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I have received a great deal of attention regarding the comments I made on the Assembly floor on Tuesday. I don't want the way that I spoke to overshadow why I said what I did.

 

I was upset; I am upset. But those emotions are just symptoms of a much larger issue that transcends myself, and it transcends my colleagues in the state Capitol.

 

I am angry with the way we elected officials are haphazardly playing with the lives of the children we are sent to Madison to represent. It is easy to get caught up in the political rhetoric and dialogue that infuses the way we create, edit and implement policy. But who do these policies affect? Who is hurt by our indecision, by our failure to lead and by our inability to provide quality educational options to our children? It hurts our kids, it hurts their lives and it hurts their future.

 

I take this issue personally because I see firsthand what it is like for low-income kids in Milwaukee. They have lived in my house. They have knocked on my door. I am tired of talking about these issues in ways that take away from the urgency and gravity of the problems these kids face every day.

 

So much of the discourse surrounding school choice takes away from the conversations we should be having about improving educational quality. I support the choice program to the extent that it gives low-income families in Milwaukee more options. For the kids I know and the kids I have taken into my home, these additional options can be the difference between going to jail or planning for college.

 

My support for the choice program isn't blind. The program needs to be improved. I do not agree with all of the recommendations currently proposed.

 

When I began advocating for the choice program a few years ago, I did so with the intent of creating more options for low-income students in Milwaukee. Until the needs of these kids are adequately met, I will not support changing the program in ways that divert our attention from helping the children who are most drastically underserved. Expanding choice to include children of all income levels would do just that, and I cannot in good conscience support any related initiative.

 

The focus of our debate needs to be on improving educational quality - in our public schools and in our private schools. My hope in supporting the choice program has always been that families will one day be able to choose between several quality choice schools as well as high-quality public schools. Expanding the choice program does not improve educational quality in private schools. Making huge cuts to Milwaukee Public Schools does not improve educational quality in public schools. What sort of "solutions" can we call these if they don't fix the problem?

 

Improving the choice program and creating more accountability for participating schools are important steps, but they cannot be the only steps. What does accountability mean if we aren't committed to using the information we obtain to make changes? What will we do to improve educational quality across the board?

 

Regardless of whether children are in a choice school or public school, how will we ensure that they have the resources to make the most of their place in this world? We owe it to these kids, we owe it to their families and we owe it to our community to do everything we can to fix the system we have let slip between our fingers.