By George Mitchell, A Dairyland Sentinel Perspectives Column
Wisconsin’s pioneering school choice programs are effectively on the April ballot. Opponents believe Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford would provide the deciding vote to overturn those programs.
The stakes could not be higher for a policy that has produced positive results at 70 percent of the cost of public education and has strong support throughout the state. A reform that has gone national could be struck down.
This is not mere speculation. The promo for a March 12 forum sponsored by left-leaning UpNorthNews says the outcome of the Brad Schimel-Susan Crawford race will “impact a number of critical issues [including] the future of a voucher schools program…” A featured panelist will be Julie Underwood, “lead plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the voucher schools program.”
The state’s largest teacher union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), is the leading opponent of Wisconsin’s four choice programs. This year, more than 400 private schools enroll nearly 60,000 students in those programs. WEAC has endorsed Crawford, hoping for a court majority that would strip away the choices made by the parents of those children.
As WEAC puts it, Crawford “shares our values,” one of the most prominent being support of a lawsuit to overturn school choice. “It’s time for [school choice] to stop,” declared WEAC.
It comes as no surprise to learn that Crawford’s husband, UW Professor Shawn Peters, has published views in harmony with choice opponents. A review of his writing by Angela Watson (Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy) observes the following: “…[T]his book considers the bulk of school choice options available to Americans today, and calls into question the legality, and even constitutionality of those choices.”
The honorable course of action for Crawford would be to recuse from a decision that would reverse longstanding Wisconsin judicial precedent upholding school choice.
Mitchell and his wife, Susan, were part of the coalition supporting creation of the Milwaukee choice program in 1990. They have remained advocates for more than three decades.
