Education
Student debt relief scams on the rise. Here’s what borrowers need to know.
Complaints about student debt relief scams are increasing as the date approaches for borrowers to restart payment on their student loans after more than a three-year pause. Consumer protection advocates say that the Biden administration’s student debt relief efforts, the subsequent halting of those policies by the courts, and the restart of student loan payments […]
Lawmakers consider bills that seek to help some schools with funding and staffing concerns
As school districts across Wisconsin continue to face funding and staffing concerns, Wisconsin lawmakers considered bills on Thursday that would allow several school districts to benefit from recent revenue ceiling increases and allow districts to hire unlicensed school administrators. The first bill that the Assembly Education committee considered on Thursday, AB-403, would eliminate a provision […]
State schools superintendent, legislators deliver divergent messages on education
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly defended diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts and rejected the politicization of public schools in her annual State of Education address last week. Underly’s address came as Wisconsin state lawmakers have clashed over schools in recent weeks. Republican lawmakers have focused their efforts on cultural issues, while […]
We must stand up to school privatizers for the sake of Wisconsin kids
The problems facing Wisconsin public schools have multiple causes, but we need to address a major one: the school privatization movement. As part of a compromise struck behind closed doors between Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican leaders of our gerrymandered legislature, we’re watching helplessly as a record increase of our public dollars go to […]
Vos says he’ll attempt to stop pay raises for 34,000 UW employees until universities cut DEI programs
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Burlington) says he’ll attempt to withhold pay raises from tens of thousands of employees at UW System schools unless the universities cut positions aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion on campuses. Vos said last week in an interview with WisPolitics, “I don’t think that they [UW System] deserve to have […]
Millions enrolled in new student loan repayment program
WASHINGTON — More than 4 million federal student loan borrowers are enrolled in the Biden administration’s new repayment program, according to figures released Tuesday by the Department of Education. With the pause of more than three years on federal student loan repayments coming to an end in October, and the Supreme Court’s summer decision to […]
How anti-government ideologues targeted Wisconsin public schools
Now that the new school year has started, I’ve been volunteering on the Madison East High School cross-country team, trying to keep up with 80 or so kids as they run through Madison’s east side neighborhoods and around the fields behind the school. A former East runner myself, I’ve always been a Purgolder partisan. All […]
Gun law raises funding concerns for school hunting programs
WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers are concerned that the Biden administration is interpreting last year’s bipartisan gun safety law to cut funding for school archery and hunting programs, though programs themselves say they haven’t been affected. A provision in the law – a bipartisan effort to curb gun violence that established new criminal offenses, and expanded background […]
UW-Parkside, UW-Platteville consider staff furloughs amid budget shortfalls
UW-Parkside and UW-Platteville announced on Monday they’re considering staff furloughs as both schools try to handle multi-million dollar budget shortfalls that are expected by the end of the fiscal year. Platteville’s shortfall is projected to be $9.7 million and Parkside’s is $4 million, the universities’ chancellors said in Monday emails to staff. The announcements came […]
Nearly half the states now allow in-state tuition for immigrant students
When Cristian Dubon Solis was getting ready to graduate from a Boston high school in 2020, he started planning to apply to college. It was only then he realized that as an immigrant lacking permanent legal status, he wouldn’t qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts state universities, nor for state-sponsored financial aid. With no way to […]
Bill would allow 19 school districts to benefit from raised revenue ceiling
A pair of Wisconsin lawmakers are seeking to eliminate a statute that could prevent several school districts from benefiting from recently increased low revenue ceilings. A provision to increase public schools’ low revenue ceiling — the amount schools can raise per pupil before having to go to referendum — from $10,000 to $11,000 per pupil […]
Office of School Safety finds one-time funding for the 2023-24 school year
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has secured additional funding for the Office of School Safety (OSS) for the 2023-24 school year after Republican lawmakers decided not to increase the office’s funding in the state budget. The OSS was facing the potential of dramatic cuts, after Republican lawmakers rejected calls to provide adequate funds in the […]