We must continue to improve the quality of our education if we are to remain competitive in the world, bring more jobs back to our country, and improve our quality of life.
Educators, parents, and policy experts have played key rolls in the development of principles of educational policy that I believe will work. These people will continue to remain an integral part of the evolution of my goals for education.
•Reinstate state and local control of education
•Empower educators to help each child to reach his academic potential
•Provide stronger accountability and support for educators
•Provide comprehensive school funding reform to assure consistency of quality programming and to attract and keep quality teachers
•Require that core curriculums are content rich
•Eliminate un-funded mandates
•Create an environment and a support system for teachers and students to excel
•Advocate creative educational options that better meet the needs of students
•Expand and evolve technical training opportunities
•Legislate early graduation option/early college entrance
•Provide freedom of choice of learning environments by supporting a variety of educational options including but not limited to charter schools, home schooling, and vouchers.
Support legislation preventing the use of teacher retirement funds for any other purpose.
•Support legislation that assures quality education in sparsely populated rural schools (about 44% of the states PK-12 students attend rural schools)
Opportunities to receive a high quality education should be available to all children according to their potential and interests. Because technological and scientific advances affect every aspect of society and our economy, a comprehensive education policy should be appropriate to meet the needs of children, parents, business persons, and the community.
The national high school graduation rate hovers around the unacceptable level of 70%. Improvement will occur only when the educational system is positioned to meet the needs of both students and community.
Resources
Northwest United Educators
Advancing Rural Wisconsin
Wisconsin Education Association Council
American Federation of Teachers
Educators and parents of Wisconsin
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