Here & Now

First Look: Bowen Questions Education Secretary Pick

Frederica Freyberg:

The statewide expansion of school choice in Wisconsin accounts for 3,000 students beyond the core choice school districts. Those districts are Racine and Milwaukee. As of the current school year, there are 121 private schools participating in the Milwaukee parental choice program. Total Milwaukee enrollment is approximately 28,000 students. The program is estimated to cost more than $200 million in 2016-2017. Racine has 19 choice schools, serving about 2500 students. But it’s Milwaukee that has been ground zero for the national school choice movement. We go there now to a democratic member of the assembly education committee, who says it’s time to put the brakes on state money for choice schools. Representative David Bowen is in Milwaukee and thanks very much for joining us.

David Bowen:

Thank you so much for having me on your show.

Frederica Freyberg:

You're welcome. Now, putting the brakes on school choice at this point is going to take spike strips. It seems likely it will be further expanded here and nationwide. What’s your reaction to that?

David Bowen:

Well, I think the problem is that people are playing partisan games when we really should be looking at the evidence and at the data, right? We know for a fact that just because there is school choice, in a sense, it does not increase the educational outcomes of our students, of the preparedness that our families have as they deal with situations outside of the walls of their schools, rising poverty, especially in the state of Wisconsin. We’ve seen that there are challenges that just having competition and choice does not address.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you think of Betsy DeVos being named Secretary of Education?

David Bowen:

Well, I think it was another move where we weren’t really looking at, you know, the person that’s best equipped to really focus on increasing educational outcomes. I understand Ms. DeVos has connections on the choice and privatizing education side that have led her to circles where people have picked her, you know. And I think that it more so should be someone that has the experience, that has the preparedness to take on such an operation of the Department of Education and truly be aware of everything that you need to be acclimated to, to really focus on improving educational outcomes, not just using skewed data and studies and big money that has influenced our politics and our education systems to change things the way that you see fit.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you feel as though she represents a threat to public schools?

David Bowen:

I think she recognizes or resembles a threat to quality public education for all of our students. You know, I think that we have a long way to go to actually make sure that we are prioritizing, you know, the outcomes and the things that we need to do to increase those outcomes. And we need folks that are not going to bury their heads in the sand or just cherrypicking the things that they want to do. We need folks that are really committed to addressing the lack of focus that has happened on our education systems, where we’ve put them behind. We haven’t invested the amount of dollars that it takes, on rural and urban education, especially in Wisconsin. And we need folks that are not going to just see this as a partisan issue, but that are really committed to the outcomes of our young people and, you know, helping our families have access to a quality of life that compliments the experience that our children have in education.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, meanwhile, Governor Walker in his State of the State said his budget would include what he called a “significant increase for public schools.” So what’s your reaction to that?

David Bowen:

Well, the problem is that the governor continues to not focus on the educational outcomes of all of our students. In his State of the State he was talking about increasing funding for rural school districts, which is half of the approach that we need. I don’t think we can have another approach to improving education by pitting school districts against each other, rural and urban districts. Another situation where we are not really moving in the direction that we need to to address the fact that we have families all over our state that are affected by the things that are also happening outside of those school walls. We have a growing number of rural districts that are being impacted by poverty to an alarming rate. And I think the governor needs to change his focus.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We need to leave it there. We’ll be watching for what’s in his budget. Milwaukee State Representative David Bowen, thanks very much.

David Bowen:

Thank you so much.