PRIORITIES FOR DISTRICT 21
FULL AND APPROPRIATE FUNDING FOR OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Wisconsin has long had great public schools. I benefited from them, as did my children. Despite Republican efforts to weaken and dismantle public education, we still have some very good schools. That is because of heroic efforts by teachers and communities to hold things together as the legislature tries to starve them.
We need to return to the promise of the state paying 2/3 of the cost for public education, as well as 90% of the cost for Special Needs programming. As the state has steadily allowed its support to grow at less than the cost of inflation, schools have had to rely more on property taxes and referendums just to maintain their level of service.
Wisconsin needs to increase the taxes on our wealthiest residents, make corporations pay their fair share in order to fully fund public schools, and reduce property taxes in the process. It can be done.
MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTERS
Wisconsin needs to step back from the rush to build data centers for giant corporations. They are not a good deal for the people of Wisconsin. The rush to build data centers has led to the rush to expand fossil fuel-burning power plants to supply them with cheap electricity, while homeowners’ utility bills skyrocket. Utility bill payers will be paying the costs for new power plants long after the data centers have been abandoned for the next big thing.
Wisconsin needs to invest in the economy of the future, including renewable energy. And, we need to do it by bringing utility bills down for those of us who are not tech giants.
GET SMART ABOUT COMMUNITY SAFETY
We all want to be safe. We want our families to be able to drive without fearing for their lives, and we need to be safe in our homes and on the streets. If we are serious about safety, we need to invest in the things that make us safe – things like mental health and addiction treatment and youth programs. The best community safety measure is a reduction in poverty.
There will always be a need to intervene with people who are violent or out of control. But that intervention needs to be one that helps them get better and get back to a productive life. Study after study shows that people sent to community-based treatment programs have a much lower rate of future crime than people sent to prison. It is a scandal that more Wisconsin taxpayer dollars go to the prison system than to the University of Wisconsin system.
Wisconsin can very safely reduce its prison population by more than 3,000 through common-sense measures like Treatment Alternatives and Diversions, Earned Release, and Compassionate Release for the growing number of elderly people in our prisons. That would allow us to close the most inhumane, outdated prisons and would free up more than $100 million per year, to be used on programs that will actually keep us safe.
EMBRACE INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY
I believe the Republican attack on inclusion and diversity is immoral and un-American. We need to build a state where everyone, no matter their race, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, is treated as a valued member. People who have been knocked down by discrimination or injustice might need a hand to get back up. Simple human decency requires all of us to look out for those who are most vulnerable. First, though, we have to stop making it worse. Attacks on immigrants, people of color, transgender people, people with disabilities, and others need to stop.
I believe that we are to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That means ALL the others, not just the people I feel comfortable with right now. This is not about a single policy. I want to be part of a movement that brings back respect for the dignity of every person, because I believe every person is created in the image of God.