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Get the latest news and research from Badger Institute
- The Wisconsin experiment in economic freedom
- An agenda for opportunity and prosperity in Wisconsin
- From mudslinging to Mandate
- UW System opens door to 3-year degrees, but many students already are on pace for one
- How to keep good teachers in the classroom
- In talent squeeze, independent schools respond — and seek relief
- Data center reassurances don’t stand a chance against ‘Terminator’
- Teachers in flight
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Evidence from border counties indicates increased economic freedom encourages prosperity for Wisconsin residents.
The 2026 Mandate for Madison will provide the evidence base Wisconsin policymakers need to protect the gains of the past 15 years and continue moving toward greater economic freedom and prosperity.
The 2026 Mandate for Madison will refocus the debate in scores of statewide and downballot races on information we know smart voters and candidates crave.
The University of Wisconsin System this month opened the door for its campuses to begin offering faster, cheaper three-year degrees.
Nine policy recommendations for Wisconsin schools to keep teaching talent by correcting the conditions that lead to teacher loss.
Facing a difficult market for hiring teaching talent, leaders of Wisconsin independent schools are developing useful strategies even as they look to the state for fundamental policy and financial reforms.
The most recent Marquette Law School poll shows public opinion turning against data centers.
Wisconsin’s public school teachers are leaving their classrooms at higher rates than they have in more than 25 years. Here, we present their voices.
The average GPA for undergraduate students at Wisconsin’s flagship university increased to 3.48 in the recently completed fall semester — up from 3.28 just 10 years ago.
All 13 four-year University of Wisconsin System schools impose an ethnic studies requirement in order to graduate.
A bill that will ultimately help increase housing supply, make homes more affordable and still allow local municipalities to control where and how fast they grow passed through the Wisconsin Senate this week and was expected to pass in the Assembly Thursday as well.
You might be paying higher school property taxes this year because of a referendum to exceed a school district’s revenue cap — one that you did not get a vote on in a district your kids do not attend.
Until last week, it appeared that legislators from both political parties were on a path to restoring WisconsinEye, an independent channel that has broadcast state government meetings and events since 2007.
Very few people know it, but Wisconsin’s Medicaid program is in the housing business.
Not construction or real estate, but assistance in finding a home for any Medicaid recipient with a qualifying health or mental health issue and a qualifying risk of homelessness.
Time can be better spent on other things like AI Here’s a question I hope somebody asks anyone who applies…
The law, passed in 2023, decrees that venues rented for private events at which the people holding the party bring their own alcohol can host only six such events a year, and only one a month — unless they prohibit bring-your-own drinks and instead get a liquor license like a tavern. Those are subject to strict quotas. Town board can simply refuse.
Some lawmakers in Madison, however, led by members of the Assembly’s Socialist Caucus, want to implement an estate tax with a top rate of 20 percent. Currently in draft form before being introduced, their legislation would propel Wisconsin to a tie with Hawaii for the second-highest state rate in the nation.
The state Assembly this week passed a bill barring data centers from passing on any utility costs to other ratepayers in Wisconsin — targeting a key objection from Wisconsinites who oppose data center development.
Assembly Bill 840, passed 53-44 almost entirely along party lines, also requires new data centers to use water-conserving technology for cooling and to report annual water use to the Department of Natural Resources.
Policymakers are scrambling for solutions as Wisconsin property tax burdens continue to rise. As homeowners clamor for relief, Gov. Tony Evers (D) has proposed using $1.3 billion from the state’s surplus to buy down property tax bills. Unfortunately, the proposal does nothing to address the structural drivers of high (and rising) property taxes and, if anything, puts more pressure on them in the future. His proposal commits the state to subsidies that shift burdens rather than alleviate them.
Impacts are minimal in comparison to what might have occurred Seldom if ever conceded by many critics of the planned $15 billion 672-acre data center under way in…

