MADISON, Wis. – Today Governor Walker delivered his budget address in the face of low approval ratings and a looming re-election bid in 2018. Representative Sondy Pope (D-Mt. Horeb) the ranking member on the Assembly Committee on Education responded to the address:
“For the last six years Governor Walker has inflicted serious damage on Wisconsin’s middle class and public education system,” said Rep. Pope. “Now that he is facing low approval numbers after abandoning the state to run a short, failed presidential bid, he acts as if provisions in his budget have been priorities all along.”
“Since 2011, Governor Walker has enacted devastating cuts to K-12 education. Now he wants to take a victory lap for his half-measured attempts at restoring fractions of those cuts. I hope the Governor doesn’t think that the citizens of Wisconsin are that easily fooled.”
“It has taken the Governor far too long to prioritize access to high-quality public education. He has starved many school districts to their breaking point and our citizens see this. He is just now realizing that he can no longer only appease his ultra-rich donors. His budget is clearly an attempt to repair some of the damage his policies have caused in order to score political points,” Rep. Pope said. “Middle class families and students working hard to earn their educations can no longer afford to play his political games.”
