Perhaps there is no bigger civil rights issue of our time than education reform. The achievement gap between high and low-income children born in 2008 is 40 percent greater than the same gap for children born in 1960, according to a Stanford report. 

The Associated Press states that Wisconsin is home to 22 of the nation’s 1,700 dropout factories, which are schools where the graduating class is comprised of less than 60 percent of the students who entered freshman year, and eight more Wisconsin schools teeter on the edge. More than one in 10 schools in the nation can be categorized as “dropout factories.” According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, roughly 13,700 Wisconsin students didn’t complete high school in 2011. Since each diploma not obtained translates into $8,100 lost income per individual annually, that adds up to a loss of $1.8 billion in lifetime earnings in the state of Wisconsin due to dropouts alone.

One thousand six hundred dropout factories is 1,600 too many. That is why Democrats for Education Reform is so vital to improving our education system. The countries that out-educate us today will outdo us tomorrow. DFER expects that we, as a nation, can educate our children better.

DFER recognizes that, for many schools, the status quo is working well, and we should not change that. However, for the schools in which the status quo is failing, DFER demands that we improve schools to ensure American primary and secondary schools are the best in the world, because it is the right and moral action.

An outstanding education is only one of a handful of rights that, regardless of party preferences, Americans agree is a fundamental right of every child. President Barack Obama proposed an ambitious plan to achieve a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020. While progress has been made through the collaborative efforts of Democrats and Republicans, more action is required, as 25 percent of students in America today still do no receive high school diplomas.

DFER offers a path to close that gap by integrating ideas from both sides and then implementing them into the classroom. The naysayers like to blame this group or that group for the underachieving schools. However, America is confronted with the current education situation because communities made up of students, parents, teachers, principals and neighbors have not acknowledged collective responsibility to ensure we get it done right.

Perhaps what draws us closest to DFER is their sense of eternal optimism. It is their audacity to expect better out of each and every one of us. It is their unique conviction to demand change by collaboration that brews possibility and hope.

Please join us tonight to hear from State Senator Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, and DFER Wisconsin State Director Jarett Fields at 7 p.m. in 212 Educational Sciences.

Beau Trapp ([email protected]) is the President of Students for Education Reform. Alex Holland ([email protected]) is the President of the Bipartisan Issues Group.