Passage of the controversial $252 million Milwaukee Public Schools referendum means hundreds of other districts statewide will get less aid.

Madison, Waukesha and Racine school districts could lose $2 million or more in one year, Appleton and West Bend between $1 million and $2 million, and New Berlin, Fond du Lac, Green Bay and Mukwonago at least $760,000, according to calculations made by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

“The impact is huge,” state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, who asked the LFB for the estimates, said. “This was a wakeup call for me on the impact of these big referendums on state aid. Huge.”

The April 2 MPS referendum passed by a narrow margin and, many critics believe, would have failed if the extent of the district’s financial mismanagement had been known beforehand.

We spend a lot of time worrying about our politics. But what about our basic functions of government?

We’ve discovered in recent weeks that many of the people we pay to run our schools and  prisons are either incompetent or, in some instances, possibly criminal. And it’s a top-to-bottom issue.

The Dodge County sheriff and prosecutors started with the bottom in charging nine former employees of the Waupun Correctional Institution – including the former warden, Randall Hepp – with various types of misconduct. The charges stem from inmate deaths in recent months.

There were four deaths over the course of just eight months at Waupun. The first two deaths last summer and fall, of Dean Hoffmann and Tyshun Lemons, have not resulted in charges, but Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt in a recent press conference alleged that a stunning array of people, at minimum, were not doing their jobs.

Wisconsin house prices are among the fastest growing in the country, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency. The Badger State experienced a 9.9% increase in the FHFA House Price Index between April 2023 and April 2024.

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Bureaucrats apparently don’t want parents to know when their kids can’t read or do math

"I strongly agree with Bill Andrekopoulos regarding the development of a group to realign MPS structure. As an Educator of 49 years (11 of which were in MPS) I spoke about the inconsistencies as a member of the budget committee at three high schools. This is a program that needs people who believe in education and believe in the potential of MPS to recover and that something positive can come from the mess."

— Ronald, Ph.D. - Milwaukee, WI 

In response to:

Gov. Tony Evers, a former state Superintendent of Public Instruction, has a unique opportunity given his skill set to take charge of the Milwaukee Public Schools, a former MPS superintendent said... Read more

Save the date!

Badger Institute’s Annual Dinner is set for Tuesday, October 1, 2024 — at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee, WI. The Institute is honored to welcome Rich Lowry, editor-in-chief of National Review, as the keynote speaker.

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