Column: Reforming Education, Empowering Parents

Since being elected to the State Legislature, one of my main focuses has been to improve our education system by empowering parents to make the best choices for their children. The last two years have put this issue front and center for so many parents across the state. Every day, we hear requests for more options and more accountability in our schools. It was a priority of the Legislature to pass several bills that advance this goal as the regular session of the legislature wrapped up.

Governor Evers has already vetoed legislation this session that prohibits race or sex stereotyping in our schools and a bill to provide transparency for parents on school curriculums. In addition to these bills the Senate and the Assembly passed a number of proposals to address K-12 education reform. We are encouraging the Governor to put aside partisan differences and sign these common sense proposals. Here is a quick rundown of some of the important legislation.

Assembly Bill 970 – Opens up the statewide school choice programs to all families regardless of income limits or location. The Milwaukee, Racine and Statewide choice programs have been such a huge success for so many families over their 30 years of existence. We need to allow all parents to access this program and choose the best educational setting for their children.

Assembly Bill 995 – Allows for parents to opt out of face covering requirements from school districts. The bill also requires that school districts offer a full-time, in-person option to all students each school year.
Assembly Bill 963 – Creates the parental bill of rights, ensuring that parents are able to access to their child and make choices for their educational upbringing.

Assembly Bill 122 – Allows for the creation of micro-education pods where two to five families, totaling no more than 20 students, can come together to jointly educate their kids in a home setting. This will allow families to pool resources to provide the most opportunities for their children.

Assembly Bill 903 – Requires reports from schools to the State Department of Public Instruction on how or if they administer their gifted and talented student program. It is important that we ensure schools are helping motivate and inspire students to achieve the best they can.

Sitting on the Senate Education committee is one of the greatest privileges in my time in the Legislature. Working on reforming our schools and educational system is an honor and I will continue to keep this important issue at the forefront of everything I do as your State Senator.