Primary season was yesterday, and now we know what candidates will be running against one another across several races, in the General Election in April. Unsurprisingly, in the race for State Superintendent, Democratic incumbent Jill Underly and Republican backed candidate Brittany Kinser came away with the most votes.
While preparing to speak about this during my show today I couldn’t help but realize a very unique comparison between this race and dozens of other political stories that we cover on my show, and that’s that the outcome is somewhat irrelevant. This is a race about maintaining a status quo that most people would agree is not working for them right now versus an idea that has proven will result in regression from the abysmal status quo.
This is not to say anything about the 2 candidates personally. I haven’t met either of them. They both seem like nice, hard working people. I’m hoping to have them both on my show at some point to talk about what I’m about to lay out here for you, but I think we need to start getting realistic about expectations.
It would be an understatement to say that Wisconsin’s students are struggling right now. When less than 1/3 of your students are struggling to read in both 4th and 8th grade, saying that something needs to change shouldn’t be controversial. Although, I could also argue that America’s students are struggling right now.
To say that what we’ve been doing is working doesn’t feel like a particularly accurate statement.
Now… what led to these atrocious math and reading scores? That’s a pretty complicated question to answer.
Democrats would have you believe that more money is the answer (shocker). Superintendent Underly went as far as saying Wisconsin schools need another 4 billion dollars to address the issue.
Don’t get me wrong, schools are underfunded in our state, and in our country, but 4 billion is a pipe dream. More importantly, when 2/3’s of students are below proficient, we are beyond the conversation surrounding money.
Then there’s Ms. Kinser, the Republican backed candidate, who would have you believe that cutting taxes for the rich is the answer (shocker). In case your confused, that’s what school choice actually is. It’s just a dressed up version of the failed Reagan era economic plan, trickle-down economics.
If you think I’m misrepresenting the situation, give this a read.
In a GOOD example, 75% of school vouchers go to families that were already wealthy enough to go to private school. In a BAD example, 90% of all vouchers went to families that could already afford private school.
Call me crazy, but a program that leaves 3 out of 4 students out of the conversation probably isn’t going to provide the resources necessary to improve performance.
What’s worse? There’s even less accountability at private schools than in public schools. At least we KNOW how bad the situation is right now, and you can’t take that for granted based on the other suggestions.
Neither one of the candidates is representative of a solution that will benefit the students of Wisconsin, and allow me to be completely clear here– That is not their fault.
I was raised in a home with a mother who quit her job when I was born to raise me. My brother too. I showed up to kindergarten knowing how to read, do my multiplication tables, etc.
I am not saying this to shame parents, or put the entire onus on them. I’m saying this to highlight that the percentage of Wisconsinites in a position to stay at home and raise their kids is shrinking by the year.
I was raised in a paycheck to paycheck house that was still able to successfully raise 2 kids and own a home, which sounds like a fairytale by today’s standards.
To sit there and exclusively blame funding, or teachers, or CRT, or DEI, or any of these other boogiemen, is to ignore the fact that these problem are all intertwined.
Which is why it’s hard for me to ignore the obvious political parallels in this race.
I’m a believer that Democrats are here to defend a broken status quo, Republicans are here to drag us further away from that status quo, and then Democrats return to power to defend the now newer (worse) status quo. “The system”, ladies and gentlemen.
You guys remember when Bidenomics represented paying through the nose for all goods while corporations raked in record profits? Well, get ready for Trumpenomics, which will be a combo of trickle-down, tariffs, and paying through the nose for all your goods while corporations rake in record profits. Don’t worry though, Dems will be back in power to defend the newly increased prices.
Don’t get me wrong, these problems are neither Jill Underly’s nor Brittney Kinser’s fault, but neither one of them is proposing anything that’s going to right this ship. And, in all honesty, neither would have the authority necessary to make the changes that we would need to see. I’m saying this to highlight that 1 person, or 1 concept, is not going to somehow give our state’s education system the transcendent change it needs.
I’m putting this out there to change the way we talk about education.
Socrates once said “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” This is an important message as we approach the general election in April. The people aren’t the important part, it’s the ideas.
Drop the “D”, drop the “R” and let’s get real about this.
Who’s with me?
