Republicans in Wisconsin’s 6th legislative district Saturday made a vote of no confidence for State Senator Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) and State Representative Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake). Olsen and Kestell chair the Education committees in the Wisconsin Senate and House, respectively, and the two have been proponents of the Common Core federal education standard, which is deeply unpopular with grassroots Republicans.
The move puts additional pressure on Governor Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republican legislators to reject the Common Core and adopt Wisconsin-based standards. The state’s education bureaucracy is fully on board with the Common Core. Observers have privately questioned Governor Walker’s commitment to fighting the education bureaucracy in light of the battles with public sector unions in the state.
The text of the resolution (Word doc) appears below.