Improving Education

Education is a very important issue to me personally and I believe one of the greatest responsibilities we have as a society is ensuring that our children are given all the opportunities a quality education can offer. It is my belief that the key to improving our system is to increase local control and give local administrators, teachers and parents the ability to address the unique needs of each school and student.

In this time of economic uncertainty it will be especially important to provide our children with the skills they need to succeed in a global marketplace, but we will also be faced with difficult decisions when it comes to funding our schools.

We must reform the way in which our schools are funded and I will work to advance some reforms that have already been introduced. I believe that allowing each CESA region the ability to develop new sources of funding such as sales taxes or other means is an excellent step towards a fairer and more stable way of meeting our educational obligations. I also believe that any change to school funding must win approval of the voters in that region. Our goal is local control and that is a necessary element of it.

In the continuing effort to increase student achievement we must also eliminate the Wisconsin Knowledge Concepts Exam and put a modern testing system in its place that will return results quickly to students, parents and teachers. Results of these tests should arrive quickly enough so that children who may be falling behind can be identified before it is too late for them to keep up with their peers. We cannot and should not accept a test system that could allow problems to grow over too long a time.

In addition, we should allow new forms of education, such as distance learning, virtual schools, and charter schools to help address the needs of gifted and talented or special needs students. All options should be placed on the table and the ones that work should be strengthened and encouraged.

No one in Madison can write a bill that will be able to solve all the problems of each of the 426 school districts or the roughly 868,000 students in Wisconsin. Instead, we must work together with those of us in the legislature giving you – the administrators, teachers and parents – every possible tool to solve the unique set of problems each district faces.

If we are to be successful in helping our children achieve everything of which they are capable, I must be an active participant in the process and I do not see how I could be an effective representative if I did not visit the schools. Therefore, when elected I will spend time in each and every school in the 45th District. I will talk to each of the principals, superintendents and leaders of local PTAs - and as many parents and teachers as I can.

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