Burke Introduces Plan For Helping Rural Communities

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke has unveiled a plan she says will help Wisconsin’s rural communities.

Parts of Burke’s plan involves undoing decisions Gov. Scott Walker has made in office. She said she’d fully restore funding for Wisconsin’s Buy Local program that promotes local food production. She also said she’d maximize any federal funding available to expand broadband to rural areas, noting Walker had turned down $23 million in federal stimulus funds to promote broadband.

When it comes to education, Burke said she’d rewrite the school funding formula to be fairer to rural schools. She said she’d also support state financial incentives for teachers who commit to teaching in rural districts.

Part of Burke’s plan stresses local control. For example, she said she’d let local communities limit the environmental and health impacts of frac sand mining and other industrial activities.

Burke says she’d help grow rural economies by launching a Wisconsin export fund, by encouraging the growth of industry “clusters,” and by creating a task force aimed specifically at helping Wisconsin’s 11 rural counties where the unemployment rate is significantly higher than the rest of the state.