Education
Wisconsin's single greatest asset is its system of public schools, colleges, and universities. That asset is being squandered. In our lifetimes, the real price paid by students -- in tuition, fees, interest on loans, and more -- for a college degree has increased by more than a factor of five. One result? The median family income for a student entering UW-Madison is more than twice what it was in 1992, when Ben graduated from Madison West. When potential college students can't afford the tuition, or take on unprecedented debt to pay for it, all of us pay the consequences.
Ben Manski's education priorities include:
- Establishing a state mandate to fully fund public education -- from preschool through post-secondary education -- through comprehensive tax reform (see "Prosperity" section).
- Ending school revenue caps and repealing the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) law that are choking our public schools.
- Putting the UW System and Wisconsin's public technical and community colleges on track to phase out tuition for all in-state residents who maintain or exceed the required academic standards. Wisconsin needs progressive taxation, not regressive tuition fees that hit working people the hardest.
- Putting teeth into affirmative action policies. When students perform inadequate work, there are consequences. When our schools fail to achieve recruitment and retention goals, there is hand-wringing.
- Renewing Wisconsin's commitment to shared governance among faculty, students, staff, and the community, and expanding its practice to secondary education as well. Genuine participation in power is the best civics education program; youth will not learn good citizenship from books, or simulations, alone. Conducting a comprehensive audit of campus social and environmental responsibility programs. We've made a great deal of progress in this area over the past two decades; it's time to take stock.
