Jack Redmond
Press Release

Rep. Rodriguez’s Plan Fails to Make Meaningful Recommendations for Urban Schools

Instead of investing in our public schools, Rep. Rodriguez and Republicans are taking more than $750 million from public schools and sending it to unaccountable private schools.

By - Sep 12th, 2016 09:13 am

MILWAUKEE – Today, Jack Redmond, candidate for the 21st Assembly District, responded to the shortcomings of Rep. Jessie Rodriguez’s plan for urban education in Wisconsin. Recently the Democrats on the Speaker’s Task Force on Urban Education released their “Minority Report” after the final report done by the Chair of the Committee, Representative Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek), lacked substantive or tangible recommendations to address education problems in Wisconsin’s urban schools.

“Rep. Rodriguez’s report did not contain any meaningful recommendations or solutions to the issues facing our urban school districts,” Jack Redmond said. “The Democrats’ report contains commonsense solutions that were based on feedback from Wisconsinites in urban locations. We need to work together to address the challenges of poverty, early childhood development, teacher recruitment, retention and the achievement gap in our urban schools. Most importantly, we need to make investment in public education a priority again.”

The Assembly committee was charged with addressing specific needs in urban schools including solutions to improve educational outcomes, teacher recruitment and retention, and below-average academic performance. The task force held five public hearings and toured schools in six urban school districts: Madison, Racine, Kenosha, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Eau Claire.

School districts across the state face growing challenges reflecting falling state aid and growing poverty rates. Instead of investing in our public schools, Rep. Rodriguez and Republicans are taking more than $750 million from public schools and sending it to unaccountable private schools.

“As an advocate for K-12 education, I look forward to continuing the conversation started by the Democrats’ Minority Report in offering solutions to issues facing our urban school districts. We must do more to strengthen Wisconsin’s middle class families and address the challenge that our urban schools face.”

A copy of the Minority Report can be found here, and a copy of Representative Jessie Rodriguez’s release on the final report can be found here.

Redmond for Assembly

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

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Rep. Rodriguez’s Plan Fails to Make Meaningful Recommendations for Urban Schools

Instead of investing in our public schools, Rep. Rodriguez and Republicans are taking more than $750 million from public schools and sending it to unaccountable private schools.

One thought on “Rep. Rodriguez’s Plan Fails to Make Meaningful Recommendations for Urban Schools”

  1. Alene says:

    Private voucher schools that get taxpayer funds should be held accountable for how they spend those funds. If they cannot do that, then they should not get my tax dollars, period. They are not above the public school system in teaching our children, but should be held to account just as the public schools are required to do. I also want accountability for the voucher schools that start up at the beginning of school years and then close their doors in the middle of the year leaving those children hanging and having to be reintegrated back into the public school system. That alone does those children more harm than any perceived harm they might have from going to public schools to begin with.

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