Governor Walker declaring himself the education governor doesn’t make it so

This sounds familiar. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says he wants to be known as the Education Governor. In his latest campaign pledge, Walker promises Wisconsin will have the highest high school graduation rate in the country. This sounds much like the promise Walker offered when he first ran for Governor that he would create 250,000 new jobs within his first term. Seven years later, and the state has yet to reach that goal. Becoming number one in graduation rates will likely be equally elusive. When Walker took office in 2011, the state’s graduation rate was second in the nation, at 87.2%. Five years later, the state’s graduation rate had improved to 88.2%, but dropped in the rankings as other state’s rates increased more. And why should the goal be to be the best in the nation? It isn’t a competition against other states. A better goal would be to close the performance gap between white and black students. The performance gap in Wisconsin is at 28.5%, the worst in the nation. Of course, no matter the promises, Walker won’t be known as the education governor. He has repeatedly cut school funding and made enemies among teachers. His promise is simply an attempt to deflect, given that all the democratic candidates for governor will attack Walker for his record on education. Apparently Walker thinks, that like his jobs promise, declaring himself the Education Governor will simply make it so.