Wisconsin Right Now

A state lawmaker wants a full accounting of how the University of Wisconsin System has thousands of more administrators now than it did 30 years ago, despite having fewer teachers. State Rep. David Steffen told The Center Square on Wednesday the UW system has hired 6,000 administrators over the past 30 years. “What are the students and the taxpayers getting as a result of that investment?” Steffen asked. “That becomes very difficult, especially when you dig deeper to realize that it really isn't an increase in the faculty, the in-classroom personnel. These are all ancillary, secondary, non-essential type of additions to the head count.” Steffen pointed to a memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau that showed in the 1992-93 school year, the UW had 26,360 full time employees. In the 2022-23 school year, the UW’s headcount grew to 33,538. The additions are all out of the classroom. The LFB’s memo shows the faculty headcount in 1992-93 was 7,181. That number fell to 5,729 in

Following nearly a year of investigations into political donation platform ActBlue, Republican Rep. Bryan Steil has introduced legislation he says will increase transparency and prevent illegal straw donations in online political donations. The Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations Act, or SHIELD Act , would prohibit political campaigns from accepting contributions from gift cards or other prepaid credit cards, and require them to obtain and verify the CVV of all online credit and debit donations. It would also require political campaigns to get the affirmative consent of donors before they make a recurring contribution. “American elections should always be free from foreign interference,” Steil said Monday. “The SHIELD Act will take a crucial next step in blocking foreign funding in our elections and certifying that every political contribution received is actually coming from the individual whose name is on the contribution. By passing the SHIELD Act, we will increa

Former Independent party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a lawsuit  against the Wisconsin Election Commission to remove his name from the state’s ballot this November, part of his ongoing battle to exit from races in swing states. The case argues that, absent a compelling reason, different treatment for third party candidates violates the Equal Protection Clause and Kennedy’s First Amendment rights. It claims the different deadlines for ballot withdrawal for Democrat and Republican candidates versus third-party candidates–September 3 for the former and August 6 for the latter–are unlawfully discriminatory. “Third parties can’t be treated differently and they can’t be discriminated against. Yet that’s what happened here. The Republicans and the Democrats have until today at 5 p.m. to withdraw their nominees and replace them with someone else,” the lawsuit argues. “But those rules don’t apply to independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr…He has not been treated

A new Emerson College poll of likely voters reveals some changes in Midwest swing states. Former President Donald Trump has a slim lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in Wisconsin, 49% to 48%, while Harris slightly widened her lead over Trump in Michigan at 50% to 47%. Independent voters are largely veering towards Harris, with 46% of Michigan Independents choosing Harris, versus 43% for Trump. In Wisconsin, the divide is starker, with 52% choosing Harris and 43% Trump. Defying previous trends , Republican U.S. Senate candidate for Wisconsin Eric Hovde has improved to 48%, only 1 percentage point behind incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin, his opponent. “We’ve had huge movement in the last 30 days,” Hovde said in a video on X following the poll’s release. “Wisconsin is the number one battleground. Whoever wins Wisconsin will control the White House, and if I win, we’ll not only take control of the U.S. Senate for the next two years, but potentially for the next four years.” Sup

State Sen. John Jagler is frustrated Milwaukee Public Schools seems to be ignoring the state law that requires police officers in the city’s schools. But, he doesn’t expect any changes either. Jagler, R-Watertown, last week wrote a letter to the MPS board, asking when the city’s schools plan to follow the law and return school resource officers to their buildings. Republican lawmakers included the school resource officer in 2023’s shared revenue deal. It required MPS to add 25 officers by Jan. 1. That didn’t happen. “Now, I know it didn't get done fast enough last year. And to be honest, I kind of, to be fair, just kind of assumed it would be done in August of this year,” Jagler said on News Talk 1130 WISN on Tuesday. Jagler said he realized that Milwaukee Public Schools may never return the officers to their buildings after hearing MPS school board vice president Jilly Gokalghandi dismiss a question about officers in schools during a question-and-answer session last mont

There is another lawsuit over another race-based program from the Biden Administration with a Wisconsin tie. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Wednesday filed a lawsuit challenging the McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program. The McNair Program is a $60 million scholarship program open only to certain minority students. “The government says that these groups are underrepresented. That may be, but that doesn’t give the government a right to discriminate against our clients and other students on the basis of race. Any attempt to balance the races – or create equal outcomes – is a dangerous and illegal policy,” WILL attorney Dan Lennington told The Center Square. WILL is representing Young Americans Foundation, a college-based program that teaches conservative values and thoughts. Its president is former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. “Denying a student the chance to compete for a scholarship based on their skin color is not only discriminatory but also demean

There was surprise the Wisconsin Supreme Court kept the Green Party on the state’s election ballot. Lawyer Lane Rhuland told New Talk 1130 WISN on Tuesday she was surprised by the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision on Monday not to remove the Green Party from the ballot. “I would like to think, non-cynically, that the DNC was just so wrong on the law, it was such an extraordinary relief sought by the DNC, that it was just a bridge too far for this Supreme Court,” Rhuland explained. “Others have theorized that they saw the implications for the more right-leaning parties that might take votes from Trump like the Libertarian Party, or the Constitution Party. And how if they ruled that the Green Party should be kicked off the ballot, then these parties should be as well. And that might not help the Democrats.” The court ruled the Democratic National Committee “is not entitled to the relief he seeks.” Rhuland, however, said the court didn’t explain just what that means. “The rul

A Wisconsin lawmaker wants this to be the last school year that begins with cell phones in the classroom. Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, released a column that outlines what he says is the need for a cellphone ban. “There is a push in several states to push cellphone restrictions in the classroom. From red to blue states, legislatures across the country are coalescing around the idea that too much screen time is a negative mental health outcome. More succinctly, they are a significant distraction in the classroom and lead to a loss in learning,” Knodl wrote. Currently, local schools set their own rules for cellphones in schools. Some school districts have district-wide policy, while others allow principals in individual schools to set their own rules. Green Bay Schools, for example, allow some high school students to use their phones when they are not in class. Waukesha Schools allow students to bring phones to school, but say they must be "stored out of sight" d

(The Center Square) - Following the Wisconsin Election Commission's dismissal of a complaint from a Democratic National Committee staffer, who seeks to remove Green Party candidate Jill Stein from the ballot, the plaintiff has doubled down and filed an expedited appeal with the state’s Supreme Court. Court documents reveal it accepted the case Thursday and is requesting that the plaintiff provide additional information, actions that have caused two Supreme Court justices to dissent. “The majority issues an unprecedented order directing the petitioner – within two hours – to give the court contact information for the respondents, which is currently absent from the record because no one has entered an appearance on behalf of any of those parties. How is the petitioner – an employee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) – supposed to know the name or physical address of an ‘attorney or other representative of each respondent who is authorized to accept service of orders is

The Wisconsin Elections Commission says there won't be a recall against any Milwaukee Public School board members. Now, Milwaukee's teachers’ union wants answers. The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association celebrated the Elections Commission declared MPS recall organizers failed to gather enough signatures to force a recall election against four Milwaukee School Board members. “The people of Milwaukee have emphatically rejected this dishonest effort to remove good public servants from our democratically elected school board,” MTEA President Ingrid Walker-Henry said in a statement. The MPS School Board Recall Collaborative wanted to force a new election against Board President Marva Herndon, Vice President Jilly Gokalgandhi, member Erika Siemsen and at-large board member Missy Zombor because of MPS’s financial problems and the secrecy surrounding them. The Wisconsin Elections Commission found the xollaborative was short by thousands of valid signatures. MTEA said

It’s not that Republican lawmakers don’t want to give the University of Wisconsin any more money, one legislator says the problem is the university is reluctant to tell the legislature where the money it currently gets is being spent. Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, was on News Talk 1130 WISN Wednesday, and said the UW System is likely not getting more money until school leaders improve their relationship with the legislature. “It's hard to be confident in institutions that are seeming so reluctant to share simple information with the legislature,” Nedweski said. “I mean, the lack of transparency and accountability shown by the system in the last two decades has resulted in so much distrust between the legislature, the system and the taxpayer.” University President Jay Rothman earlier this week announced plans to ask the legislature for $914 million in the next state budget. Rothman said the UW needs the money to cover the costs of pay raises, to provide wrap-ar

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are tied in a new poll of Wisconsin voters. In a head-to-head matchup between the Republican and Democratic nominees for president, the American Greatness/TIPP poll of likely and registered voters shows both Trump and Harris at 47% support. When independent and third party candidates are added, Harris garners 46% support to Trump's 45%, within the poll's +/- 3.4% margin of error. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulls in 6% support, with 2% undecided. "The presidential race is very tight like 2020, within the margin of error," pollster Raghavan Mayur with TIPP told The Center Square. "It is probably the tightest among the battleground states." Mayur said that the economy, immigration, and national debt/government spending are the key issues that could sway independent and undecided voters in the state, with 52% listing the economy as among their top three issues and 36% citing immigration and bord

Western Wisconsin’s congressman says he was assaulted at Milwaukee’s Republican National Convention, but a women’s group disagrees. Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden took social media Tuesday to say a protester with the group Code Pink assaulted him while he was standing in line at the RNC. “While standing in line to enter an event at the RNC today, I was assaulted by what appeared to be a member of the pro-Hamas group CODEPINK. A nearby police officer witnessed this assault and I understand they have been arrested,” Van Orden said. “This appears to be an incident of political violence and I will never tolerate this. Regardless of the severity of the violence, political violence is political violence.” Code Pink almost immediately said Van Orden was the one who bumped into who they called a “visibly Palestinian” woman. “CODEPINK's Palestine Organizer Nour [Jaghama] has been unjustly arrested at the RNC after a congressman shoved past her and had her arrested on fal

Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol don’t want Gov. Tony Evers to waste the chance to get a good look at Milwaukee Public Schools’ shortcomings. Evers recently called for an operational and an instructional audit of MPS. “I’m proposing today to go two steps further with two important goals: the first, to audit MPS’ programs and operations in their entirety, and the second, to audit the effectiveness of teaching and instruction of our kids in classrooms across the district,” Evers said. The governor, however, wants to keep the audit within his administration and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said that’d be a mistake. “I’m glad that Gov. Evers has called for an audit of the Milwaukee Public School System. Gov. Evers and DPI should work with Joint Legislative Audit Committee Co-Chairs [Eric] Wimberger and [Robert] Wittke to discuss authorizing the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau to audit MPS, DPI and any other invo

Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday said he “hopes” local schools talk about requiring teachers and school workers to get vaccinated. (The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s governor will not issue a statewide vaccine mandate for schools, but he is open to local vaccine requirements. The governor has been considering a vaccine mandate for state workers for weeks, but he has not yet issued the order. “Our staff needs to be vaccinated,” Evers told reporters. “I hope those conversations happen locally too.” The hurdle, of course, are teachers unions in the state. Evers’ comments about local school vaccine requirements comes one day after Milwaukee Public Schools’ board essentially ordered the district to come-up with a vaccination requirement for its teachers. Evers said he thinks unions could be brought on-board with a vaccine mandate. Gov. Evers used to be a teacher himself, then led the Department of Public Instruction as state superintendent, and received major backing from Wisconsin

"There is more support for school choice among Democrats in Milwaukee than many people think." - Justin Moralez, of the Wisconsin Federation for Children A new poll shows nearly a third of Democratic primary voters support Milwaukee school choice. “Democratic candidates should not ignore or run away from the fact that their constituents support school choice,” Justin Moralez, the Wisconsin Federation for Children state director said. The Wisconsin Federation for Children on Tuesday  released the poll from the Remington Research Group, polling group headquartered in Kansas City, Mo. Pollsters say 31% of people asked said they support vouchers, while 49% oppose them. But the Federation says another 20% didn’t have an opinion, which means voters are nearly evenly split. The poll shows support among Democrats in Milwaukee County for both school vouchers and public charter schools. The survey was conducted July 27 through July 29, and polled 766 likely 2022 Democratic Pr