Wisconsin Right Now

  (The Center Square) – New research shows that school enrollment has declined in over 5,000 public schools in the U.S., suggesting families are rejecting traditional schools because of the pandemic. The Fordham Institute's new study , conducted by researcher Sofoklis Goulas from the Brookings Institution, released Wednesday, found that families were over twice as likely to leave low-performing public schools. “These declines do not seem to be explained by declining birth rates or any changes in the enrollment of charter schools or private schools,” Goulas said. “There is something else going on.” The enrollment declines aren’t random, which leads Goulas to suspect that students aren’t just missing but instead are seeking alternatives. “This new research allows us to see whether these declines are random across schools or whether it could be something related to the efficacy,” Goulas said. “And we find that the big low-performing schools experience larger enrollment decl...

A new report shows the number of police officers shot on the job hit a new high in 2023. The National Fraternal Order of Police, a national police group with nearly 400,000 members, released the report, which showed 378 officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023, up 14% from the previous year, when 330 were shot. Of the 378 shot this year, 46 died from their injuries. A graphic from the report shows the significant increase in recent years as well as the breakdown by state. [caption id="attachment_159457" align="aligncenter" width="412"] A graphic from the National Fraternal Order of Police shows how many law enforcement officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023.  Graphic / National Fraternal Order of Police[/caption] The report goes on to say that there were 115 "ambush-style" attacks on officers in 2023, leading to 20 fatally shot officers. Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, bl...