Here & Now

>> He may be a political newcomer at the state capitol, but don't underestimate this 24-year-old from northwest Wisconsin. At the age of 19, Romaine Quinn became the youngest mayor ever in Rice Lake. Quinn decided not to seek re-election, instead attending the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he earned a degree in political science and public leadership. Last November, in the 75th Wisconsin state assembly district, Quinn defeated the incumbent Democrat, Stephen Smith. I recently met with Quinn in the assembly parlor and started by asking if he thinks the learning curve in the state government will be particularly steep. >> I think this job is unique enough where no matter your age or your experience or what your background is, you're going to have a certain amount of a learning curve. And that was no different when I took office as mayor when I was 19. And there's really no set job description of what you need to do well in the job. And so I know there's certain characteristics that will help, but yeah, it's a learning curve for everyone. But I'm excited to tackle it. >> What are your priorities? >> Oh, there's so much to talk about. I mean, every issue came up during the campaign, whether you talk education or healthcare or reducing the tax burden. But a lot of the big focus is always been the economy, because when you talk about all these issues it always comes back to money. So whether you talk about BadgerCare, you talk about school funding or tuition or the transportation fund, it's always about money. And the best thing we can do is focus on how can we get people back to work, paying more into the tax revenue to help continue to fund and shore up some of these programs or prioritize what we may want to do. >> What are the issues key in your district? >> You know, some for the largest employers in certain communities in my district are the school districts themselves. And so education was a very important topic. And I consider myself lucky and unique to that perspective because, you know, I'm a product recently. You know, I'm 24-years-old, and so I graduated in 2009 from high school. You know, I was fortunate to be able to attend a k-8 Catholic education. I attended a public high school, I've done a little bit of college online, and at a two-year university and four-year university. So a kind of unique perspective to talk about these things. So education is very important to my district on many different angles, for that matter. >> I also read that you are engaged and soon to marry a teacher. >> I am. Yup, she's a first grade teacher right now. So that gives me another unique perspective when we talk about, you know, holding schools accountable, teacher effectiveness, you know, what really does work. And I think, no matter what the issue is, take it back down to who it affects and really see. I mean, something on paper is totally different than what it actually affects, whether it be the classroom, or any topic for that matter. >> So what is your position on school funding or Common Core? >> Yeah, we could talk hours on either of those things. You know, when you look at school funding, and I've always said-- I had another interview with Wisconsin Eye and I said, if anything we should be investing more. But again, that's only if the money's there. It's easy to say we need to have more money for schools. Well, where does that come from? And so I think we need to continue to reevaluate, especially in northern Wisconsin where we still-- We have little schools dotted and a lot of different communities that are either slowly shifting in population, things like that. So rural school funding is very important and dear to me because we have districts in my area that are funding entire school systems, 90% on local property taxes. Well that's just not feasible. So I know we did a rural school funding study, I'd like to dig more into that and see what they've come up with, and really find a solution that works for the whole state. Because again, I represent a rural area, but again, it's try to get, you know, larger cities and their interests to the table as well when we talk about these things. >> I know I just asked you about Common Core, and I'll skip over that for one second and ask you your position on expanding the school voucher program. >> Sure, and like I said, you know, my background, I attended a k-8 private education. There's one Catholic school in the Barron County area where my district is from. And so I have a unique perspective because, you know, it doesn't work for everyone. I had two other siblings that attended there and didn't graduate from there because it didn't work for them. And there's Montessori schools and other charter schools in my district as well, and we're at a point where studies have shown, children just learn differently. And so to assume that everyone's going to function the same out of a one-size-fits-all doesn't work. So I think when we talk about prioritizing education and fixing education, I want every option available so that students, no matter how they learn, and they learn different than I did, have that setting, that possibility, to be the best they can be. >> Now, you're soon-to-be wife is a first grade teacher. >> Yup. >> And she, presumably, is already implementing the Common Core standards. Yea or nay from you on that? >> I think I agree with the governor in terms of the sitting down and developing a set of state standards that work for Wisconsin and take into Wisconsin's input. I think it's kind of a shame that, you know, we adopted these new standard without a single vote of the legislature, and then we didn't take into account input of any of our teachers. If you go and ask any public school teacher I doubt any of them would tell you that they were able to provide input on the development of Common Core standards. So I think we have experts here in our own state to really develop standards to make us superior again. And I would be for that. And again, that's going to cost money, so we need to prioritize if we think it's important to do some of these things. >> What legislation do you hope gets fast-tracked for you to vote on right away? >> Right. You know, again, we touched on many different issues. You know, Common Core is an important one. When you talk about education, certain kids can't wait. When you talk about education or trying to reform schools, things like that, especially when you talk about, you know, school choice programs. Children are in these schools and they can't wait. And when you start falling behind in school it becomes much harder to catch up. And I know that first hand. And so we can't afford to wait on some of those issues, I think, concerning education. But in terms of any particular piece of legislation, you know, I'm a new member so it's come when it comes. I won't be the one designating what's coming to the floor. But I think they're all really equally important at this time. >> All right. Romaine Quinn, thanks very much. >> Yeah, thanks for having me.