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Governor Evers: TO THE HONORABLE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE:I am vetoing Senate Bill 454 in its entirety. The bill would mandate school boards and independent charter schools to assess the early literacy skill of pupils in four-year-old kindergarten to second grade using repeated screening assessments throughout the year and to create a personal reading plan […]
By Kadjata Bah, Josepha DaCosta and Moises Hernandez The Kohlenberg paper looks closely at school-to-prison pipelines and uses the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause to emphasize her case. She points out the Constitution “authorizes and mandates Congress to guarantee a meaningful floor of adequate functional literacy instruction nationwide.” During the past few years, federal courts have […]
AB446 Legislative links and lobbying information. (League of Women voters is against!) Speakers, in order: 0.08: Rep. Dave Considine (D-Baraboo) voted No. 4:50: Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Racine) voted Yes. 6:30: Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) voted No. 11:40 Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) voted yes. 14:14 Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du lac) voted yes. 30.08: […]
mp3 audio Transcript (Machine Generated). Representative LaKeshia Myers. Related: Assembly bill AB446 2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results. My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading […]
mp3 audio Related: Assembly bill AB446
October 21, 2021 11:00a.m. CST. Watch via Wisconsin Eye. Wisconsin AB 446; SIS links. The list of lobbying organizations (many taxpayer supported!) opposed to Roadmap to Reading Success is remarkable: Association of Wisconsin School Administrators League of Women Voters Wisconsin (!) Pearson NA (!) Southeastern Wisconsin Schools Alliance WIRSA Wisconsin Association of School Boards Wisconsin […]
Transcript (machine generated) mp3 audio Notes and links on AB446. Kelly Butler Barksdale Reading Institute bio. 2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results. My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans […]
Kymyona Burk bio. Wisconsin AB446 notes and links.
Machine generated transcript. September 14, 2021 Assembly Education Committee Hearing audio. October 7, 2021 Senate Education Committee Hearing audio. Much more on our long term, disastrous reading results and Wisconsin AB446, here.
“1993: Wisconsin Students #3 in the Nation in Reading 2019: #27 If Mississippi can do it, we can do it”. 2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results. My Question to Wisconsin Governor […]
Wall Street Journal Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is supposed to be the great moderate hope for Democrats in 2028, but on Friday he revealed himself as a captive of the left’s most destructive interest group. He vetoed a bill to opt his state into the federal tax-credit scholarship program, taking dictation from the teachers union. “The answer […]
Steven Walters: “Between the 1999-2000 and 2022-2023 school years, statewide fourth grade reading proficiency dropped from 78% to 44.8% (a 43% decline…) and statewide eighth grade math proficiency dropped from 42% to 30.5% (a 27% decline..).” If the governor and Legislature don’t respond to a ruling that the current system is unconstitutional, the suit asks […]
Erin Gretzinger: As Mosner Feltham and Vander Meulen underscored their track records and ongoing endeavors to improve the Madison Metropolitan School District, Molle and Colussi-Lynde spotlighted their ideas and what differentiates them from their opponents. The candidates share many overarching priorities, such as advocating for changes to the state funding formula for public schools and addressing salary compression for […]
Dave Cieslewicz: Now, to be sure, I will happily vote for both of them because any change to this dismal board has to be a step in the right direction. Incumbents Blair Mosner Feltham and Nicki Vander Meulen have been part of a board that is leading the district to new depths each year. Year […]
Bipartisan Policy Center Calls for federal alignment, clear career pathways, removal of barriers to keep U.S. competitive WASHINGTON, DC—The Bipartisan Policy Center today released a comprehensive blueprint for tackling one of America’s most important domestic challenges: preparing America’s workforce for the jobs of today—and into the future. In a newly released report, “A Nation at […]
Steve Gordon: Blue state high earner taxes aren’t organic, bottom-up events. They’re being forced on states controlled by unions like the WEA thru their compliant Dem puppets. Delaney outlines all the other progressive funding dreams that have NOTHING to do with teachers here.Same radicals that want boys in girls’ sports and to continue keeping secrets […]
David Blaska: The UniParty rules this roost because its too few challengers are afraid to pin the tail on the donkey. Too polite to rip the bark off progressive incumbents who pose as friend of the taxpayer and tribune of public safety — but only at election time. Once elected, the ruling classdefunds the sheriff’s department, refuses police body […]
Frederick Hess After all, it was 26 years ago this spring that the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development issued its National Reading Panel report, which made the case for the science of reading and emphasized the need for explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and systematic phonics instruction. Those recommendations were the foundation of the […]
WILL: Wisconsin continues to lead the nation in the racial achievement gap between white and African American students. According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in fourth grade reading, Wisconsin’s 45-point gap is the largest in the country—13 points greater than the next grouping of states such as Louisiana, Michigan, and South […]
Dave Cieslewicz: Maia Pearson, the chair of Madison’s police oversight board and a Madison school board member, has been charged with criminal misdemeanors related to her resisting arrest in an incident in downtown Madison in December. In a criminal complaint, it is alleged that she and her friend, Urban Triage executive director Brandi Grayson, verbally […]
Chris Rickert: Pearson and Grayson were arrested after Grayson refused to move her vehicle — in which Pearson was a passenger — out of a theater’s no-parking area and argued with theater employees, according to police and the Dane County District Attorney’s Office. A source with knowledge of the event has said that the theater […]
Matthew Yglesias The growing progressive interest in exotic new tax-policy ideas — like Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna saying they can raise trillions in revenue from a base of around 1,000 billionaires — shows a left that has lost faith in the idea of asking Americans to pay higher taxes in exchange for more and better public services. And […]
Will Flanders: We also look at Wisconsin’s largest school choice program–open enrollment. Here, you see the marketplace working as families move to school districts with better academic outcomes and graduation rates. The Report: WILL’s Apples to Apples report provides a rigorous, side-by-side comparison of academic performance across Wisconsin’s public, charter, and private choice schools. Because […]
Preeya P. Mbekeani, John P. Papay, Ann Mantil & Richard J. Murnane: Improving education and labor market outcomes for low-income students is critical for advancing socioeconomic mobility in the United States. We use longitudinal data on five cohorts of 9th grade students to explore how Massachusetts public high schools affect the longer-term outcomes of students, […]
Jason Riley: Far too many children are still assigned to substandard schools, and too many remain unable to read or do math at grade level. Meanwhile, educators and policymakers seem preoccupied with nonsense like helping students “transition” behind their parents’ backs or indoctrinating impressionable youngsters with social-justice poppycock to promote trendy political causes. American kids […]
Dan Lennington: Note that the plan tells teachers to actively deceive parents by referring to students one way in school & another way in front of family. WILL: “The Supreme Court reinforced that parents have enforceable rights to be involved in major decisions affecting their children’s health and wellbeing. Because of this clarification, WILL is […]
Preeya P. Mbekeani, John P. Papay, Ann Mantil & Richard J. Murnane: Improving education and labor market outcomes for low-income students is critical for advancing socioeconomic mobility in the United States. We use longitudinal data on five cohorts of 9th grade students to explore how Massachusetts public high schools affect the longer-term outcomes of students, […]
Teagan King The 2024 referendum passed by a wide margin, but some people are feeling surprised by what they’re having to contribute to it. Do you have any response to some taxpayers’ concerns? We don’t assess properties, so we’re not increasing the property value, and if property value goes up, of course the tax rate […]
Cap Times: Two Madison School Board seats will be decided by voters on April 7, and the Cap Times will bring together the candidates for each seat in a public forum on Wednesday, March 11, at La Follette High School. The moderators will be Cap Times education reporter Erin Gretzinger and Taylor Kilgore of the […]
Erin Gretzinger: As authorities investigate allegations that an East High School staff member fed dog food to a student, state Rep. Shelia Stubbs and other community leaders called on the Madison school district to expedite its review and release more information. At the state Capitol Friday alongside Stubbs and others, Debra Hawkes said the staff […]
Boston Globe: A 2023 study of 19 teacher preparation programs in Massachusetts underscored the need for this requirement. That study, conducted by the National Council on Teacher Quality, gave grades of D or F to 15 of those 19 programs for their literacy training, while only 3 received an A or better. Several of the state’s largest teacher preparation […]
Chris Mueller Wisconsin homeowners face one of the heaviest property tax burdens in the country, according to a new report from WalletHub. The personal finance website compared property tax rates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia by using U.S. Census Bureau data, which it said shows the average U.S. household pays $3,119 a year […]
Dave Cieslewicz: And here’s what Pearson is alleged to have done according to a criminal complaint as part of formal charges brought against her last week. She and a friend, Brandi Grayson, were out together just before Christmas. At about 11 PM they parked in a loading zone behind a theatre. When a security guard asked them […]
Corrinne Hess: “This is a constitutional challenge to the deficiency of the state public finance system for our schools,” said Jeff Mandell, president of Law Forward, the firm representing the plaintiffs. “Despite heroic efforts that have held our schools together for as long as they’ve made it under this deficient funding, it’s not enough. These […]
Zach Groshell: What Has Changed AI is dramatically better than it was a year ago. New models have emerged that are not just incrementally improved but fundamentally more capable. That part is clear. What hasn’t changed requires a longer conversation. What Has Not Changed Direct Instruction in the Engelmann tradition remains the most effective method […]
By Sasha Rogelberg He said Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to score lower on standardized tests than the previous one. While skills measured by these tests, like literacy and numeracy, aren’t always indicative of intelligence, they are a reflection of cognitive capability, which Horvath said has been on the decline over the […]
Anna Hansen: The three top spellers advanced to the Badger State Spelling Bee on March 21, so Barnhill will be joined by Joanne Aldoori of Madinah Academy, who placed second, and third-place finisher Ignatius Fassino of St. Ambrose Academy. Casey Barnhill found his spelling bee victory cradled between Colombia, Peru and the Pacific Ocean. The […]
Erin Gretzinger The Dane County district attorney filed misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting an officer against Madison School Board Vice President Maia Pearson Thursday. The charges stem from a December incident involving Pearson and Brandi Grayson, the CEO of Urban Triage, that led to their arrests. Both Pearson and Grayson have entered not guilty pleas and […]
Chris Rickert: Jensen then told police that the person who made the original report in October has a stepsister who goes to Thoreau, that the stepsister had seen the photo and told her mother about it, and that the mother had reported the photo’s existence to the school. Madison police and the Madison School District […]
The Economist: It helps that red states have gone back to basics: legislators in state capitals have enacted new rules that require teaching reading via phonics and holding failing schools accountable. Those decisions matter a great deal for classrooms. But America is made up of more than 13,000 school districts, most of which have the […]
Garry Tan: I sometimes wonder about the fervor education bureaucrats have for making standardized testing optional. Then I hear stories like Aleysha’s and know exactly why they do it. Tests reveal the rot. San Francisco paid 6-figures to education school bureaurcrats pushing “Grading for Equity” — homework doesn’t count, unlimited test retakes, lateness and absence don’t affect […]
Jorge Elorza: America is in a decade-long education depression. Barely a third of students are proficient in reading or math across most grades in recent testing, achievement gaps are widening fast, and too many college freshmen are arriving on campus unable to read a full book or do middle-school-level math. Chronic absenteeism has surged after the pandemic; students are disengaged. Educators […]
Brian Fraley: DPI has a transparency problem that is quickly becoming a legal one. After a year of stonewalling our investigation into what we discovered was a taxpayer-funded Waterpark Workshop, the department has yet to release the vendor contract. Conveniently for them, it is the very document they claim restricts their ability to provide more details […]
Ah politics. Funny how things “work”. Ben Jones: Prior to being appointed to the bench, Judge Jones built an impressive record as an attorney in private practice, and then was legal counsel under three successive Superintendents at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the state’s education agency. Ben distinguished himself at DPI as the […]
San Francisco Chronicle: But San Francisco’s strike did not occur in a vacuum. The California Teachers Association, the powerful statewide union representing teachers, has made no secret of the fact that it is coordinating a statewide campaign — dubbed “We Can’t Wait” — to align teacher strikes in more than two dozen districts, from San Francisco to Los […]
Quinton Klabon: 🚨ACT 20 READING UPDATE🚨 A.B.T.: “Ain’t been taught.” 8,897 (!) Madison 4k to 3rd grade students scored lower than 75% of the students in the national comparison group during the 2024-2025 school year. Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average (now > $26,000 per student) K-12 tax & spending practices. This, despite long term, disastrous reading […]
Senator Eric Limburger and Legislator Robert Wittke: February 10, 2026 Dr. Jill Underly, State Superintendent Department of Public Instruction 201 West Washington Avenue Madison, Wisconsin 53703 Dear Dr. Underly: 2023 Wisconsin Act 20 created several requirements for the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) related to literacy. In DPI’s report on the 2024-25 universal reading assessment […]
Carl Hendrick: This is not hyperbole dressed as provocation. For nearly the entire 20th century, IQ scores rose steadily; each generation gained approximately six points over their parents, a phenomenon known as the Flynn Effect. Starting around the year 2000, this trend reversed across much of the Western world. Crucially, in countries where traditional schooling […]
Erin Gretzinger Members of the Wisconsin Literacy Justice Coalition have talked with school district administrators about their ideas. FitzGerald described the district’s response to their proposals as “lukewarm,” while Wagner said the conversations so far have been “cordial” and the coalition is open to either taking a leading role or supporting the district’s plans. “We […]
Holly Korbey, Luke Morin: What I would come to learn over time is that the qualities schools are quickest to reward aren’t always the ones most closely tied to student learning. Early in my career, I was celebrated for effort, visibility, and good intentions. Years later, after deliberately studying great classrooms and becoming a far […]
Neetu Arnold: I appreciate @NickKristof visiting AL/MS to learn from their educational gains. But I reject the growing “both sides” frame for why good reforms haven’t scaled It downplays how unions & ideology resist sound policies. Even if blue states now support reading & math reforms, that doesn’t mean the political instincts behind bad choices […]
Mary Katherine Ham: more. In a video I stumbled on recently, a man in a hoodie reads to the camera, somewhat haltingly telling the story of Aslan and the Pevensie children. He’s been working his way, one chapter a day, through The Chronicles of Narnia. The text over the video reads, “37 years old, fifth-grade […]
Brian Fraley: The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has many problems. They’re self righteous, secretive and indignant. Their communications efforts do not offer clarity, they obfuscate. This was on full display in their spokesperson’s response to Dairyland Sentinel’s reporting. The statement was emailed out to many media outlets. Here’s a link to the full statement as […]
Danielle DuClos: The bill would require the department to publish on its website if an educator surrendered their license amid an investigation into misconduct. It would also remove ways to justify denying access to case records under state open records laws and mandate the department fulfill requests for case records within 14 days, if an […]
Liam Beran: Amy Robertson keeps a pretty close eye on the Madison school district. She is part of a group of parents who have raised concerns about the performance of Van Hise principal Rebecca Stein and she tries to keep up with school board meetings. She rates the board’s performance “fine, but not amazing,” but […]
Claire Cain Miller But while average scores have declined for everyone, boys are doing much worse. On standardized tests, they score lower than girls in reading in nearly every school district in the United States, and at every grade level that tests are given, according to a new analysis from researchers at the Educational Opportunity […]
Brian Fraley: UPDATE 6:18pm As a result of Dairyland Sentinel’s reporting, this afternoon the Joint Finance Committee delayed a scheduled vote to release $1 million to the Department of Public Instruction for agency operations. Committee Co-chair Mark Born, R–Beaver Dam, cited this report as the reason for the postponed vote, saying the committee decided to […]
Chris Cerf: The New Jersey Assembly recently moved to eliminate the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment, joining a troubling national trend of states that now allow students to graduate from high school without any objective evidence that they have mastered the minimal skills necessary for future success. Diluting academic standards, reducing cut scores or eliminating test-based performance measures altogether […]
Garry Tan: The Center for Educational Progress lays it out plainly: Democrats were once the party Americans trusted on education. That trust has eroded because the progressive reform movement became laser-focused on equity—specifically, on closing achievement gaps between demographic groups—at the expense of effective pedagogy and educational excellence. The result? Gifted programs get cut. Selective […]
Erin Gretzinger: The Madison School Board approved a $165,500 contract for a compensation study at its Monday meeting following months of mounting calls from the teachers union to address salary compression for veteran teachers. The Madison Metropolitan School District’s board green lit a proposal from Evergreen Solutions, a Florida-based consulting firm, to conduct a study of about […]
Dave Cieslewicz: There’s a fundamental dishonesty to all this. If you get a “D” you’re not “emerging.” Emerging implies improvement. But there’s a good chance you’re treading water at best. In any event, you’re falling behind, not meeting standards. You need to be told so. Honestly. In clear language. You need to hear that you […]
Chris Rickert: After testing a new grading system at East High School that downplays traditional letter grades, the Madison School District plans to extend the system to its three other traditional high schools. The district’s communications office, however, wouldn’t reveal a timeline for when “standards-based” grading will make its way to West, La Follette and […]
Jordan McGillis: “Contemporary liberalism’s equity concerns cut directly against the widely shared preference among technologists to let students progress, particularly in math and science, at the greatest rate their abilities allow.” What liberals have failed to internalize is the earnestness of techno-populist godfather Peter Thiel’s hostility to established institutions. Thiel sees tech, the Democratic Party, […]
Patrick Michleran From history to poverty to treating kids like wildlife, errors compound Bungling facts is bad enough. The harm’s far greater when you’re paid by taxpayers to profess them at Wisconsin’s flagship state university. A case in point: A University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of education policy revealed a grave misunderstanding of school choice as […]
Erin Gretzinger: Between state open enrollment, some of our charter school opportunities, private school, home schooling — even more popular out of the pandemic than before — there are definitely downward pressures on enrollment. It’s one of the reasons that we have to look very carefully at areas where we’re vulnerable. So if we see […]
Janice Turner: The man who meets me at his gated estate in the Portuguese countryside is 68 now, but seems calmer and healthier and has shed his Buddha-like bulk. “You know when a tree is in autumn, when the leaves come down,” he says, “it looks slimmer.” Ai moved here during lockdown, buying the holiday […]
Mark Lilla: It is that so many are learning nothing at all. And here he lays responsibility at the feet of the American educational establishment, which has, in the words of one scholar, been turning the “meat of academic subjects into meatloaf.” One of the peculiarities of the American educational system, compared with those in […]
Ann Althouse summary: Students from both Madison East and West high schools have walked out to protest against ICE at the state Capitol. I’d estimate there’s 200-300 students between the first floor rotunda and second floor bridges above pic.twitter.com/xnMjqEAsmo— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) January 14, 2026 ——— more. ——— A.B.T.: “Ain’t been taught.” 8,897 (!) Madison 4k to 3rd grade […]
Erin Gretzinger: Residents can stay updated on the referendum projects by checking the district’s dedicated website, Superintendent Joe Gothard said. The district recently hired a new member to its communications department who has a license to fly a drone, which Gothard said he hopes will help the district share progress on the projects as construction gets […]
Scott Johnson: Dr. Sidney Bondurant has written to provide relevant background to “The supremacy of Mississippi.” Dr. Bondurant writes: I read your Power Line post on Mississippi’s Literacy Based Promotion Act and the progress made in reading and math in our elementary schools. This act was passed during the administration of Governor Phil Bryant. I was Governor Bryant’s legislative […]
Sarah Mervosh Kindergartners arrived not knowing their letters from their numbers. After a few years in school, they were still far behind. A decade ago, just 12 percent of Hazlehurst students were reading on grade level. Today, Hazlehurst has clawed that figure to 35 percent. And Mississippi has emerged as one of the best places […]
Rahm Emanuel: Mississippi went from 49th to 9th in their reading scores – known as the “Mississippi Miracle.” Tennessee, Louisiana, and Alabama adopted the same (phonics) model and are seeing similar gains for their kids. It works. What are we waiting for? We need the courage to stand by our kids. China is not holding […]
Erin Gretzinger: A proposed independent charter school in Madison has passed the first stage of the approval process to apply for charter status with the Universities of Wisconsin’s Office for Educational Opportunity, which has authorityunder state law to authorize and oversee new charter schools in the state North Star Preparatory is seeking to provide a tuition-free […]
Olivia Herken: The bill, SB120, was first introduced last March, and a companion bill was passed by the Assembly later that month. The legislation would require all Wisconsin school boards to adopt two policies, one on how a school keeps records of a student’s preferred name or pronouns, and another on how school staff may address a student. Specifically, […]
James Hankins: You are right. We don’t expect the book will be usable in unionized public schools. It’s written for classical schools, where students have a much larger vocabulary, more discipline, and a higher level of reading comprehension. The book can be read by 11th-12th graders and college students. There is a “young readers” edition […]
Carmen Nesbitt About half of Utah’s third-graders are not reading at grade level, according to a new report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. Neither are nearly half of Utah’s kindergarteners through second graders, the study found. The analysis, commissioned by the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation, comes about two weeks before the […]
Enjoyiana Nururdin, Erin Gretzinger and Olivia Herken: Two of the board’s seven seats are up for election, and both races are poised to be contested. Board members serve three-year terms. Seat 6 incumbent Blair Mosner Feltham faces Daniella Molle, a qualitative researcher at the the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research. Seat 7 […]
Erin Gretzinger: At the end of the semester, the UW-Madison students presented their findings to school district leaders in the Doyle Administration Building. Superintendent Joe Gothard thanked the students for their work, emphasizing the importance of better understanding the families opting out of enrolling in Madison’s schools and 4K programs. “This is what we do […]
Chris Rickert: More than 10 years after the Madison School District’s implemented its Behavior Education Plan, one of the plan’s primary goals — reducing racial disparities in discipline — remains unmet. David Blaska: Madison’s public schools have a “coordinator for progressive discipline.” Things we never knew, thanks to Chris Rickert, writing for our favorite local morning newspaper. Yes, you […]
Madison School District PDF: “Strategic Framework Goal 1”: +10 percentage points in literacy proficiency +10 percentage points in students’ math proficiency +3 percentage points in 4-year HS completion “Strategic Framework Goal 2”: +15 percentage points in percentage of students with annual attendance rate of +90% 100% of district departments and schools with documented improvement plans, […]
David Blaska Schools we can be proud of: ——- Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average (now > $26,000 per student) K-12 tax & spending practices. This, despite long term, disastrous reading results. Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery… The data clearly indicate that being able to read is […]
Mitchell Schmidt: The proposed amendment, which would restrict Wisconsin’s governor from using a partial veto to increase taxes or fees in appropriation bills such as state budgets, passed the Legislature the first time in early 2024. If the measure passes both chambers early next year, the ballot question could come before voters in the state’s […]
Andy Pierrotti Georgia education officials are studying Mississippi’s dramatic literacy transformation as 70 percent of the Peach State’s 4th graders cannot read proficiently, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Mississippi, once ranked 49th nationally in 4th grade reading scores in 2013, now ranks 9th best in the nation and leads the country for […]
Via Quinton Klabon: Steven Dykstra is a retired clinical psychologist in Milwaukee. He didn’t think much about dyslexia until his son had trouble reading in first grade. He and his wife arranged a conference with the teacher, who asked whether they read to their son at home. “When we assured her that we had read […]
Keegan Kyle: Madison’s first elections of 2026 are shaping up to be rather quiet, but that landscape could shift in the next two weeks if more candidates jump in. Nine of 10 Madison City Council seats, one of two Madison School Board seats and most Dane County Board seats up for election in April are […]
Via a kind reader: As a supporter and campaign contributor to Mia Pearson’s MMSD school board races, I am deeply disappointed to report that on Friday evening, MMSD Board Vice President — Mia Pearson was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, alongside — Nextdoor – Nextdoor ——— Chris Rickert: According to a report about […]
Quinton Klabon: In 2024-2025, Wisconsin public schools employed more people than at any other time in state history.1 2 The problem: Wisconsin educated the fewest public-school students since 1991-1992.3 4 With schools set to have the fewest students since the 1950s in just 5 years, budgets are ripping at the seams.5 That fiscal cliff is […]
Jim Bender & Patrick McIlheran: Accused of gutting academic standards, manipulating report cards, slacking on fiscal oversight and bungling oversight of sexual misconduct among teachers, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is facing a crisis of confidence — and new questions about whether it is capable of handling myriad key functions. Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice […]
Jessie Opoien: Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, a former public school educator, used his powerful partial veto authorityto extend that provision for 400 years – meaning school districts may raise revenue by that amount each year until 2425. That funding increase can be filled in by state lawmakers, or by local property taxes. School districts are also not required […]
Corrinne Hess When Brad Cortright opened his property tax bill this month, he saw the same thing most Wisconsin homeowners are experiencing: A big jump. Cortright’s taxes on his Wauwatosa home are up $2,400. “It’s not quite 50 percent, but it’s a lot,” Cortright said. “I think what happened to us was we didn’t get […]
Erin Gretzinger: In letters sent to residents with their tax bills this year, the city of Madison reported eight area school districts, including the Madison Metropolitan School District as the largest one, accounted for more than half of residents’ tax bill this year. Schools have historically accounted for 42% to 46% of the average tax […]
Samantha Calderon: A new senior executive director of schools and learning at the Madison Metropolitan School District has been hired, according to officials. Dr. Keona S. Jones brings nearly three decades of experience as an administrator and educator Jones was most recently the assistant state superintendent for the Division for Student and School Success at […]
George Wiebe Most of the jump is the result of two Madison School District referendums passed last year, which increased school taxes by nearly $780, or about 18%, on the average Madison home, according to the city’s breakdown of the tax bill. Voters also approved a $22 million city referendum last year, although that increase was reflected […]
Dana Goldstein: “We do one book after state testing, and we did ‘The Great Gatsby.’ … A lot of kids had not read a novel in class before.” — Laura Henry, 10th-grade English teacher near Houston “My son in 9th grade listened to the audio of ‘A Raisin in the Sun.’ For ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ […]
Jonathan Chait: Every once in a while, a state or city discovers a new and better way to educate poor children. Inevitably, a group of skeptics arises to insist that this new way doesn’t work, that even attempting to shrink the gap between rich and poor students is a fool’s errand. Strangely enough, these skeptics tend, […]
Richelle Wilson: Recent test scores show that only about half of Wisconsin students are proficient in reading. Those numbers are even more stark for Native American students. In 2022, only 5 percent of Native third graders in Brown County were reading at grade level. “To find out that 95 percent of our children were struggling — […]
Quinton Klabon: Is the Mississippi Miracle in reading real? Yeah! If anyone ever debunks it, it will not be people who cannot read a ranking chart. “To their credit, when I reached out to the authors about this mistake, they acknowledged it and reached out to get it fixed before publication.” Kelsey Piper: All right, […]
Developed by Barb Novak, PhD Director, Office of Literacy: School and District level data (.xlsx). Act 20 annual reporting. —— Chris Rickert: Nearly 44% of Madison School District 4K through third graders scored below the 25th percentile on an early literacy screener required under a 2023 state law, the state Department of Public Instruction reported Monday, […]
Chris Rickert: Folger explained the delay in getting to Elvehjem and Lindbergh by saying that the process last school year to pick a name for the former Southside Elementary — now Lori Mann Carey Elementary — took longer than expected. “We are now on track to start the process for two schools this year,” he […]
Noah Smith: Rice’s article is very long and has many more details about how and why public education quality has collapsed in America. The basic story is that the education reform movement spearheaded by George W. Bush, which focused on improving test scores, collapsed in the mid-2010s. After that, public schools across the country began […]