As you cast your ballot this November, you will find two Madison School District Referenda questions in the lower right corner of that ballot. I ask our community to vote yes on both.
I am who I am today because of Madison public schools and this community which invested in me and believed in my potential against all odds. The people of Madison, with their time, their energy, and the necessary investment of resources provided a strong public school system, where someone like me — who struggled with poverty, homelessness, and trauma — could succeed.
Madison has many residents like me: graduates of our Madison Public Schools who are working professionals and have benefited from our strong public school system. And there are the up-and-coming generations of scholars who are Madison’s future. They are uppermost in my mind.
These two referenda questions ask you to continue to invest in the many students who are struggling as I did and to provide them the opportunities to reach their highest level of achievement.
This is a challenging time for our community and a difficult ask of our taxpayers. As someone who bought my own home and as a single mom, the fiscal impact of the referenda is real to me.
But, I can’t turn my back on Madison’s public school system. And I hope you can’t either. The foundation of a resilient and thriving city are strong public schools that help prepare our students to make a positive difference in our City’s future.
Please vote yes to invest in our children’s futures, to provide a school learning environment that our children deserve, and to support equity strategies that positively impact our most vulnerable students. It’s an investment that I know, firsthand, will return dividends in the years to come.
