Among the changes Wicks' highlighted was the increasing politicization of public education.
He said:
"During the course of my career, public education has become highly politicized. I don’t think public education is an ideology. I think public education is not only a fundamental right for the students in this state, but it is also the foundation on which you build the economy of this state," he said. "To treat it in other ways is not very helpful. And listening to the voices of those who actually do the work would make a lot of difference in terms of the outcomes that we get."