WI: Cheering Public Ed Destruction

The Wisconsin Legislature passed a budget this week that dumps more funding into the already-robust voucherific choicetastic system in Wisconsin. All the budget needs is a signature from Governor Scott Walker, and the only way Walker wouldn't approve such move would be if he were disappointed that it didn't explicitly end public education and replace public school teachers with minimum-wage temps.

Also cheering for this are the boys at the Heartland Institute, a thinky tank devoted to free market causes and a better world where rich people are free to do as they wish and poor people live the crappy lives they deserve.

But these quotes certainly show what free market folks want. No surprises here, but it's nice to see them in their own words.

"This budget shows Wisconsin legislators are taking improving education seriously. They are doing so by recognizing that throwing more money at a broken public education system in need of systemic change is not the answer," says Heather Kays. She does not go on to say, "But they do recognize that throwing money at charter operators is totally awesome and magically effective."

"The primary focus of education should be children, which the Wisconsin Legislature finally recognizes by adopting a fund-the-child approach over the funding-a-system approach," says Lennie Jarratt, who does not go on to say, "That's why we're proposing that we actually just give the kids the money and let them spend it on whatever they want."

But here's our winner:

“Wisconsin’s new budget, which expands school choice programs, is a big win for Wisconsin parents and taxpayers. The strategy of across-the-board expansion of choice accelerates the process of dismantling the inefficient ‘district-based’ system and the educational apartheid that system creates.” Says Bruno Behrend, who just goes right on ahead and uses the word "dismantling."

Yup-- that's the Randian view of education. Cut every kid a check, and those that are well-connected and have the resources can use that check as down-payment on a good education. Those Other People-- well, we gave them a voucher. How much more are we supposed to spend on Those People anyway? They have "access to" swell charter schools (in the same way that every citizen of Wisconsin has "access to" a Mercedes Benz and if they aren't able to convert that access to actual possession, well, they should have thought about that when they chose to be poor). Let's go ahead and scrap public education entirely.

Let's just all pay attention when Presidential Candidate Scott Walker signs this great piece of dismantling legislature.