MacIver News Service – U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisconsin) spoke in Milwaukee on Monday as a part of the “Raise Up America” campaign, lead by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 in spite of economists claims that this will hurt low-skilled and young workers. Read More Gwen Moore Misleads Public About Minimum Wage Increases
Despite complete control of the budget process by Republicans, there were real fights over policy and different visions for state government. Now that the smoke has cleared from the state budget, we can survey the political battlefield and see the winners and losers. Read More The Winners and Losers in the 2013-2015 Wisconsin State Budget
Education reform isn’t a new or foreign trend in Wisconsin. The state was a school choice pioneer and one of the first to embrace charter schools in the early 1990s. Though major reform efforts have been on the back burner in recent years, topics like value-added analysis and teacher evaluation have kept education on the front page in the Badger State. Now Act 10 has has helped reform education and cut costs across Wisconsin. Read More From EducationNext: Wisconsin Succeeds in Cutting Costs
Education reform isn’t a new or foreign trend in Wisconsin. The state was a school choice pioneer and one of the first to embrace charter schools in the early 1990s. Though major reform efforts have been on the back burner in recent years, topics like value-added analysis and teacher evaluation have kept education on the front page in the Badger State. Now Act 10 has has helped reform education and cut costs across Wisconsin. Read More From EducationNext: Wisconsin Succeeds in Cutting Costs
Milwaukee students in voucher schools are more likely to graduate from high school, as well as more likely to attend a four-year college. That’s according to one of the most revealing pieces of the review of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, and now it’s been peer reviewed and published in the Policy Studies Journal. Read More Policy Studies Journal Confirms Higher Graduation Rates in Milwaukee Parental Choice Program
MacIver News Service – Milwaukee Public Schools would have spent an additional $105 million in fiscal year 2020 due to rising retirement costs, but the district will save $101 million of that sum thanks to Act 10, according to a new study. The report published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, The Big Squeeze: Retirement Costs and School District Budgets, takes an in depth look at the increasing costs for district’s retirees, including MPS. Read More Act 10 Will Save Milwaukee Public Schools $101 Million in 2020
MacIver News Service – Milwaukee Public Schools would have spent an additional $105 million in fiscal year 2020 due to rising retirement costs, but the district will save $101 million of that sum thanks to Act 10, according to a new study. The report published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, The Big Squeeze: Retirement Costs and School District Budgets, takes an in depth look at the increasing costs for district’s retirees, including MPS. Read More Act 10 Will Save Milwaukee Public Schools $101 Million in 2020
MacIver News Service – After more than 20 hours of debate on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Finance passed their version of Governor Scott Walker’s 2013-2015 state budget. On their final day of debate, JFC increased Walker’s income tax cut to $648 million, modified the school choice expansion to be statewide but capped at 1,000 students, and increased per pupil spending on K-12 public education by $150 each year in the biennium. Read More Legislators React to the Joint Finance Version of the Budget
There has been a lot of debate over the proposed voucher expansion in the 2013-2015 state budget. Unfortunately, much of it seems to have come from the same talking points memo. The majority of the opposition to school choice seems to boil down to the identical set of arguments that have been thrown around since the advent of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. In more than 20 years of experience, these tired arguments have lost some of their steam. Read More School Choice Critics Fail to Back Up Recycled Claims
This recommends that the state’s non-instrumentality charter schools no longer exist going forward. It’s a bold statement, and one that doesn’t line up with the rest of the study’s mission; to provide high quality education for low-income students. Milwaukee, which is home to all but one of the state’s independent charter schools, has had great progress in these institutions. They commonly outscore public schools and instrumentality charters in both WKCE and School Report Card metrics while educating a high population of low-income students. Read More Forward Institute Wants to Shut Down Successful Charter Schools Despite Claiming to Fight for Low-Income Students