By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

MADISON, Wis. – There are two well-defined schools of thought in the Wisconsin education debate.

In one corner you have the public education advocates, who want to keep students trapped in traditional public schools and reserve the bulk of state K-12 dollars for those schools.

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In the other corner you have school choice advocates, who would like to see families with more freedom to use state education dollars as they see fit, even if that means their child attends a charter school or private voucher school.

The middle ground is supposed to be occupied by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a post currently occupied by Dr. Tony Evers.

The superintendent is supposed to be an advocate for all children receiving state-sponsored K-12 instruction, regardless of what type of school they’re enrolled in.

But Evers is clearly biased in favor of traditional public schools. He’s never done much to promote the development of independent charter schools, and he’s always been very open about his hostility toward the state’s private school voucher program.

Any doubts about the latter were laid to rest in recent days, when an email surfaced that Evers allegedly sent to school administrators around the state, urging them to contact lawmakers and lobby against the expansion of the voucher program.

The following is the first part of the email message, which was discovered and published by RightWisconsin.com.

“Dear Colleague – As you know, the expansion of school vouchers in the state budget has been discussed widely, and Governor Walker’s budget proposal expanded vouchers to nine school districts. Many legislators in both parties thought that expansion was unwarranted and too broad.  However, Patrick Marley is reporting in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog post titled Republicans outline deal on school vouchers that a ‘compromise’ has been reached to expand vouchers statewide.
     
“The Joint Finance Committee could vote on any voucher expansion proposal as early as today. It is imperative that districts, parents and communities engage on this issue and the radical change in scope immediately. We urge you to contact your legislator and legislative leaders as soon as possible today to oppose statewide expansion.”      

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The above is clear evidence that Evers used state-funded resources (his own office email server and the email servers of various school administrators) to promote his political agenda.

We’re not sure if that’s illegal, but it’s ridiculously unethical.

The email is not the only evidence of Evers’ biased attempt to influence state education policy on the taxpayer’s dime.

As RightWisconsin.com points out, he uses the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and its website “as the political organizing hub for opponents of school choice.”

“Superintendent Evers has posted statement after statement opposing and deriding the choice program and there is a 17-page white paper detailing DPI’s opposition to Gov. Walker’s proposal to expand the school choice program,” a story on the website said.

“In effect, DPI was conducting itself like a publicly funded lobbying organ.”

Enough of this nonsense.

As we stated above, Evers was elected to represent the interests of all students receiving publicly funded instruction in Wisconsin. That means he’s supposed to respect and represent the families of students in Milwaukee and Racine who choose to attend private schools, and those in other parts of the state that would like the same opportunity.

If Evers only wants to represent the public school establishment, he should resign immediately and go to work for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards or the Wisconsin Education Association Council.

Those organizations have the specific task of advocating for traditional public schools and their local unions, respectively. Evers would fit in perfectly, and he could stop wasting tax dollars by occupying a state position that he’s making a mockery of.