To the editor:
Recently a special interest group with a post office box in Columbus, Wis. sent out a deceptive mailer to local voters attacking Maureen May-Grimm, the Democratic candidate for the 51st Assembly District. It implied she was responsible for increasing taxes in her community. Really, how stupid do they think we are? The truth is the residents of Mineral Point School District chose to pass a referendum to increase their taxes to keep up the quality of their school system. They did this because, among other things, decreasing enrollment and Gov. Walker's budget that slashed state aid to schools.
So why is Howard Marklein, the Republican incumbent, getting this kind of secretive support from outside his district? Is it to help him hide behind his own voting record in the legislature on education? He voted to cut $1.6 billion in funding and revenue authority for schools to pay for new tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. He voted to divert taxpayer money from public education to voucher schools and to allow these private voucher schools hire unlicensed, unqualified teachers for special education and to let them get extra funding based on a disabled student's Individual Education Plan, even though the voucher schools don't have to follow the plan or use the money as specified. Marklein also voted to cut funding to the technical colleges and voted against grants for advanced manufacturing job training to put people back to work.
Howard Marklein is no friend of public (non-for-profit) education in Wisconsin. This matters to me because I have a grandchild in a Monroe public grade school and I know how important a good education will be to her future. Maureen May-Grimm has been serving on a school board voluntarily without pay because she cares about public schools. Please vote for Maureen May-Grimm who will represent us, not special interests with a post office box in Columbus, Wis.
Recently a special interest group with a post office box in Columbus, Wis. sent out a deceptive mailer to local voters attacking Maureen May-Grimm, the Democratic candidate for the 51st Assembly District. It implied she was responsible for increasing taxes in her community. Really, how stupid do they think we are? The truth is the residents of Mineral Point School District chose to pass a referendum to increase their taxes to keep up the quality of their school system. They did this because, among other things, decreasing enrollment and Gov. Walker's budget that slashed state aid to schools.
So why is Howard Marklein, the Republican incumbent, getting this kind of secretive support from outside his district? Is it to help him hide behind his own voting record in the legislature on education? He voted to cut $1.6 billion in funding and revenue authority for schools to pay for new tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. He voted to divert taxpayer money from public education to voucher schools and to allow these private voucher schools hire unlicensed, unqualified teachers for special education and to let them get extra funding based on a disabled student's Individual Education Plan, even though the voucher schools don't have to follow the plan or use the money as specified. Marklein also voted to cut funding to the technical colleges and voted against grants for advanced manufacturing job training to put people back to work.
Howard Marklein is no friend of public (non-for-profit) education in Wisconsin. This matters to me because I have a grandchild in a Monroe public grade school and I know how important a good education will be to her future. Maureen May-Grimm has been serving on a school board voluntarily without pay because she cares about public schools. Please vote for Maureen May-Grimm who will represent us, not special interests with a post office box in Columbus, Wis.
