Madison – Today, the Assembly took up a number of bills that would diminish the local control of school boards and expand spending of taxpayer dollars on private schools, among other actions. Rep. Dave Considine (D-Baraboo) released the following statement on the passage of these bills:
“As a parent, grandparent, former teacher, and member of the Assembly Committee on Education, I know our schools well. We have consistently heard from teachers, school board members, parents, and even our kids on what we need to do to improve education in the state. The bills put forth today do not respond to these concerns and go as far as to make the situation worse.
“The legislation passed today weakens the control of locally elected individuals who know their community best. School board members in my district are heavily involved in our community and care greatly about our students. They hear directly from parents, teachers, and administrators about the issues facing their school district. Additionally, local health officers know what their community needs. The legislature should not make the decisions for them. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim that these education bills increase transparency while simultaneously making it harder for taxpayers to know where the funding for schools is going. I believe that taxpayers need to know where their dollars are spent, and that they should have a say in how these tax funded institutions are managed.
“During Public Education Week and every day we must recognize the importance of funding public schools for the future of our state. We cannot continue to move backwards, we must move forward for our kids. I call on legislative leaders to take up Governor Evers’ surplus plan which responds to the will of the people and funds education. I also encourage legislative leaders to take up the proposal that I introduced with Rep. Pope, Sen. Larson, and Sen. Erpenbach which reinvests in our students and our schools.”
