Education
Gov. Evers calls special session to reduce property taxes, fund schools
Gov. Tony Evers held a news conference on Thursday at the state Capitol surrounded by schoolchildren, teachers and public school advocates to sign an executive order calling for a special session to increase state funding for public schools. New revenue estimates show that Wisconsin is expected to take in $812.2 million more than previously projected […]
At annual conference, school boards reject retiring Native American mascots
When Tricia Zunker was elected to the Wausau school board, she wanted her district to become more involved with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB). As her district’s board president, she pored over the policy positions of the state organization and discovered that it did not oppose the use of Indian nicknames and mascots. […]
Mike Pence arrives in Madison to promote school choice
Vice President Mike Pence will arrive in Madison Tuesday at 11:05 am on Air Force Two, and travel by motorcade to the State Capitol Building, where he will deliver the keynote address at the Wisconsin School Choice Student Showcase at 12:15 pm. The event, part of National School Choice Week, is a celebration of voucher […]
Senate endorses new restrictions against restraints on students
Students would get stronger protections from the use of seclusion or restraint under legislation that passed the state Senate on Tuesday. The bipartisan bill, SB-527, passed on a unanimous voice vote and builds on legislation passed in 2012 that became Act 125. While the earlier law placed limits on the use of seclusion or restraint […]
Selective high schools’ elite illusion
We discovered this past year that the rich and famous poured millions of dollars into the coffers of elite universities in order to get their kids into prestigious institutions that they didn’t deserve. What exactly were they buying? It hasn’t taken long for the same questions to arise on the value of selective public high […]
U.S. House votes to torpedo DeVos student loan rule
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed a resolution Thursday that would overturn a Trump administration rule that critics say guts protections for defrauded student loan borrowers. The resolution expresses congressional disapproval of the so-called borrower defense rule, which was revised by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Led by Nevada Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, the resolution was […]
The schools our children deserve: beyond Milwaukee’s referendum battle
“Property taxes would spike under MPS referendum scenarios,” screamed the headline from the Nov. 19 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “…more than doubling local property tax bills,” the newspaper article went on to say. “Pie in the sky,” was one of the subheadings of the article quoting Steve Francavigia of Aurora Health Care referring to the largest […]
U.S. House to vote on upending DeVos student loan forgiveness policy
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would overturn a federal rule that critics say guts protections for defrauded student loan borrowers. The resolution — led by Nevada Democratic Rep. Susie Lee and co-sponsored by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Black Earth) — expresses congressional disapproval of the so-called […]
Board votes not to dissolve Palmyra-Eagle School District
On Thursday the School District Boundary Appeals Board voted 6-to-1 to deny a proposal to dissolve the Palmyra-Eagle Area School District. But what happens next is up in the air. The financial problems that triggered the original vote to dissolve the district have not been solved. The appeals board vote was big news for the […]
Not just a picture: Baraboo one year later
It was the pre-prom picture that went around the world. It was supposed to be a lighthearted, celebratory snapshot. It turned into anything but that: A picture of teenage boys, the majority of them with their arms stuck out in the air, parroting a Nazi salute to the camera. Many were grinning — smiles that […]
DeVos under fire during testy Capitol Hill hearing
WASHINGTON — A Florida Democratic congresswoman on Thursday told Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, “You are the most unpopular person in our government.” Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) was among the many Democrats who berated DeVos at a U.S. House Education and Labor Committee hearing on the Trump administration’s controversial rewrite of a student loan forgiveness policy. […]
Report: millions wasted on Wisconsin charter schools that closed or never opened
A new report by the Network for Public Education, a group founded by public-education advocate and former U.S. Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch, provides extensive, state-by-state data on waste in the federal charter schools program. In Wisconsin, 46% of charter schools that received federal start-up grants between 2006 and 2014 shut down or never opened […]