Madison, WI – The City of Milwaukee may not go off a fiscal cliff. Milwaukee County may yet live to fight another day. This is unquestionably good news. But today’s action in the Wisconsin State Senate is nothing to celebrate. Today, our public schools were sacrificed in exchange for something that never should have been in question in the first place.
The mouthful of poison that city and county leaders have had to swallow to avoid catastrophe is shameful. Attacking local control should never have become the going rate to avert a crisis that legislative Republicans themselves created. But because of the cruelty and appetite for attacking Milwaukee that motivates state Republicans, these were just table stakes.
Republicans went even further by demanding something not even Scott Walker was able to achieve in his time as Governor – the biggest increase in private school vouchers in 30 years.
Shockingly, the Democratic Governor Tony Evers, a teacher himself who has spent his career fighting for public education, agreed to it. Our public schools are already on a knife edge. Make no mistake, today’s action will draw blood from our schools. Some may not survive the cut. And so, yes, Milwaukee may be in a better position today than it was yesterday, but that does not mean there is any cause for celebration.
