(MADISON) On Tuesday, February 22, Wisconsin Assembly Republicans passed a slew of bills attacking public education. Rep. Gary Hebl (Sun Prairie) released the following statement in response:

It started in 2011, when Governor Walker introduced his attacks on teachers under the guise of a “budget repair bill,” which later became known as Act 10. It continued with Governor Walker’s first budget, which cut $1.1 billion from education. It continues today with numerous Republican attacks on Wisconsin’s public education system.

Republicans want to impose their political vision on Wisconsin schools- prohibiting the teaching of subjects they don’t understand and punishing schools for actions that go against Republican orthodoxy. We saw this with their attempts to favor schools that had in person classes, thereby punishing schools that had decided to do some virtual learning in an attempt to ensure the safety of their school children. But schooling and our kids should not be used as political pawns in Republicans’ cynical partisan games.

Wisconsin has a positive revenue projection. We should be using this money in part to address the challenges faced by schools, children, and staff. Instead, Republicans continue to try to micro-manage schools instead of trusting parents and schools to work together to provide the best education for our kids. As Governor Evers often says, what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state. That’s a principle I wish Republicans would recognize and am grateful that our Governor understands it.

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