Protecting Taxpayers, Retirement Accounts, and Parents

POLICY BRIEF | WI’s outdated “Three-Year Rolling Average” system costs taxpayers millions of dollars

WILL published a new policy brief, “Ghost Students: The Inefficient Allocation of Taxpayer Dollars in Wisconsin’s Schools.” This paper shows that the state’s “Three-Year Rolling Average” is an obsolete system for quantifying attendance and funding for schools. Ultimately, the report highlights how Wisconsin taxpayers fund students who do not exist in school districts, while offering some better alternatives to Wisconsin’s current education spending method.

🗯 WILL Research Director, Will Flanders, PhD, stated “Wisconsin’s system for education spending should follow the student—no matter which school they determine is best for them and their family. Other states fund education more efficiently, and there is little reason as to why Wisconsin could not implement similar systems.”

📰 Learn more this brief's findings in The Center Square.

LETTER | WILL & SCW Threaten DPI with Legal Action

WILL submitted a letter jointly with School Choice Wisconsin (SCW) to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), threatening legal action based upon a pattern of DPI denying new schools’ participation in the school choice program. WILL believes that DPI is exceeding its legal authority by requiring new schools to complete a near impossible application process.

🗯 WILL Associate Counsel, Cory Brewer, stated, “Competition in education offers more opportunities for families—to find a quality school that meets their needs and values for their children. It’s clear that DPI is exceeding their authority in denying applications from potential choice schools, and it begs the question if politics is playing a role. WILL is not only seeking more information via an open records request, but is threatening legal action; and will do whatever it can to support parents and students across Wisconsin.”

School Choice Wisconsin President, Nicholas Kelly, stated, “Schools apply to enter the choice program because they want to serve families and children by providing a high-quality education. New schools expend time and resources attempting to comply with the incredibly complex DPI application requirements, because they believe families should have educational options. The excessive overreach of DPI has resulted in many schools being denied entry into the program when they have met their requirements of our state law.”

🎙 Learn more about this bureaucratic overreach in Cory's interview on The Vicki McKenna Show.

NEW | WILL Requests Preliminary Injunction to Halt Biden’s Illegal ESG Rule

WILL filed for a preliminary injunction last week to stop the U.S. Secretary of Labor’s new rule permitting the use of environmental, social, and governance (commonly referred to as “ESG”) factors in retirement investing. A lawsuit was filed by WILL in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

WILL believes that relying on ESG factors not only violates the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which governs the operation of retirement plans and protects the hard-earned savings of millions of employees from mismanagement and abuse, but undermines the authority of Congress.

🗯 WILL Associate Counsel, Kate Spitz, stated, “140 million Americans are not asking for their retirement plans to be politicized, but that’s exactly what’s happening here with the Biden Administration’s new rule. WILL is proud to challenge this rule and will continue to stand strong in defense of liberty, freedom, and a constitution that clearly defines the limits on government authority.”

ℹ️ Want more details about this lawsuit? Listen to this episode of The Vicki McKenna Show with WILL President & General Counsel, Rick Esenberg.

⚖️ Please consider supporting our efforts, as this is WILL’s 7th lawsuit against the Biden Administration.

LETTER | WILL Stands with Eau Claire Parents and Students in Defense of Local Charter School

WILL urged the Eau Claire Area School District (ECASD) school board to preserve its current charter school and to reject illegal race-based policies that would disrupt educational opportunities in Eau Claire. The board is threatening to dissolve the charter school over the student population’s perceived lack of “racial diversity” and “racial equity.”

🗯 WILL Deputy Counsel, Dan Lennington, stated, “Racial balancing—no matter the justification—will never lead to equal rights for all. ECASD cannot and should not derail educational opportunities to pursue illegal ‘racial equity’ goals that are both arbitrary and discriminatory. WILL is prepared to do whatever is necessary to defend the constitutional and legal rights of students and parents in the district.”

NEW | WILL Supports the REINS Act

WILL, along with others, sent a letter to Congress—urging the support of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. Under this act, a proposed rule with a hefty price tag cannot be implemented without securing legislative approval.

The current administration has tried to use regulation to conceal excessive federal spending, but runaway inflation has family budgets stretched to the breaking point. Americans are now paying the price for President Biden’s regulatory spending spree, and the REINS Act is the solution.

Read more about this Coalition's efforts in Fox News.

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