It was a feeble attempt at a political deathbed conversion that does little to close the education funding gap he created. Walker can’t rip the heart out of our neighborhood schools and expect praise when he throws a Band-Aid at our children and teachers.

MADISON – Today we watched the governor’s state budget address.

What we saw today was a feeble attempt at a political deathbed conversion. Walker begged for applause during his address, but legislators, like Wisconsinites, are not fooled by a state budget that continues the same pattern of false promises and irresponsible priorities. Walker and legislative Republicans have started another budget that favors wealthy campaign donors over our children.

After years of intentional underfunding, Walker’s budget does little to address the close the gap he created. In fact, since Walker took office, the K-12 education funding gap has steadily increased. Adjusting for inflation, the governor’s reluctant education funding presented in this budget still doesn’t return our K-12 education funding to 2010-2011 levels. The fact is that teachers have struggled and sacrificed to offer our children educational opportunities under Walker’s anti-education agenda. Our neighbors, our students, and our teachers are waiting for him to close the values gap he created.

Walker can’t rip the heart out of our neighborhood schools and expect praise when he throws a Band-Aid at our children and teachers. If we truly want our children to thrive and grow, we must return to our traditional Wisconsin commitment to fully investing in education.