Presidential Hopeful — Gov. Scott Walker to Address Harris County GOP Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in Texas

HOUSTON, Texas – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) will cap off a star-studded evening with a keynote address at the Harris County GOP Lincoln-Reagan Dinner on March 28. The event is expected to be the largest in the history of the Harris County GOP and will be attended by many statewide elected officials, Harris County officials, and grassroots activists.

For the third year in a row, the keynote address will be delivered by a 2016 Republican presidential hopeful. Governor Walker will deliver this year’s keynote address to what is expected to be a crowd of at least eight hundred people, according to one of the event organizers. The 2014 keynote speaker was Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. He was preceded in 2013 by Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Walker was first inaugurated as Governor on January 3, 2011, and immediately set our state on a path toward government reform and fiscal order, according to his official state biography. When he took office, Wisconsin faced a projected $3.6 billion deficit, more than $800 million in unpaid bills, and the loss of nearly 134,000 jobs over the previous four years. Governor Walker made tough, but prudent, decisions to ensure our children and grandchildren were not buried under a mountain of economically crippling debt; he paid the bills, balanced the budget, cut taxes, and put in place reforms that are growing jobs in Wisconsin.

Governor Walker began his second term as Wisconsin’s governor on January 5th. He shares a common interest with Texans in his efforts to fight Common Core in his state’s education system.

The evening’s festivities are being dedicated to former United States President George H.W. Bush who served as Harris County Republican Party Chairman in 1964 and the growth of the county party over the past fifty years.

Becoming more significant all the time.

I have been following the anti-Walker posts and screeds on Facebook, and a LOT of outright misrepresentations and lies are being promoted there. It would be instructive to study and analyze these propaganda missives, and be ready to answer or counter them when they get into the wider distribution.

Their biggest charge? That Walker has somehow managed to defund all levels of public education in Wisconsin, and is pushing for more charter schooling in the areas where there is a definite poverty level and no remarkable degree of achievement.

BS. Walker managed to free up more money for education through Act 10, saving teacher jobs by leaving them free to join, or to not join, unions. Also freed the school boards to shop for competitive rates for health insurance which saved a ton of money.

Guess what? the cost of insurance went DOWN and the union-owned plans were forced to reduce their rates too -- win; win; win. I should point out for anyone who does not know, the teacher health insurance company was owned by the teachers' union and they were all required to buy from only that one company.

>>Their biggest charge? That Walker has somehow managed to defund all levels of public education in Wisconsin, and is pushing for more charter schooling in the areas where there is a definite poverty level and no remarkable degree of achievement.<<

The charter school part is correct, assuming his current budget proposal is enacted. He wants the current voucher program extended statewide and to be available to any family earning under twice the poverty level, I believe.

I’m not certain of the details, but I think the state funding for each student would “follow the child” to the new school. To avoid giving several thousand dollars to people currently using private schools, the child has to come from a public school the prior year.

Two things about this. First, it seems unfair to those who are currently using a private school and paying out of their own pocket. I’m not sure how that is resolvable as it would be a big budget item to address it fairly.

Second, if vouchers take off statewide it’s only a matter of time before families earning above the income limits insist upon having the same opportunity for their children as well.

But if this goes through, and if vouchers really are the answer to the decline in public school effectiveness over the years, then Wisconsin should be setting education milestones in future years. Many public school curricula will also be upgraded substantially due to the competitive threat of losing students to private schools.

I also believe the current budget proposal is going to make it easier for someone to open a charter school in the state, by (I think) removing the decision from the local school board, where it currently resides.

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