Equity in education, workforce woes, future of journalism Celebrating 35 years of advancing freedom in Wisconsin Parents don’t have to settle for a race to mediocrity Scarlett Johnson is a suburban Milwaukee mother of five and one of the organizers of an effort to recall members of the Mequon-Thiensville School Board — an effort that drew national attention. The incumbent school board members survived the recall attempt, and when Johnson and another reformist ran to replace two members whose terms expired, they were defeated by a former school board member and an education bureaucrat. Johnson remains undaunted — she is still active in trying to reform the district. She sat down with Badger Institute Policy Director Patrick McIlheran this week to explain what drove her to act on behalf of her local schools, and why more parents should do so. Our district releases, every year, a report card, and we started to see that this decline did not start with COVID. It had actually started as early as 2015. When my son graduated, (Mequon) was still – it was starting to decline, but it was still one of the top districts in the country, definitely in the state. It is no longer those things. Our district, we expect more. We're very engaged parents. We're a very engaged community. And excellence used to be the mantra of our district until we replaced excellence with equity. Equity is a race to the middle. When we are focused on excellence, then you are trying to give every child the equal opportunity at the best education possible. When you're focused on equity, it is more about equalizing the outcomes. It acts as a ceiling, not a floor. Read more Video: An Epidemic of Decline Cheryle Rebholz is the owner of a boutique shooting range in Mequon, an esthetician, a married mother of three and a former school board member in the Mequon-Thiensville School District. She is also in the initial stages of starting a new independent charter school, North Shore Classical Academy. Rebholz sat down with Badger Institute President Mike Nichols this week to explain why a new charter school is needed in her area, why parents are already clamoring to sign up their kids and why the politicians should provide the same amount of funding for students at charter and voucher schools as they provide for students at traditional public schools. A brief portion of her remarks are included in this video. Watch the video Podcast: Keeping People out of the Workforce The decision by Gov. Tony Evers to maintain the federal unemployment bonus until September 2021 kept some 28,000 Wisconsinites out of a workforce that desperately needed them. Economist Ike Brannon discusses the findings of his latest report, Unemployment (Over) Compensation. Listen to the podcast The State of Journalism On June 15, journalist, author and critic Jay Nordlinger joined the Badger Institute and National Review Institute for a lunch event in Madison. Nordlinger discussed the current state of journalism, the decline of civility in the public square and the dangers of ideological tribalism. View the archived event on WisEye. Weekly Survey: Is the emphasis on equity in our schools undermining the quality of education for our children? Answer below! 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