Tommy Thompson on Education

Governor Thompson, who started the nation’s first school choice program in Milwaukee, believes America must hold our schools to high standards from kindergarten through college while making sure all of our children have access to a world-class education, regardless of what neighborhood they live in or how much money their parents make. Thompson believes Congress can make No Child Left Behind stronger, and do so without wavering on its core principles. He has long supported vouchers and charter schools.

Vouchers:

In 1990 Thompson helped create the nations first voucher program – a limited system in the city of Milwaukee. In 1995 he expanded the program to include religious schools, also a Milwaukee first. He has said he wants to use the Milwaukee program as a model for the rest of the nation.

Charter schools:

As with vouchers, Thompson sees charter schools as another choice for parents and a source of competition to make public schools perform better.

Standards:

As Governor, Thompson supported replacing “social-promotion” with standards. He argued that in order to maintain the high level of achievement expected from Wisconsin students, the days of promoting students to the next grade solely because of their age - “social promotion” - is over.