wisconsin I grew up with,” she said.

She made clear her campaign is about embracing the state’s past values for a forward looking agenda. She plans to push for ending the state’s private school voucher program and upping investments in K-12 and higher education.

Lloyd opposes the private voucher program for diverting public dollars to private institutions without addressing the shortcomings of public schools. Plus, she says private schools receiving voucher funds aren’t held to the same strict standards their public and charter counterparts are.

Like some other Dems, Lloyd is calling for a transition period to end private vouchers to ensure children who currently attend school under the program are able to graduate with their peers.

But her plan for education goes beyond gutting the decades old private voucher program. She believes additional funding for K-12 schools is needed to bolster quality.

“If we have issues with public education then we need to fix public education,” she said.

https://soundcloud.com/wispolitics/ann-groves-lloyd-interview

She also is pushing for a long-term reinvestment in the UW-System, which she called an economic driver, and said that state policymakers should discontinue the tuition freeze, characterizing increases before the freeze as “modest.”

“Schools are very cognizant of not raising tuition more than they absolutely have to, but it’s one part of a mix of ways to increase your budget or revenue,” she said.

Increasing the state’s share of funding, and considering loan forgiveness programs are ways she thinks the state could prevent students from being saddled with excessive debt.

On other issues:

*Lloyd isn’t committing one way or another to a 5-cent gas tax increase, though she suggested she’s open to bringing back indexing, which pegged the gax tax to the cost of living.

“As soon as we severed that, the gas tax becomes a political issue,” she said.

She said she’s generally against tolling, and doesn’t want to lock herself into increases in vehicle registration fees, but acknowledges Wisconsin’s roads are “in a world of hurt” and that lawmakers will have to make difficult decisions on transportation funding.

*Lloyd opposes banning the use of fetal tissue in research at universities.

“I’ll do everything in my power to protect a woman’s legal right to make her own decisions about her reproductive state,” she added.

*Lloyd opposes constitutional carry, arguing training should be required for concealed carry.

“Those barriers are not too high to have people jump,” she said.

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