From Phil Fransen
Belleville
To the editor:
In his ads, Howard Marklein calls himself an independent. Does voting 427 out of 430 times with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos make him an independent? But what bothers me even more about Marklein, Todd Novak and Scott Walker is they are bought and paid for the American Federation for Children. AFC is chaired by Betsy DeVos, the billionaire wife of Richard DeVos in Michigan, who has funneled millions of dollars into school privatization efforts to destroy public education. In Wisconsin, AFC employs convicted felon former Rep. Scott Jensen as a registered lobbyist.
When you vote Republican, you will be voting to send your education dollars to private schools in the eastern part of Wisconsin. Voucher schools are paid first and public schools get what is left. State aid pays $7,856 per high school student enrolled in private schools and the parents get a $10,000 tax deduction. But in Pepin, for example, the school district receives $1,667 of general state aid per student this year and district taxpayers pick up the rest of the cost of educating their students. They will also pay an additional $70,119 in taxes to educate children in other districts. On top of that, $139 million of state money has been blown on "failed" private vouchers schools. So how can you vote Republican? Support public education and rural schools by voting for Mary Burke, Dick Cates and Pat Bomhack.
Belleville
To the editor:
In his ads, Howard Marklein calls himself an independent. Does voting 427 out of 430 times with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos make him an independent? But what bothers me even more about Marklein, Todd Novak and Scott Walker is they are bought and paid for the American Federation for Children. AFC is chaired by Betsy DeVos, the billionaire wife of Richard DeVos in Michigan, who has funneled millions of dollars into school privatization efforts to destroy public education. In Wisconsin, AFC employs convicted felon former Rep. Scott Jensen as a registered lobbyist.
When you vote Republican, you will be voting to send your education dollars to private schools in the eastern part of Wisconsin. Voucher schools are paid first and public schools get what is left. State aid pays $7,856 per high school student enrolled in private schools and the parents get a $10,000 tax deduction. But in Pepin, for example, the school district receives $1,667 of general state aid per student this year and district taxpayers pick up the rest of the cost of educating their students. They will also pay an additional $70,119 in taxes to educate children in other districts. On top of that, $139 million of state money has been blown on "failed" private vouchers schools. So how can you vote Republican? Support public education and rural schools by voting for Mary Burke, Dick Cates and Pat Bomhack.
