This week’s Weekly Radio Addresses from Wisconsin’s Capitol talk about child care and education reform. These addresses are available for Wisconsin broadcasters to use as they see fit. Here are the summaries from WisPolitics:
— In this week’s Dem radio address, Gov. Tony Evers emphasizes the importance of supporting child care in Wisconsin across party lines.
Evers called for a special session Wednesday to discuss child care and worker shortages in Wisconsin. Evers proposed a plan that included investing in the child care counts program and other industry areas to keep it from going over the “looming fiscal cliff.”
The Republican-controlled Legislature met and adjourned quickly on Wednesday, taking no action.
“I’ll remain hopeful that Republicans will someday get serious, put politics aside, and decide to join us in the important work of finding real solutions to the challenges facing our state,” he says.
Evers warns doing nothing could result in 4,880 jobs lost and leave 87,000 kids without child care, which would affect worker productivity and Wisconsin’s economy.
“I will continue to do everything I can to stabilize our child care industry, support working families, and recruit, retain, and train a workforce that can meet the needs of the 21st century,” Evers says.
Listen to the address:
— In this week’s Republican radio address, Sen. John Jagler pushes for continued reform to the Wisconsin school system.
The Watertown Republican argues that Wisconsin has long been a leader in educational reform, highlighting the school choice program implemented in Milwaukee in 1990 and the 2015 Special Needs Scholarship Program.
Parents in Wisconsin still rely on choice schools to meet the needs of their children.
“Unfortunately, our educational progress is under attack from the educational establishment, their allies, and Legislative Democrats,” he says. “Recently, they have introduced a series of bills that would roll back 30 years of reform in Wisconsin.”
During COVID lockdowns and virtual learning, parents did not like what they saw in classrooms, says Jagler, switching their kids to choice schools or joining the waitlist for them, emphasizing the need for continued reform.
“With my colleagues in the Legislature, we will work to continue our tradition of education reform in Wisconsin,” Jagler says. “We’ve come too far to let the clock turn back and leave kids on the outside looking in.”
Listen to the address:
Find the archive of weekly addresses, organized by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, by going to: http://www.wi-broadcasters.org/for-the-public/weekly-addresses-archive/
