I believe that the key to building a strong economy in Wisconsin

"I believe that the key to building a strong economy in Wisconsin starts with education. Every single kid in our state deserves access to a good public education, no matter their zip code." Thus declared Tony Evers, a leader who once stood among classrooms before he stood among governors, a man who saw with his own eyes that the roots of prosperity are not found in marble halls or banks of gold, but in the minds of the young. His words are not a fleeting sentiment, but an echo of eternal wisdom: the strength of any people begins with what they teach their children.

The meaning of his words is layered and deep. To say that the key to a strong economy lies in education is to proclaim that wealth is not merely the product of trade, machines, or fertile fields, but of cultivated intellect. The hands that build factories, the minds that design technologies, the citizens that govern wisely—all are shaped first by teachers, books, and the lessons of learning. And to promise that every child, regardless of zip code, has the right to such knowledge is to declare a holy truth: that dignity and opportunity must not be bound by geography or birth, but must flow freely like sunlight across all lands.

History itself has borne witness to this law. Consider the story of the American industrial rise in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was not only rivers and resources that forged prosperity, but the spread of public schools, the training of generations who could read, calculate, and innovate. Or look further back to the Renaissance, when Florence and other cities invested not only in trade, but in the schooling of youth, birthing a flowering of art and science that lifted Europe from the shadows of the Middle Ages. Wherever learning has been sown, riches of every kind have followed.

And there are darker examples as well. Where education has been denied, whether by oppression, poverty, or neglect, economies falter and societies fracture. The tale of segregated schools in America is a stark reminder: when children of certain neighborhoods or races were shut out from equal learning, the whole nation bore the cost—in unrest, in injustice, in lost potential. Evers’ insistence that no zip code should determine a child’s destiny is not only a cry for fairness, but a shield against decay. For when inequality festers in schools, it festers in economies, in politics, in the soul of a people.

The phrase "every single kid deserves access" rings with ancient truth. The philosophers of old taught that all human beings possess within them the seed of reason, and it is the duty of society to water that seed. Plato envisioned a republic where education would be the foundation of the state. Confucius walked from village to village, teaching that learning should not be reserved for the wealthy alone, but offered to all who hunger for wisdom. In the same spirit, Evers calls us to remember that the greatest wealth of Wisconsin—or any land—is not its soil, but its children.

The lesson for us is plain: if we wish to build prosperity, we must build schools. If we desire strength, we must strengthen teachers. If we long for justice, we must make education equal for all, regardless of wealth or station. To neglect this is to betray our children and to doom our future. To honor it is to secure generations of stability, growth, and peace.

What then must we do? Support the schools in our neighborhoods, not only with taxes, but with time, with care, with respect for those who labor in them. Demand of leaders that they see beyond short-term gains and invest in the long harvest of education. Encourage every child, no matter how humble their beginnings, to believe that their mind is worthy of cultivation, their dreams worthy of pursuit. In every action, whether small or great, align yourself with the truth that the path to a strong economy and a stronger society begins with the education of the young.

So, children of tomorrow, remember these words. Nations rise and fall, fortunes swell and vanish, but wisdom once planted in the heart of a child endures forever. Guard it, nurture it, fight for it. For in the classroom lies the forge of destiny, and in the schoolyard walk the builders of worlds yet to come. Let no child be left in shadow, for each is a torchbearer of the future, and from their light, the future of Wisconsin—and all humanity—shall burn bright.