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Get the latest news and research from Badger Institute
- Transportation policy for the way Wisconsinites actually want to travel
- Having two parents matters; so does data
- Do Madison’s schools underperform Milwaukee’s? Let’s talk about it.
- Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha rail idea back on radar, despite costs, existing options
- Three policy avenues to help public schools flourish
- Data center boom means good times for old-line manufacturing, 50 or 500 hires at a time
- Strong foundations, untapped potential: Wisconsin’s economy
- Want to help families, Wisconsin? Stop raising childcare costs
Browsing: Featured
Wisconsin transportation policy should begin with the people who use the system: where they want to go, how they want to get there and how those choices may change as new technologies become available.
One important factor remains missing from Wisconsin’s education dashboards: family structure.
Truth be told: Madison Metropolitan School District is as troubled as Milwaukee Public Schools is.
A costly proposed commuter rail system between Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee is back on the radar of municipal leaders, even as frequent service on high-end buses already serves commuters on the same route.
If Wisconsin children receive poor instruction, attend chaotic schools, and learn through weak, incoherent curricula, then industry and civil society will struggle accordingly.
Since data centers are capital intensive, Wisconsin — a state that manufactures capital goods — is benefiting immensely.
Much remains to make Wisconsin reach its full economic potential, including matching its strong inputs with stronger outputs.
The childcare sector is highly regulated in ways that drive up costs without clear evidence that the related regulations improve safety or quality.
With important reforms, Wisconsin can meet both the demands of ensuring safe and affordable childcare for Wisconsin families while controlling overall costs.
Tax increment financing can raise existing residents’ property tax bills, at least the way the tool is used in Wisconsin.
Good teachers are essential to school effectiveness and student achievement. What role does character formation play in keeping such educators in the classroom?
If Brittany Kinser wins Wisconsin’s race for state school superintendent, it would be the first victory over union-backed candidates since 1981.
Wisconsin’s governor talks of new 9.8% top tax rate — one that would wallop businesses that don’t flee.
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What made it possible for Jaime’s family and for 90% of St. Thomas’ students is Wisconsin’s parental choice program, which lets some families direct their children’s state education aid to a school they choose.
Robin Vos, fresh off a victory that seals his role as Speaker of the Assembly and now coming on 30 years in local and state politics, threw out a couple olive branches at Gov. Tony Evers Thursday that cynics might say are just the post-election niceties that invariably morph into barbs and stiff-arms in the Capitol hallways.
Twenty months after Congress passed a bill that rained $2.53 billion down on Wisconsin, the governor’s office in sole charge of administering the funding, as well as legislative audit and budget officials, have almost no idea of how all that money is being spent.
Do the state education bureaucrats, the schools of education, the consultants, the unions and the central offices know the one right way to teach math? That big test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, found that not once in the past two decades have Wisconsin’s public schools managed to make more than 41% of 8th-graders proficient in math.
Right after scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, came out, Wisconsin’s chief public school regulator, state Superintendent Jill Underly, issued a press release headlined, “Wisconsin elementary school students buck national trends in ‘National Report Card’ release.”
This is not true: Wisconsin’s scores fell by every measure since the last time children took the test, in 2019, just as scores fell for every other state.
Raising children, as can be fully appreciated only after you’ve done it, takes place in real time. They eat, sleep and grow whether you’re ready or not. So as parents supply children with the most crucial material treasure they ever will receive — a stable, loving home — many rely on some outside help in caring for their children while earning a living.

