Education

Teacher talking with seated pupils in a math class, students look older elementary school age

Wisconsin teacher turnover rises sharply, new report finds

BY: - August 16, 2023

Wisconsin’s teacher turnover rates — which includes the number of teachers moving to different school districts and leaving the state’s public school classrooms altogether — surged in the 2022-23 school year, according to a new Wisconsin Policy Forum report. The rates of turnover were higher among teachers of color and in school districts serving vulnerable […]

Aerial over the University of North Carolina

Biden administration provides guidance on diversity in college admissions 

BY: - August 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice and Department of Education jointly released guidance on Monday to colleges and universities about how to consider race in admissions decisions, following the Supreme Court’s summer decision that struck down affirmative action in higher education. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, on a call with reporters, said higher education institutions can […]

COMMENTARY
Bailey LeRoy and her mother, Tara LeRoy, participated in a march on the Capitol in June to publicize the funding needs of the state's schools. Bailey is a fifth grader at Palmyra-Eagle Elementary, which has been threatened with closure because of lack of funds. (Photo courtesy of Tara LeRoy.)

Wisconsin’s public schools and the war on democracy

BY: - August 14, 2023

It’s an understatement to say that public school advocates are not happy with the state budget Gov. Tony Evers signed. “We’re not here to cheer for crumbs,” Heather DuBois Bourenane, executive director of the Wisconsin Public Education Network, declared at the group’s annual Summer Summit last week. “This budget did not deliver and will not […]

Students blocked from campus when COVID hit want money back. Some are getting refunds.

BY: - August 9, 2023

Thousands of college students will get hundreds of dollars in compensation as colleges and universities move this summer to settle multimillion-dollar lawsuits stemming from canceled classes and activities during COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. While some of the class-action suits against the colleges and universities are still in litigation, and still others dismissed, several major cases have […]

UW-Oshkosh plans layoffs, furloughs for 200 staff members due to $18 million budget deficit

BY: - August 3, 2023

UW-Oshkosh plans to cut about 200 non-faculty staff this fall while furloughing others in order to cut costs in the face of an $18 million budget deficit, university chancellor Andrew Leavitt said Thursday.  The announcement came less than a month after the 2023-25 state budget, from which Republican lawmakers had cut $32 million in state […]

Vos proposal to cut minority grant program would fall hardest on Black tech college students

BY: - July 27, 2023

After graduating from Milwaukee’s Messmer High School, Jacob Walton went an hour west to attend UW-Whitewater in 2006.  As a Black, first-generation college graduate, he says he faced financial obstacles while in school. Yet his eligibility for the UW System’s Lawton Undergraduate Minority Retention Grant Program helped him stay in school. He graduated from Whitewater […]

Assembly lawmakers hear testimony on anti-choking devices and school strip-search limits

BY: - July 21, 2023

Wisconsin’s Assembly education committee heard testimony on a bill that would require school boards to include an anti-choking device in school first aid kits and another bill that would expand a state ban on  the use of strip searches in schools during a public hearing on Thursday. AB 163 would require that Wisconsin schools include […]

Student loan borrowers stage a rally

12,000 Wisconsin borrowers eligible for $576 million in student debt relief under Biden plan

BY: - July 19, 2023

More than 12,000 Wisconsinites will see their student debt wiped out under President Joe Biden’s program to help borrowers who have had their loans mismanaged under income-driven repayment plans.  The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced last week that $39 billion in debt relief would be provided through fixes to the income driven repayment program. […]

More than 800,000 student loan borrowers to have debt forgiven, White House announces

BY: - July 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Department of Education announced Friday that more than 800,000 federal student loan borrowers will have their remaining debt wiped out. The $39 billion in debt relief will come through fixes to mismanagement of the agency’s income-driven repayment plans. Many long-time borrowers, including those who had been making payments for 20 years or […]

COMMENTARY
Close-Up of rainbow flag with crowd In background during LGBT Pride Parade. Getty Images.

Rainbows and safe spaces: A tale of two districts

BY: - July 14, 2023

On Wednesday, residents of Waukesha County went to bed having learned that Heyer Elementary School teacher Melissa Tempel had been terminated by the School District of Waukesha’s school board for expressing her criticism of the school administration’s decision not to allow the song “Rainbowland” to be sung by students at a school concert. They awoke […]

Meeting on banned books, anti-LGBTQ climate to be held in Waukesha

BY: - July 13, 2023

In communities across Wisconsin, growing concerns over the banning of books, and treatment of marginalized students are spurring residents to action. On Thursday evening, an informational meeting will be hosted in Waukesha by PFLAG, which describes itself as the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization. The meeting, starting at 6:30 pm Thursday at the Waukesha Public […]

Wisconsin Republicans reintroduce bills to ban transgender girls and women from female athletics

BY: - July 12, 2023

Wisconsin Republican lawmakers re-introduced bills on Wednesday that would ban transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports and would require student athletes to play on teams that correspond with the sex assigned to them at birth, unless a team is designated as co-ed. Co-authors Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) and Sen. Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) […]