MacIver News Service – The Department of Health Services (DHS) has requested a $2.78 billion increase in funding for the 2015-17 biennium. The new dollars would grow the agency’s total budget to nearly $23 billion, or roughly one-third of the entire state budget. Read More Rapid Growth in Wisconsin’s Medicaid Program Could Cause Strain on State Budget
PRESS RELEASE – Christian D’Andrea, Education Policy Specialist at the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, released the following statement about the lagging student performance in Milwaukee and DPI’s School Report Cards. Read More PRESS RELEASE: School Report Cards a Wake-Up Call for Milwaukee Parents and Every Wisconsinite
The 2013-14 Wisconsin School Report Cards have been released, and only one district in the state earned a “Fails to Meet Expectations” grade. That was Milwaukee, where 47 schools fell below the 53-point cutoff for a passing grade in the third year of the state’s measurements. More than one in three MPS schools failed to meet Wisconsin standards during the prior school year. Read More New Report Cards Show Most Milwaukee Schools Still Struggling
MacIver News Service – Governor Scott Walker’s re-election campaign released its Continuing Wisconsin’s Comeback plan today, laying out policy priorities that Walker aims to pursue if he wins another term in November. At the top of the list are initiatives to cut taxes, continue educational reforms, and implement more changes to welfare.
Read More Governor Walker Wants More Tax Cuts and Education Reform in Second Term
The MacIver Institute’s annual Student Census is out. How many of Wisconsin’s school children have a voice in choosing the school they want to attend? The numbers will surprise you – click here to see the latest data. Read More 80 Percent of Milwaukee School Children Exercise Educational Choice
MacIver News Service – Small businesses in Wisconsin saw an 11.7% increase in health insurance premiums, lost thousands of jobs, and employees have lost almost 500 dollars a year thanks to Obamacare, according to a new study from a Washington, D.C. think-tank American Action Forum. Read More Report: The Affordable Care Act Has Cost Wisconsin Thousands of Jobs and Lower Wages
MacIver Reports – The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy and the National Center for Policy Analysis released the following report detailing teacher pay across the country. According to the report, teachers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are the highest paid both before and after adjusting for cost of living. Read More REPORT: How much are teachers really paid?
MacIver Perspectives by James Wigderson – Alderman Bob Donovan declared his candidacy well in advance of the 2016 mayoral election but there’s a strong possibility he will not be Barrett’s only challenger. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is also considering a run while Alderman Joe Davis has created an exploratory committee. As these things go, more candidates may jump in if they think Barrett is vulnerable. Read More Poor Policies in Milwaukee Leading to Multiple Tom Barrett Challengers?
MacIver News Service – U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) introduced a range of policy ideas to combat poverty in America during a speech at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on Thursday morning. Ryan has spent the last year touring the country and learning from people who are in his words, “fighting poverty on the front lines.” Read More Paul Ryan: ‘We Need to Expand Opportunity in This Country’
Zweifel makes a point to spotlight problems in Michigan and Connecticut but ignores the success that has taken place in his own backyard. His editorial is a laundry list of anti-charter talking points that eschews the most important piece of the puzzle – that students in these schools are performing better than their peers. Read More Zweifel Foolish to Put Politics Ahead of Hard Data on Charter Schools