Platform

As a School Board Director,
Alex Brower will…
Democratize education by opening up school and district-wide decision making to our community: parents, students, school staff, and residents. Our schools need to be community controlled. He will propose a democratic budgeting process where regular people decide how to spend the district’s money, a citizen policy initiative process to bring decision making power to regular people, and the creation of new seats on the school board to represent all of the communities in this city.

Fight for public schools by holding charter and voucher schools accountable. Our community-owned public schools continue to be under threat from privatization. We need to strengthen our public school system that serves all students in Milwaukee. MPS does not currently have an existing policy that holds charter schools to the same high standards of our public schools.

Create a Green New Deal for MPS by working to achieve MPS’ energy independence from fossil fuels and providing every student with an environment that supports their health, including providing high quality, healthy foods; mental health support instead of an unqualified police presence; and removing toxic infrastructure like lead.

Stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter at School and work to end the school-to-prison pipeline. Wisconsin is the worst place to grow up if you are a Black child, according to a recent report from The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Our schools need to prioritize policies that work for our Black, Brown and Indigenous students and do not criminalize their behavior in schools. Alex will work to expand restorative justice practices while immensely lowering the use of suspensions and expulsions, and prioritize the recruitment and retention of educators and staff of color.

Champion the struggle of MPS workers by providing healthcare to all full time employees regardless of what school they work in, ending the use of temp agencies, providing living wages, and doing everything possible to support and retain educators and staff of color.

Ensure every student has access to the high quality education they need and deserve. Alex will fight to get more funding to reduce class sizes and support English Language Learners and special education students. He will work to expand bilingual and arts education opportunities, and work to ensure that students get the best education they can, with all of the resources they need, while learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.