James Talarico

Justin had experienced violence, had experienced all this trauma.

And so for the first time, there was a professional who was helping him work his way through it.

And there was a teacher who liked him and believed in him.

And that was all it took for Justin to see all these improvements.

And I found out that after winter break, that because of budget cuts from the legislature, the district had eliminated the therapist.

So this lifeline suddenly went away for Justin.

So literally everybody had abandoned Justin, including his own mother.

And now the adults that he was trying to trust again were abandoning him.

And so that was the kind of radicalizing experience for me because these people at the state Capitol had cut $5 billion from our schools.

Who knows why?

Who knows what the justifications were?

But I saw firsthand how that screwed up a kid's life.

I saw the damage that did to real flesh and blood human beings.

And so I promised myself right then that if I ever got a little bit of power or a little bit of influence, that I would do everything I could with every fiber of my being to stop that from happening again.

So literally, Justin and my students are the ones I think about when I'm at the Capitol.

They are the criteria that I use to evaluate public policy, not if it's a Democratic bill or Republican bill, not if it's going to get me ex-lobbyist support.

It is, will this help my students or will it hurt my students?

Period.

And it makes things a lot easier.

I have a picture of one of my class periods on my desk at the Capitol.