DPI: Department of Public Inaccuracy

by Patrick McIlheran

The warden of Wisconsin’s public-school status quo, the Department of Public Instruction, was wrong, when it recently made an absurd estimate about the cost of opening up school choice to all families without regard to income.

More than that, DPI betrayed an arrogance — a presumption that thousands of parents can go right on working a second job, and maybe a third, for being uppity.

To be clear, the DPI was factually wrong.

The agency incorrectly estimated the impact on property taxpayers if Wisconsin ended income limits on its school choice program. Those limits block families making more than three times the poverty line in Milwaukee and Racine or more than 2.2 times the poverty line in the rest of Wisconsin, or about $58,000 for a family of four.

The agency’s estimate, so wrong it’s not worth repeating, rested on laughably unjustifiable assumptions. A colleague and I dissected the DPI’s errors at length in a paper available at the Badger Institute website, but the central error was the DPI’s assumption that every tuition-paying family would right away switch to using the choice program.

Read the full column here.

At a Glance

"Parents should have the right to engage and have their concerns heard with locally elected school board officials in the school district their children are attending, including regularly scheduled school board meetings."

School Choice Wisconsin statewide survey of 700 likely voters conducted by OnMessage Inc., Feb. 13-16

Breaking News

Progress Made on Tracking the Trillions

By Mark Lisheron

Wisconsin voters could make 2023 a watershed year for oversight of currently unchecked spending of billions of dollars of federal funding flowing into the state.

The State Assembly last week passed a measure that would eventually give Wisconsin voters an opportunity to amend the state Constitution and give the Legislature authority over some federal spending. The Senate is expected sometime next week to vote on the same resolution – which cannot be vetoed by Gov. Evers – and if it is again passed by both houses in the next session, it could be placed on a statewide ballot in 2023.

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee, in the meantime, has also directed the Legislative Audit Bureau to begin an audit of federal pandemic emergency spending.

That directive on Feb. 2 came just weeks after the Badger Institute publicly voiced its support for more legislative oversight of the spending and for a statewide audit similar to one launched by Connecticut after an FBI investigation uncovered fraud by city employees.

Weekly Survey

Should the state Legislature have a say in how federal funds sent to Wisconsin are spent?

Inflation Hits the Heartland

Badger on the Road

Members of our staff and the Minnesota-based Center of the American Experiment teamed up last week to hold an event in River Falls, WI, to discuss Critical Race Theory, what it is, and how parents can be more involved in their local schools.

Watch the full presentation of "Critical Race Theory and the Miseducation of America's Youth" by clicking the play-icon below.

• Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty: COVID-19 school closures did, in fact, hurt student proficiency

• The Heritage Foundation: Economic freedom, now more than ever

• City Journal: The fight for curriculum transparency

• New York Post: Biden's building bust: Inflation, foolish priorities will zap infrastructure investments

Our work in advancing free markets, opportunity and prosperity in the Badger State is only made possible by generous donations from our supporters. We never have, and never will, accept government funding. Donate online or email Angela Smith, Director of Development. The Badger Institute is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization.

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