Browsing: Media

Slightly more than 60% of school district requests to levy higher property taxes were approved by voters on last Tuesday’s ballots throughout the state — a lower percentage than in recent years but around the historic norm.

At the national level, recent studies show that small businesses are not contracting with the federal government as frequently as in the past. And those that do are becoming more concentrated in a handful of congressional districts around Washington, where rent seeking is the norm.

Years after the pandemic, chronic student absenteeism rates remain distressingly high across much of Wisconsin in both large urban districts and smaller places, according to figures for 2022-23 released by the Department of Public Instruction.

State Rep. Bob Donovan is seeking a state audit of the Milwaukee Public Schools.

The status quo is on the ballot come April 2. Milwaukee simply cannot afford more mismanagement from MPS.

Enrollment in schools run by Milwaukee Public Schools district is now down to 59,200 — a dramatic and larger decline than is often acknowledged in a district that is asking its voters for $252 million more a year in funding in an April 2 referendum.

The number of school buildings controlled by Milwaukee Public Schools that are most dramatically underutilized totals 21, a look at the district’s complete filing with the state confirms.

Separate constitutional amendment on veto power also advances Wisconsin voters will decide on primary day, Aug. 13, whether the state…

Wisconsin’s smallest incorporated village is on a hill, and in a valley, too.

The news of a $100 million investment in a new school on metro Milwaukee’s north side by St. Augustine Preparatory Academy, a school participating in Wisconsin’s pioneering school choice program, puts a number on a development predicted last summer.

“I have seen my fair share of ridiculous ideas, but this one might be near the top,” said State Sen. Duey Stroebel. “The notion that it is government’s job to subsidize and prop up a dying industry like journalism is preposterous.”

Healthcare spending continues to grow. Fortunately, a bill being considered in the Wisconsin Legislature, SB905, provides a solution that could make it both cheaper and more accessible via direct primary care. 

Two state Assembly members have proposed giving a $25 starter for a state-administered educational savings account to every child born or adopted in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s largest school district is planning to ask its voters to approve a $252 million annual increase in its revenue — and, consequently, spending — in an upcoming referendum. That district, Milwaukee Public Schools, has seen a sharp increase in spending in the two most recent years of state data after nearly a decade of spending that mostly kept up with but did not exceed inflation.

A new bill in Madison could, if enacted, result in substantial property tax cuts in many school districts. It would also result in significantly higher state aid for many traditional public school districts where large numbers of children choose to attend independent charter schools or private schools in one of Wisconsin’s parental choice programs.

Legalizing all adult use is likely to increase the uncontrolled and harmful use of cannabis — that is, “cannabis use disorder” — in Wisconsin. Researchers are more divided on whether legalizing only the medical use of marijuana has similar effects.

“Kudos to the governor and legislators on both sides of the aisle who worked together to make this state a better place for kids and others badly in need of better dental care,” said Badger Institute President Mike Nichols. “This is a long-awaited, great day for potentially hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites, including a lot of poor kids who suffer from toothaches and cavities and poor health.”

Only a certain kind of person or family wants to be in Millville, Wisconsin. And no one grandfathered into residency is clamoring for some kind of economic revival.

The Jones Act, protecting the American maritime industry and driving free trade champions crazy for more than 100 years, is both a boon and a bane to Wisconsin businesses, workers and consumers. 

“This is a long-awaited, great day for potentially hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites, including a lot of poor kids, who suffer from toothaches and cavities and poor health,” said Badger Institute President Mike Nichols.