MADISON – Governor Scott Walker released his Weekly Radio Address on Thursday titled, “More Funding for Our K-12 Schools.”
Hi, Scott Walker here.
Wisconsin has some of the best schools in the country. A special thank you to the many outstanding teachers and staff who are helping students succeed all over the state.
We are proud to say that Wisconsin students have some of the highest ACT scores and some of the best graduation rates in the country. And the high school graduation rate for women is tied for the best in the country according to Wallet Hub. We should be proud of our students, teachers, and parents here in Wisconsin.
Years ago, we put in place reforms that now ensure that the money we invest in our schools overwhelmingly goes into the classroom. In our current budget, we provided more actual dollars into K-12 education than ever before in the history of Wisconsin: an extra $200 per student in every school this year and another $204 per student on top of that next school year.
That is real money going into our classrooms to improve student success and to build a stronger workforce.
Still, we need to do more to ensure that every child in the state has access to a great education – no matter where they live or what their parents do for a living. That’s why we invested additional money into our rural schools where they have unique challenges related to transportation and enrollment.
Special thanks to Representative John Nygren, Representative Jeff Mursau, and Senator Howard Marklein for working with us to ensure that we look out for rural schools. Our plan moves the amount of help for rural schools from $300 up to $400 for every student (and that’s on top of our historic investments).
At a time when people complain that politicians can’t seem to work together, I am proud to tell you that the members of the state Assembly voted 90 to 3 and the members of the state Senate voted 31 to 1 to approve our plan. Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly came together to approve our plans to help our schools.
Maybe some of the folks in Washington could learn a thing or two about how to get positive things done from our efforts here in Wisconsin. Remember, I just recently signed a new law that will help lower premiums, increase choices and provide stability as part of our Wisconsin Health Care Stability plan. That too had overwhelming bi-partisan support.
The bottom-line is that we are getting positive things done for the people of our state. And Wisconsin is Working. Together, let’s keep moving Wisconsin forward.
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