“This 414 day, I stand with the Milwaukee Teacher’s Education Association in their demands for the district to reverse cuts to critical student-facing staff and deliver the full 2.63% cost-of-living adjustment our teachers are owed on July 1st.
“For decades, Republicans in the state legislature have starved our schools and refused to meet their constitutional obligation to fully fund public education. They have forced voters to raise their own property taxes just to keep the doors open on their local public schools.
“I’m a proud product of Milwaukee Public Schools. My mother spent decades teaching in MPS classrooms. I know all too well the systemic challenges that face our school district. Because of this budget shortfall, tough decisions need to be made, but gutting the workforce is not the solution. Especially not during a national teacher shortage that has already impacted students in the district with 109 classrooms lacking a permanent teacher.
“Children’s health assistants and paraprofessionals are having their hours slashed from 40 hours to 30 hours a week. Teachers are being told they have to do more with less, while at the same time being denied wage increases they earned and they were promised. We can close the teacher vacancies by having a district that values their work, not by tearing resources away from them and their students.
“We have to fix this broken system—and I will when I am Governor by fully funding our public schools, which includes making sure the people teaching and supporting our kids can actually afford to do their jobs and make ends meet.”
