Open letter from 33-year educator: RECALL WALKER

Educators stand up for our kids, and their rights. Source

Jackie, a central Wisconsin educator, took the MoD Open Letter Challenge to let Wisconsin know how deep Walker's attacks on teachers and education have hurt our state.  This are wounds that can only be healed by removing the man responsible for this cancerous climate that divides the state.  Thank you for sharing, Jackie, and I hope your letter inspires others to speak up and share their thoughts on why Walker has to go.

I have been a teacher for 33 years and continue to love my job. However, what I do not love is being devalued, being forced to take a $5,000 pay cut this year, and looking at another $3,000 cut next year. At a time when I had hoped to be putting aside a good deal of money for retirement, I find that I can barely continue to put aside what I have been doing for years. I worry that when I finally can retire, my pension will no longer be there for me. I will have seen my deferred pay go into an account that will not be there for me or any of my teacher friends.

The damage Scott Walker has done to Wisconsin will take years to repair. The deep political divides in this state will not heal quickly. He has pitted working class against working class, making public school teachers and other public employees somehow synonymous with evil. He has not created jobs as he claimed he would do. He has undermined Badger Care, has worked to harm women, and has lied to the people of our state from the beginning. He continues to lie, and his friends such as the Koch brothers are all too happy to pay to spread these lies.

In order to begin the long road to healing this state, we must take the step of recalling this man whom John Dean recently said is “more Nixonian than Nixon.” We must rid ourselves of this cancer on our state.

Jackie, Central Wisconsin