At a business park in Waukesha County, one mom is working to do what she says the federal government is no longer interested in: creating a school that will be a welcoming place for LGBTQ+ students.
The U.S. Department of Education terminated more than $600 million in teacher training grants this week, including funds for a program designed to bring more special education teachers into Milwaukee Public Schools.
The state organization that oversees most Wisconsin high school athletic programs updated a policy Wednesday to say only athletes βdesignated as females at birthβ would be allowed to compete in girls sports.
Incumbent State Superintendent Jill Underly and private school advocate Brittany Kinser were the top two vote getters in a field of three in Tuesday's primary race to head the Department of Public Instruction.
Milwaukee Public Schools and the city of Milwaukee will split the costs of putting police officers in schools, ending the ongoing fight over moving the issue forward, a judge ruled [β¦]
The Milwaukee Public School Board of Directors has chosen Brenda Cassellius as the new superintendent at a time when the district is facing challenges on several fronts: finances, facilities and [β¦]
Wisconsinβs measuring stick for how students are performing in school changed this year when the state rolled out new testing standards. WPR set out to answer questions about standardized testing.
Under the Republican proposal, DPI would have to use the same benchmark scores, score ranges and corresponding qualitative descriptions that were used on school report cards published in the 2019-20 school year.
The order specifically mentions a Madison Metropolitan School District policy that it says calls on schools to βdisrupt the gender binaryβ by teaching students to embrace different gender identities.
Wisconsin continues to see the nation's widest disparity in math and reading scores between Black and white students, according to data released this week.
As President Donald Trump released a number of executive orders limiting immigration and ramping up deportation, many Wisconsin school districts are trying to reassure immigrant parents that schools are a safe place for their children.
Milwaukee Public Schools must return police officers to the district no later than Feb. 17, or appear in court to explain why it is not following state law.
Wisconsin legislative Republicans are circulating a bill that would undo changes the Department of Public Instruction made last year to the way student achievement is measured on state tests. DPI [β¦]
More than a year after ending its decade-long affiliation with the Milwaukee Education Partnership, Milwaukee Public Schools is still trying to recoup money from the organization for work it never performed.
MPS sent an invoice to Milwaukee Education Partnership on Dec. 19, 2023, for $64,170. The district sent four follow-up invoices to the organization before turning the matter over to Kohn Law Firm in May 2024, according to records obtained by WPR.
The school district is still awaiting payment from the now-defunct organization, which was led by Gerard Randall, a top Wisconsin GOP official who helped secure the Republican National Convention for Milwaukee.
Randall did not respond to requests for comment from WPR.
School board member Missy Zombor said the money Randall owes to MPS could be used to serve students.
βThatβs potentially an educator in front of a student,β Zombor said. βI mean, $64,000 is not a small amount of money, so not being able to recoup those funds impacts students directly.β
During its relationship with MPS, Milwaukee Education Partnership received nearly $1.3 million in no-bid district contracts, promising to improve student achievement in the district.
In 2022, the partnership received $64,170. That money was for the groupβs Milwaukee Connects program, which aims to βenhance the pipeline of graduates from Milwaukee to Historically Black Colleges and Universities,β according to the contract.
The contract required the partnership to provide 10 graduating MPS students with semester-long paid internships to include professional mentoring, housing and transportation between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023.
In an email exchange last year with WPR, Randall said βa cohort is being developed for the semester beginning January 2024.β
He would not answer further questions.
The students were never provided mentoring or internships, but Randall did receive the payment, according to documents obtained by WPR.
Milwaukee Education Partnership was also listing several high-profile officials in tax filings as board officers without their knowledge.
They included Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly, former Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Keith Posley, former Milwaukee Area Technical College President Vicki Martin and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone.
After being elected to the MPS board in 2023, Zombor began examining various MPS no-bid contracts. When she visited the Milwaukee Education Partnership website, she found it featured years-old financial reports and listed names of people no longer associated with the group.
Zombor began asking questions, which ultimately led to Posley suspending the districtβs relationship with Milwaukee Education Partnership in November 2023.
Zombor says she would like MPS to explore its options for awarding contracts.
βIt feels like this contract was potentially for a fictitious nonprofit,β Zombor said. βWe have to trust that when vendors or partners come to MPS that theyβre being honest about the services they provide. But I think we have to continue to enhance the accountability of the procurement process so that we can safeguard public money.β
Wisconsin parents are overestimating how well their children are doing in school while underestimating how much money school districts have to spend on education, according to a new national survey.
Milwaukee Area Technical College's former chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer filed a federal lawsuit against the college alleginging she was fired after speaking out against race and disability discrimination at the school.
The cyber attack that debilitated one of Wisconsinβs largest hospital systems this spring, has now been determined to have affected millions of patientsβ personal information.
βThis hit home and is very hard as we have and share a special connection with many people, dance groups and the entire New Orleans community,β said Jean Knutson, co-leader of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies.
Milwaukee lives up to its nickname as the City of Festivals as it draws millions of visitors every year. But the annual Milwaukee Tattoo Arts Festival draws more than 200 [β¦]
Parents from Decoding Dyslexia, the Wisconsin Reading Coalition, WI Reads and the International Dyslexia Association's Wisconsin branch sent a letter to DPI last week, saying theyβre concerned with implementation of Act 20.
More than 100 Madison high schoolers marched to the state Capitol Friday where they denounced lawmakers' inaction on firearm legislation and funding for mental health support in schools.
The State Building Commission denied a motion to allow $70 million in underspent funds to be used for a series of planned UW projects including the new engineering building at UW-Madison.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson joined the live broadcast Wednesday, issuing a proclamation declaring Dec. 5 as βWPR Classical Music Dayβ in the city.
The changes are based on recommendations from a $2.8 million system-wide third party financial review by Deloitte to assess finances on individual campuses.
Track athletes and runners in the Madison community say the new space is too small, comparing it to a running track found at a health club instead of one at a Big 10 University.