By Jim Bender and Patrick McIlheran | |
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The bargain struck Thursday between legislative leaders and the governor ensures the financial sustainability of the school choice and charter school programs but that also increases the low revenue ceiling for public school districts that are on the bottom of the revenue spectrum.
“This is good day for Wisconsin, and for anyone who cares about our children — parents who want more power over their kids’ education, teachers who work so hard, and school administrators who have long worried about sustainability,” said Badger Institute President Mike Nichols. “Kudos to the governor and legislative leaders. They should be commended. A child is a child is a child, no matter where he or she goes to school. Every child should have equal value, and this deal goes a long way toward recognizing that essential truth.”
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We believe that every Wisconsin family should have the power to choose the best education for their child. Our most recent work — impactful stories, videos, articles and policy research — contributed to the recent policy debate and was a resource supporting the step toward funding equality. Jim Bender, our education lobbyist in Madison, is a key voice relied upon by legislators debating school funding. Read on to learn how education freedom means success for students and communities. | |
Parents and educators share unique perspectives, trends and practices on how education freedom has made school a success for their students and communities — each in sixty seconds or less. | |
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When Republicans removed $750 million for broadband expansion from Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed budget last week, Wisconsin news outlets complained that for the first time in a decade miserly conservatives weren’t putting up a penny of state taxpayer money for new internet infrastructure.
Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Green Lake, a member of the Joint Committee on Finance that did the budget cutting suggested to one state news outlet that there was another side of the story. Wisconsin and the other 49 states are positively swimming in broadband funding, all of it the result of the Biden administration spending bacchanal.
“Drowning” might be a better word.
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A deal that allows both the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County to raise sales taxes also requires that 25 police officers be placed back in crime-ridden Milwaukee Public Schools.
“This is a great victory for all the good kids in MPS schools who just want to learn, want to be safe, want a way up,” said Mike Nichols, president of the Badger Institute, which has been pushing for cops in schools for much of the last year.
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America is choosing sides and Wisconsin — given the lurch to the left along its borders — can greatly benefit.
Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan are all now among America’s 17 thoroughly blue states where Democrats control both chambers of the legislature as well as the governor’s mansion. We are just one of 11 states with divided government, according to Ballotpedia, and Iowa is one of 22 states that is totally red.
That means of our 72 Wisconsin counties, 21 now border a thoroughly blue state. Only three — Grant, Crawford and Vernon — border a completely red state, Iowa. And portions of two of those counties — Vernon and Grant — also border Minnesota or Illinois.
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John McCormack, Washington correspondent for National Review and a fellow at National Review Institute, will participate in a June 30 lunch discussion with Badger Institute president Mike Nichols.
McCormack, who grew up in northwestern Wisconsin, has worked for the past 16 years as a journalist reporting on politics and policy in Washington, D.C. He will discuss the significance of this year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election and its broader implications. Audience Q&A about the Wisconsin election, policy debates in Washington, and McCormack’s experiences as a journalist will be encouraged!
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“To think what would happen if we ever tried to actually charge for the Hop. There would probably, literally, be nobody on it,” said Mike Nichols, President of the Badger Institute.
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The Badger Institute, formerly known as the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI), has long been at the forefront of the fight for school choice, right to work, welfare reform, tax restructuring, limited government, civil society and so much more. If you appreciate the Institute’s legacy and want to support free markets, opportunity and prosperity, please consider donating today. Your support will help the Institute continue to advocate for conservative principles now and in generations to come. | |
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