By LaKeshia N. Myers
Last week, First Lady Jill Biden visited Wisconsin to celebrate an exciting new investment in Wisconsin’s workforce – and future. In January, the Biden-Harris administration announced the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction would receive a nearly $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success initiative, which seeks to increase pathways for young Americans to secure good-paying jobs. The grant will go to expanding and developing career readiness programs across the state.
From championing preschool and community college, to boosting teacher recruitment and retention, to making post-high school options more affordable, Dr. Biden has long been a fierce advocate for the Biden-Harris administration’s vision for expanding access to education and ensuring every American has a chance to succeed – and her visit to our state exemplified that.
These new investments demonstrate that the Biden-Harris administration is committed to supporting a curriculum that combines learning in school with real world experience and hands-on skill training. Since taking office, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been dedicated to investing in our education system, preparing our future workforce, and creating long term economic stability that gives middle class families a chance to get ahead.
President Biden and Vice President Harris are taking a full scale approach to strengthening our education system and building the workforce of tomorrow. When President Biden took office, only two states had apprenticeship programs for teachers – and now 30 states do. That’s a result of collaboration between the White House, Department of Education and state leaders here in Wisconsin.
That collaboration, and these types of meaningful investments, will be wiped away if Donald Trump gets to enact his MAGA agenda from the White House. While the Biden-Harris administration is working to prepare us for the future, Trump and his extremist allies have proven they just want to take our education system backwards.
Trump plans to abolish the Department of Education, which would eradicate critical programs that protect students from discrimination and financial exploitation. His extremist judges are attempting to obstruct the Biden-Harris administration’s work to cancel student debt and ensure college is affordable for all. MAGA Republicans right here in Wisconsin are already hard at work towing Trump’s line by attempting to ban books from our kids’ schools.
If Donald Trump is elected, he’ll work in lockstep with his extremist allies to see this agenda through. We cannot give him another chance to turn the clock back on our school systems and halt the critical progress we’re making under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Reelecting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is essential in ensuring the next generation has a fair chance to get ahead.