Editor’s note: This article appeared Monday on wisconsinrightnow.com.
Former Gov. Tommy Thompson pushed a major expansion of school choice in Wisconsin Friday, urging the state to make school choice available for all Wisconsin parents who want it, saying that rules and regulations limiting who can use the popular program should be removed.
“Why should there be restrictions on people having choice?” asked Thompson. “Why should we not have everybody have choice?” From a poor family in Elroy to a person who is middle-income in Middleton, “why should they be deprived from having an opportunity to make a choice?”
If you “leave it up to the parents, they will make the right decision, if the state gives us the opportunity. Get rid of the rules and regulations. Allow whoever wants to choose, choose,” said Thompson.
Thompson, the outgoing University of Wisconsin system president who is considering a run for governor, is a father of the school choice movement in Wisconsin, which sparked a national movement and started during his administration as governor.
When people have a choice, public schools “have to compete,” said Thompson. He believes choice makes all schools better. “We can grow this movement.” He also called for transparency in schools. He said that “if we recommit,” the state could “double” the number of Wisconsin students in choice.
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