but so do those darned Republicans!
Because anti-reform Democrats protect the status quo.
Wisconsin’s chief school marm has been a disaster. A scandal. Not even one-third of our elementary school kids can read at grade. The racial achievement gap hasn’t budged; only 17.5% of black students are proficient in “language arts” compared to 60.5% of white kids. It’s the largest gap in the nation. Which is why more poor and black parents are voting with their feet for private, voucher schools.
Jill Underly covers up her failure as superintendent of public instruction by jiggering the numbers in her annual report. In other words, she cheats on her own tests!
But the teachers union loves her. So does its client, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Because Underly promises “to protect public education,” which, of course, is a heavily unionized government monopoly, but not Teach the Children. See the difference? The establishment’s goal is to snuff out the competition.
It is significant that two of Wisconsin’s greatest education reformers support Brittany Kinser for WI superintendent of public instruction. Those being Madison’s Kaleem Caire, founder of One City Schools, and Howard Fuller, who got a close-up look at the horror of Milwaukee’s public schools when he tried to reform them but was rebuffed.
Voting with their feet
WI school choice has grown from 43,377 students enrolled in 317 eligible schools in the 2019-20 school year to 58,623 in 403 schools currently — 14% of whom are special needs. All, by law, are low income.
at Christ Presbyterian Church in Madison after a debate that Jill Underly blew off.
Underly, notoriously, papered over the on-going failure of public education in Wisconsin when she reported that 52.1% of 4th-graders were reading proficiently in 2024, up from 44.8% two years earlier. But Underly’s Department of Public Instruction cooked the books. The National Assessment of Educational Progress test of Wisconsin 4th-graders found in 2022 that only 33% were good readers in 2022 and only 31% are proficient now — 6% fewer!
Underly called for the entire $4 billion state government surplus to be spent on K-12 schools; when that’s gone, watch taxes go up! Of course The Capital Times endorses Underly. Dane County’s progressive voice, as it billed itself, has never met a spending referendum it didn’t support. Only in government is failure rewarded with more money!
“Nobody running with GOP endorsements will get my vote. GOP = Fascism.” — response to Kaleem Caire’s endorsement of Brittany Kinser
But Brittany is endorsed by many Republicans. That’s enough hex on the challenger for many good Madison progressives who can’t understand why they’re losing minority voters to the bad guys.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: The Capital Times concludes its endorsement with these telling words: “We’re with the teachers.” Brittany Kinser, on the other hand, is with the kids and their parents.
4 responses to “WI black leaders support Kinser for state school marm”
I voted for Brittany !
Amazing that our law enforcement system is now hiding the really bad criminals from public view. The revolving door no cash bail isn’t bad enough, now they are hiding them from public view. Typical what leftys do to protect the criminals whike the innocents get usual horrible crimes against them.
My much admired father served on his local school board when my siblings and I were growing up. He would often come home from school board meetings complaining about having to deal with the teachers union. Of course this fact never deterred him and our mother from voting a straight Democrat ticket in every election (except when Ada Deer ran for Congress!). My sisters all follow in their parents footsteps like the lemmings they are, but not their two oldest sons! We have seen the light!
My philosophy is: Anything the teachers unions are for, I am against. The teachers unions only exist to improve pay and working conditions for their members. This of course means that the teachers unions do not exist for the benefit of students, and furthermore their actions do not benefit students at all. In fact I believe they are harmful to students. Why so many college educated voters continue to support the Democratic Party and its unholy alliance with the teachers unions is a mystery to me that I will never understand. I fervently hope that enough Wisconsin voters say enough is enough and vote for Brittany Kinser on April 1. And for Brad Schimel as well! A lot is at stake. Don’t let the Dems control us like we all know they will if given the chance. If you really want improved education scores (without cooking the books), vote Kinser. If you want to keep Act 10 in place and the teachers paying for their share of their retirement plan, vote Schimel. Above all, please vote!
Two questions:
1. How should Progressives go about making an informed choice, without knowing the preferred pronouns of the candidates?
2. Is there any chance that the current school system is modeled on the famed “Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too” prototype?