Wisconsin has a primary election this coming Tuesday, Feb. 17th. On that day, Wisconsinites will narrow the field on the State Superintendent of Public Instruction race. (Elmbrook School District residents will also choose which 2 candidates for the At Large and Area 4 School Board positions will face off in April. More about that later.)
For the statewide Superintendent of Public Instruction race, my choice is Rose Fernandez. As she stated in an email, "I am a mom on a mission. The mission is that children must come first at DPI." Her campaign website is even called, ChangeDPI.com
She wrote, "I am an avid supporter of choices for parents." Check out her ISSUES page. On it, she addresses the UW system, MPS, QEO and Levy Limits as well as school choice, charter / virtual schools, and homeschooling.
I first heard about Rose Fernandez last December from Mike Dean, General Counsel for the First Freedoms Foundation. First Freedoms litigated the Virtual Schools case. She was president of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families.
Talk show host Vicki McKenna has had Rose Fernandez on her radio show, and
I liked what I heard. She definitely was for parents rights and what
was best for the students.
State Representative Leah Vukmir favors Rose Fernandez,
Rose is a proven leader with the right
balance of passion, courage and judgment to bring about real education
reform in Wisconsin, and she has already demonstrated her ability to
take on the establishment and do what is right for our children. Rose
is a strong supporter of School Choice and she is not afraid to call
for higher standards throughout our public schools, and of course I
admire and respect her desire to focus on improving Wisconsin schools
without pushing for increased sales or property taxes.
Charlie Sykes Speaks out for Rose too:
I think there is actually a really good candidate in this race: Rose Fernandez.
Here is somebody who not only has been an involved parent; she’s
actually taken on the bureaucracy. Rose Fernandez is exactly the kind
of person we need. She doesn’t represent the teachers’ union; she’s
willing to take on the teachers’ union. She’s not part of the
establishment; she’s willing to challenge the establishment. She is not
an educational bureaucrat. She thinks that the system should work for
students, what a radical concept. Rose Fernandez is the only one in
this race who thinks the schools ought to be about the kids. Not about
the unions, not about bureaucracy…
He later called Rose Fernandez “probably one of the most interesting
candidates to emerge in a statewide race in a very, very, very long
time."
Fernandez Campaign: [Brett Davis] Assembly education leader endorses Rose Fernandez
Rose Fernandez's slogan is Higher Standards, Not
Higher Taxes. Need I say more?
Links:
Brookfield7, Fairly Conservative, Vicki McKenna, Jay Weber, The Right View Wisconsin, Mark Levin, The Heritage Foundation, CNS News
