The value of public education
Each new school year should be met with celebration. New school clothes and backpacks bring smiles to our students’ faces. I remember loving new art supplies and the smell of freshly sharpened pencils. With three children in Madison public schools and one on his way to UW-Madison, I’ve witnessed these joyful occasions over and over.

This year, these feelings are tempered with the weight of the cumulative cuts to education at all levels through Scott Walker’s shortsighted and destructive agenda. From our pre-school children through our college graduates, no one has been able to escape the wide-ranging devaluing of both public education and the professionalism of our educators in Wisconsin. The long-term effects of these cuts cannot be overstated.

We are no longer in the realm of normal budget fluctuations from one administration or party to the next. We are witnessing a dismantling of our public schools. This is a direct attack on our children’s future and the future of Wisconsin.

It’s time to go back to the drawing board. The first step is a simple acknowledgement that educating our children, our future leaders, is our #1 job. If we are not in the business of providing the best possible education from pre-school through college graduation, we will continue to fall behind our neighboring states in this most basic function of government.

We must act boldly. As progressives, we must stand together to restore full funding to our schools. We should also be proposing new, innovative plans — things like universal pre-K child care, fair funding for our K-12 schools, and debt-free college.

We cannot afford to lose a generation due to the devaluing of public education at all levels by the Republicans. Our children do not get a second chance at their education.