Opinion: Alberta Darling cared about kids and found a way to help them in the Legislature

Alberta Darling did one of the hardest things any public servant can do: She fought for a dream. Unhappy parents had created unlikely allies in Milwaukee, and the result was the nation’s first school voucher program.

Yet, religious schools were locked out of serving these kids in 1995. What would happen if you changed that? Would white Lutherans and Catholics clash in the classroom with Black and latino students? Would the move get struck down by the Supreme Court, throwing hundreds back into the schools they had left?

Senator Darling trusted parents and school leaders to get things right, and the coalition she had joined passed the expansion.

The results are clear. Seventeen of Milwaukee’s top 20 schools are voucher schools, say the latest state report cards. Some of those schools were the first through the door that Darling’s crew opened: St. Marcus Lutheran, St. Roman Catholic, Salam Islamic. The bravery that Senator Darling showed manifests daily in the orderly hallways, attentive classrooms, and joyful graduations at those schools. This year, 29,000 children in Milwaukee and 52,000 children total can go to schools that fit their educational needs, cultural preferences, or inspired faiths.

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When past debts came due, she made the tough choices on Act 10 and won a recall to solidify it. Now, Wisconsin has the best-funded pension in the country. As one of only two states with fully funded pensions, Senator Darling prepared us to weather financial storms and to take care of everybody as baby boomers retire.

A former teacher herself, she did even more to make Wisconsin schools better than they were. She resurfaced reading as the key to learning, whether it was the trendy topic of the time or not. As a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding, she spoke boldly about ways to fund our students better when others hid from the topic. She was a strong advocate for early childhood education that serves families better.

And, admirably, she rode off into the sunset with some of the most important education bills in years, including a parental bill of rights, stellar reading solutions, removal of voucher program caps, attracting charter schools to Wisconsin, and a Milwaukee Public Schools bill that made reform front-page news again. When Democrats such as Gov. Tony Evers and State Sen. LaTonya Johnson are as quick to praise you as Republicans like Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, you know that you have made a difference.

Between a devastating pandemic and long-festering education problems, we now require new leaders who will upgrade our schools to what they could be. Senator Darling understood that we have the engaged parents, hard-working teachers, and talented kids to be the country’s best school system once again. The best way to honor her is ensuring that her remaining dreams come to pass in the months ahead.

Quinton Klabon is research director at the Institute for Reforming Government, a Wisconsin-based right-leaning think tank.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Alberta Darling cared about kids, helped them in Wisconsin Legislature