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Gov. Scott Walker was in Washington, D.C., on Monday to discuss his administration’s efforts to expand school choice programs in Wisconsin. Walker spoke at a “policy summit” hosted by the American Federation for Children, national school choice advocacy group, who hailed the governor as a “great innovator.”

Walker reminded the crowd of about 300 that it was former Gov. Tommy Thompson who in 1990 instituted the first school voucher program in the country, allowing low-income parents to sent their children to high-performing private or parochial schools. He touted the program’s success to date as something that he hopes to build on going forward.

One of Walker’s goals as outlined in the state budget for 2012 is to expand the existing program, which currently serves about 20,000 low-income students in the city of Milwaukee, to all low-income children in the city. Walker would also like to eventually grow the program to include all of Milwaukee County (and later, to cities like Racine, Beloit and Green Bay) and raise the income eligibility to include more middle-class families.

“Every kid deserves the opportunity to have a great education,” Walker said. “Until we fix the education system — not just for the 20,000 in the choice program — until we fix it for everyone, we’re not only going to miss out on the moral imperative, we’re going to miss out on the economic opportunity…That’s where these reforms come into play.”

Indeed, Walker spent a large portion of his speech linking the “moral imperative” of ensuring that all children can receive a great education to economic necessity of a well-educated workforce in the 21st century. “It’s not only good for our children; I think when you make a commitment to true education reform it’s also good for your state’s economy,” he said. “In the end what is ultimately going to sustain economic growth for generations to come is an educated workforce.”

Walker also sought to place his effort to expand school choice in the broader context of other, more controversial budget reforms, for example the restrictions placed on collective bargaining rights of unions, specifically teacher’s unions, that will give local governments greater flexibility in terms of how to operate their school systems.

He said this particular aspect of the budget, limiting the power of the teacher’s unions, for instance by doing away with the “seniority” system that emphasized length of tenure over teacher quality, was “one of the most important things we did.”

“Because of our reforms…there aren’t going to be groups out there with the power to say we’re going to put a grievance against that 86-year-old senior citizen who wanted to volunteer in Wausau to be a crossing guard; there isn’t going to be a group out there that can stand up and say they’re going to defend the teacher in Cedarburg who was watching pornography on a school computer and yet his union stood up and backed him up; instead we’re going to allow teachers to do what they really want to do, and that is educate kids.”

Walker acknowledged the contentious nature of the policies he was proposing. In fact, several dozen union protestors picketed the hotel where the summit was being held. But Walker said true leadership require making bold, sometime unpopular decision. “It’s real simple,” he said. “You have to ask yourself a gut question – at least when you’re in politics – do you care about the next generation, or do you care about the next election?”

All indications, Walker said, suggest his boldness was paying off — Wisconsin is “headed down the right path.” He cited a recent survey of CEO’s published in Chief Executive Magazine, which ranked states from 1-50 in terms of the best places to do business. Wisconsin ranked 41st last year, but as of last week is ranked 24th, the biggest jump in the history of the survey. “And I’m not satisfied [with] 24,” he said. “To me there are 23 more states I need to leap over to get to the top.”

This was the governor’s second trip to the nation’s capital in a month. In April, Walker testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at a hearing to examine the challenges of state and municipal debt, where he defended the steps taken by his administration to close a $3 billion budget shortfall.

It is yet another example of Walker’s rising prominence on the national political stage. When asked by reporters following the speech if he was considering a run for higher office in the near future, Walker said he was focused solely on the task at hand of creating a better business environment in the state of Wisconsin. “Until I get that I really can’t focus on anything else,” he said.

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Asked about the Republican presidential field in 2012“I think as Republicans we would be best served by nominating a governor or a former governor.