Contact: Van Wanggaard
December 19, 2018 608-266-1832

Senator Blasts School Board for Seeking Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Aliens

MADISON – Senator Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) is blasting the Racine Unified School District (RUSD) Board for wasting time and resources supporting driver’s licenses for illegal aliens rather than improving the academic performance of their schools. Wanggaard’s comments come after RUSD voted 4-3 on Monday night to advocate for the change.
“Racine Unified is struggling with behavioral, safety issues and a poor academic record despite having record funding,” said Wanggaard. “The Board is more interested scoring political points by trying to tackle national and international issues rather than focusing on the serious issues at home.”

Wanggaard noted that RUSD has a history of poor academic performance, never receiving
above a 63 (of a possible 100) points on the state report card, or “meeting few expectations.” Of RUSD’s 3 main high schools, 2 “Fail to Meet Expectations” and 1 “Meets Few Expectations.” Of the 5 RUSD middle schools, 3 “Fail to Meet Expectations” and 2 “Meet Few Expectations”.

There are also 7 elementary schools failing in the 2 lowest categories on the state report card. In addition, in October, one middle school was described as “in crisis” and “unsafe for staff, students, parents and visitors.” At that school, 15 staff members had been injured by students in the first 6 weeks of the school year.

“It’s no wonder RUSD consistently underperforms when the Board addresses issues like driver’s licenses rather than the real challenges facing the district.” Wanggaard said. “Giving illegal aliens driver’s licenses will not improve one test score, or make one student pay attention in class. Unbelievably, the school board wastes time and resources on that rather than address the problems in the classroom that teachers face every day.”

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