Browsing: Media

Managing federal education dollars is costing Wisconsin taxpayers millions and benefiting children hardly at all.

Washington’s grip on state schools continues to grow.

On Jan. 24, 2017, Mike Nichols, WPRI president, and Dan Benson, editor of the Project for 21st Century Federalism, testified in Madison before the Assembly Committee on Federalism and Interstate Relations. Here is a transcript of their presentation.

Many Wisconsin high school graduates arrive at college unprepared and end up in remedial math and writing classes, which makes completing a degree unlikely.

Badger Institute President Mike Nichols on “UpFront with Mike Gousha” talks about the need for corrections reform in Wisconsin.

One of the rumored top choices President-elect Donald Trump was mulling to head the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was Rob Astorino

Wisconsin cannot afford the status quo on its corrections policy. Programs across the nation that are working to reduce recidivism should be part of the state’s strategy.
Authors include Michael Flaherty, Marie Rohde, Michael Jahr, Janet Weyandt, Joe Stumpe and Gerard Robinson.

We need to rethink how we use the faculty at the non-Ph.D.-granting schools in Wisconsin to improve the lot of the state’s students.

Data show people of all political persuasions also favor a govern local approach to solving many of our problems.

The questions we should be asking, however, are: Why aren’t our problems getting better? What value does the Washington bureaucracy add?

Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy is seeking a forensic audit of all federal monies awarded to the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa after 113 tribal members sent him a petition alleging mismanagement of federal grants.

“Our philosophy used to be procure (funding) and then figure out how to use (the money),” Director of Business Services Andy Chromy said.

Hundreds of districts in Wisconsin and thousands more nationwide are saddled with the Single Audit of federal funds that feeds a bloated bureaucracy in Washington while adding little or no value to educational efforts.

U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) is asking federal housing officials to explain why grants meant to help needy members of the St. Croix Chippewa tribe may not be getting to those most needing that assistance.

Dozens of families have at times languished on waiting lists for housing assistance, and in 2014 and 2015 federal audits show tribal housing officials loaned themselves housing money without proper oversight.

In recent years, more than a dozen Indian tribes from North Carolina to Wisconsin to California have come under fire for using federal housing funds to treat tribal officials to lavish vacations, gifts and cash advances for personal expenses, a WPRI review has found.

As sovereign nations, tribes are not subject to state open records and open meetings laws as are Wisconsin’s municipal governments, school boards and other boards.
By Dave Daley
September 15, 2016

How to recreate the outstate university and finally give students their money’s worth

An important step in working toward solutions for situations like Milwaukee’s would be to look honestly at the source of the unrest and rioting in the Sherman Park neighborhood. Not all of those participating have been doing it for the same reason.

For better or worse, the tax laws are designed not just to collect revenue. They also aim to encourage certain types of behavior, such as being charitable or investing in risky enterprises that, if successful, lead to job creation.