Mark Schauer’s running mate campaigns in Houghton

HOUGHTON — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer’s running mate, Lisa Brown, made a few stops in Houghton Friday afternoon to speak with voters about their concerns with education.

Alongside Representative Scott Dianda, she spoke to local educators about the lack of K-12 funding and how it has effected the classrooms.  Her criticism of Governor Rick Snyder was on display as well; she says she can relate to those who have suffered from the budget cuts.

“If you ask any educator, school board member or superintendent how much they have lost under Governor Snyder…at my school district, where my children go, have lost over $11 million under Governor Snyder. That means cuts to programs. That means teacher layoffs,” she said.

Brown also spoke about higher education and some of the ideas her campaign has to ease the burden of student loans, including giving students the ability to re-finance their loans.

“We also want to make sure that there’s more grants available for our low-income students to make sure that everybody has the chance to attend college if that’s the right path for them.  There’s so much that needs to be done, but we need to make sure we’re creating opportunities for everybody and not just the wealthy,” she said.

She will continue her U.P. tour this weekend with stops in Menominee, Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette.