Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)
When he talks about education policy, Scott Walker can't seem to stop name-dropping people who wish he wouldn't drop their names. A former teacher of the year who Walker uses to attack teachers unions has asked him to stop talking about her (he hasn't stopped), and now she's not alone.
At a hate-on-teachers Republican education forum moderated by anti-public education crusader Campbell Brown on Wednesday, candidates were asked to name possible education secretaries, and Walker floated the name of Howard Fuller. Fuller is a civil rights and education activist who agrees with Walker on one small (still problematic) corner of Walker's education agenda. But it's safe to say the two have more disagreements than agreements, as Fuller quickly went on Twitter to detail:
In 2011, Fuller wrote an op-ed arguing that Republicans who had supported an education funding privatization program for low-income families had done so out of sincere concern for low-income kids, not out of a desire to create a wedge for further privatization. But he went on to write that "Unfortunately, the governor's proposal [to lift the program's income requirement] fits the pattern that these critics have asserted for years. It is a gift to the opponents of the program." Unfortunately, Fuller's belief in the sincere concern of Republican politicians for low-income kids was a gift to the cause of widespread education privatization. But at least he's clear on where Walker stands—and how far he stands from Walker.