Nurse practitioner Carol Biocic treats a Marine Corps veteran at a podiatry clinic for veterans in 2023 in Chicago. New professional student loan caps might make it more difficult for people to pursue advanced nursing degrees. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Zoe Clarke became a hospital registered nurse two and a half years ago, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother.

Clarke, an ICU nurse in Asheville, North Carolina, wants to get her master’s degree to become a nurse practitioner or a certified registered nurse anesthetist — occupations in high demand — and eventually work toward a doctoral degree.

But new borrowing limits on federal student loans may hinder her from reaching that goal.

A provision in the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the tax and spending law enacted this summer, overhauls the federal student loan program for graduate students in an effort to simplify the loan process and discourage colleges from raising tuition.

To comply with the new law, the U.S. Department of Education recently issued a draft rule that would impose limits on how much graduate students can borrow — up to $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total for most students, but up to $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total for students in a new “professional” category. The category includes people studying to be medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists and lawyers.

Students pursuing advanced nursing degrees, however, are not included in the professional category.

Advanced practice nurses, hospital associations and other health groups say the rule will make it unaffordable for many nurses to advance their careers — disproportionately affecting communities, especially rural ones, that rely on them amid physician shortages.

Advanced nurses can provide primary care, deliver babies as nurse midwives and anesthetize surgery patients where there aren’t enough physicians to go around. They can also write some prescriptions. Advanced practice nurses also serve as college faculty in community colleges and nursing schools.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the nation will employ an additional 134,000 nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and nurse anesthetists in the next decade, 35% more than there are now. In high demand, nurse practitioners are one of the fastest-growing occupations in the nation, the bureau says.

“We depend heavily on nurse practitioners,” said Sandy Reding, a president of the California Nurses Association and vice president of National Nurses United. “But if they don’t have access to getting further education, we’re not going to see additional nurse practitioners come into the field.”

Tuition, combined with living expenses, can far exceed $50,000 a year for many post-bachelor’s nursing programs.

“Potentially, this could devastate a whole generation of nurses getting their advanced practice degrees,” Clarke said.

Some education advocates fear that losing a pipeline of advanced nursing practitioners to serve as college faculty also could lead to fewer registered and advanced nurses and other caregivers with two- and four-year degrees, because there would be fewer people to teach them.

Many advanced-degree nursing faculty are retiring. Nursing schools reported more than 2,100 full-time faculty vacancies in 2022, according to the American Nurses Association — leading to roughly 80,000 students being turned away.

States are already grappling with workforce shortfalls caused by exhausting work conditions that have led many nurses to burn out and leave the field, or leave bedside care to teach, nurses told Stateline.

In response to an uproar from nursing associations and others in health care, the Department of Education released a rebuttal last week defending its proposal, saying it is not a “value judgement about the importance of programs.”

It also said it may make changes in response to public comments. The new limits would take effect July 1, 2026.

Rural and underserved communities

Advanced practice registered nurses, known as APRNs, fill gaps in rural communities where there aren’t enough clinicians. For example, nurses needed for surgeries — nurse anesthetists, or CRNAs — make up 80% of anesthesia providers in rural counties. About a fifth of APRNs nationwide worked in rural areas in 2022, according to one survey of more than 18,800 APRNs.

“The nurse practitioners, APRNs, are a needed lifeline to help fill those gaps,” said Heidi Lucas, executive director of the Missouri Rural Health Association and former director of the state’s nurses association. “Putting barriers in the way to keep [nurses] from getting degrees — that’s just going to exacerbate the problems that we already have.”

She said Missouri will be short about 2,000 physicians next year.

The new rule cutting options for federal student loans would only worsen staffing shortages amid tenuous rural hospital budgets, said state-level observers. Hospitals already are grappling with millions of dollars in looming Medicaid cuts over the next 10 years, said Rich Rasmussen, president of the Oklahoma Hospital Association.

Nurse practitioners often serve as primary care providers, writing prescriptions and managing patient care. About 80% of them see Medicaid and Medicare patients, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, citing federal data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The proposal to deny advanced practice nurse practitioners the more generous loan options ignores the nation’s needs, said nurse practitioner Valerie Fuller, president of the association.

“At a time when America needs more health care providers, we can’t afford to put more obstacles in place for nurse practitioner students who want to go on and further their education and take care of the patients that need care,” said Fuller, former president of the Maine Nurse Practitioner Association. “We know it’s going to harm our workforce.”

‘Clipping the wings’

Rasmussen, of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, said he is concerned about the effect the rule will have on the pipeline for certified nurse midwives and the state’s already dwindling rural maternal health care options.

“We are clipping the wings of rural [obstetrics] to be able to blossom in our state if we’re going to put these types of restrictions on the borrowing capability of nurses who want to pursue obstetrical services in nursing as well,” he said. He added that the rules will force nurses to seek private sector loans — which don’t qualify for federal loan forgiveness programs that encourage clinicians to come work in rural areas.

Teshieka Curtis-Pugh, executive director of the South Carolina Nurses Association, is also concerned about nurse midwives. South Carolina is expected to see a shortage of 3,200 physicians by 2030.

“We also live in a state that has very poor maternal outcomes, especially for women of color. So think about, how does that impact them?” she said. “That means we don’t get the certified nurse midwives who are masters prepared, some of them are doctorally prepared, who are able to fill that gap for birth in that area.”

Diversity and opportunity for students from marginalized groups could also take a hit, said Curtis-Pugh, a registered nurse with a master’s of science in nursing. And for those going back to school while juggling parenting, federal loan dollars can help beyond tuition, she noted.

“They help that mom be able to supplement child care for their child, so that they can have child care while they go to school,” she said. “There’s tuition, there’s books, there’s keeping the lights on. They’re feeding the family they’re getting to and from.”

The exclusion from the higher, “professional” category of student loan options is especially galling after nurses’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Reding, of National Nurses United.

“We were all heroes in 2020. Now, what are we?” Reding asked. “It’s a slap in the face to the nurses that go to work every day doing our very best to care for our patients, even under very adverse conditions and even facing deadly viruses.”

Clarke, the registered nurse considering a post-bachelor’s degree, said nurses’ pandemic-era devotion influenced her own career path.

“When I saw the nurses and the health care workers really working hard for their communities and sacrificing a lot, I was really inspired by that,” Clarke said. “And that’s why I went to school.”

Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at nhassanein@stateline.org.

 

Wisconsin State Capitol (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

Gov. Tony Evers vetoed nine bills Friday including a Republican bill that would have barred local and state funds from being used for immigrants without legal status.

Wisconsin already doesn’t allow immigrants without legal status to access BadgerCare, which Evers noted in his veto message. Republicans lawmakers acknowledged that fact as they advocated for AB 308, saying the bill was intended to block future use of health care benefits by immigrants. The bill would have prohibited state, county, village, long-term care district and federal funds from being used to subsidize, reimburse or provide compensation for any health care services for a person not lawfully in the U.S.

“As this bill’s Republican co-author in the Wisconsin State Assembly plainly stated in the public hearing on this proposal, ‘Wisconsin currently doesn’t allow undocumented immigrants to enroll in BadgerCare,’” Evers wrote in his veto message. 

“I object to Republican lawmakers passing legislation they acknowledge is unnecessary to prevent problems they admit do not exist, all for the sake of trying to push polarizing political rhetoric,” Evers added. 

Evers said the bill was “more about being inflammatory, stoking fear, and sowing division than it was about accomplishing any significant policy outcome or being prudent stewards of taxpayer dollars.” 

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, one of two Republican candidates for governor, criticized the veto in a statement, saying Evers was putting the interests of “illegal aliens” ahead of Wisconsin taxpayers and sought to tie Evers’ action to next year’s high-profile gubernatorial election. Evers is not running for reelection, and there is a crowded Democratic field that is still taking shape.

“If Democrats take the governor’s office in 2026, you can count on them to hand out driver’s licenses, in-state tuition and taxpayer-funded health care to illegal aliens. I will not let that happen,” Tiffany said.

No new cigar bars

Evers also vetoed a bill that would have allowed for more tobacco bars in Wisconsin. 

Wisconsin first enacted its smoke-free air law in 2010 — prohibiting smoking cigars, cigarettes, pipes and other products in public spaces. The law included an exclusion for cigar bars that were in existence before June 4, 2009.

AB 211 would have allowed for more exemptions for tobacco bars if they came into existence on or after June 4, 2009 provided that they allowed only the smoking of cigars and pipes and were not part of a retail food establishment.

Evers, a former smoker and an esophageal cancer survivor, said he objected due to the harm that the bill could have on Wisconsinites public health.

“Secondhand smoke, a known carcinogen, causes serious health problems and is responsible for thousands of deaths on an annual basis,” Evers stated. He said the state’s smoke-free air law was “a critically important step forward for keeping kids, families, and communities healthier and safer, improving public health and, most importantly, saving thousands of lives… I cannot in good conscience reverse course on that important step for public health, safety, and well-being by restoring indoor smoking in certain public spaces.”

Bill to ban guaranteed income

Evers also vetoed AB 165, which would have banned local governments from using tax money to create guaranteed income programs without a work or training requirement. 

Evers wrote in his veto message that he objects to lawmakers’ “continued efforts to arbitrarily restrict and preempt local governments across our state.” He said they should instead focus on finding ways to support local communities and ensure they have the resources they need to “meet basic and unique needs alike.”

Building code delay

Evers vetoed AB 450, which would have put off the effective date of Wisconsin’s updated commercial building code until April 1, 2026, saying he objected to “further unnecessary delay in implementing new building standards that will benefit Wisconsin communities.” 

The new building codes were originally blocked by lawmakers on the Joint Committee on the Review of Administrative Rules for years, but they were reinstated this year by the the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) after a state Supreme Court decision. Justices ruled in July that state laws allowing the Legislature to block executive branch administrative rules indefinitely were unconstitutional.

The current effective date for the building codes is Nov. 1, 2025.

Republican lawmakers claimed the delay to next year was needed to provide clarity to builders who had been planning projects under the previous code. 

Evers wrote in his veto message that the bill would do the opposite. 

“This bill would not only create confusion for developers with current building projects under review but would also further delay the implementation of new safety and energy efficiency standards that have been already widely adopted,” Evers said. “The department has and will continue to work with building professionals throughout the state to ensure proper understanding and compliance with the new building commercial code.” 

Education bills rejected

A handful of Republican education-related bills were rejected by Evers. 

Currently, teacher preparation programs are required to have a full semester of student teaching during the school year. SB 424 would have allowed for programs to use student teaching during a summer session as an alternative to a full school-year semester.

Lawmakers had said the bill would help with recruitment by allowing for more flexibility to students seeking to become teachers. However, Evers said that the bill would potentially reduce the rigor of the current training that students are required to have, especially given that summer sessions can be shorter than a typical school term and may not allow students to experience the same opportunities available during the school year such as parent-teacher conferences.

“Reducing training, qualifications, experience, and work ages are not real solutions for solving Wisconsin’s generational workforce shortages,” Evers said in his veto message. “Wisconsin’s challenges recruiting, training, and retaining exceptional educators will not be aided by making education professionals less trained, less qualified, and less experienced — nor will our kids.”

Evers also vetoed AB 166, which would have required UW system institutions, technical colleges and private nonprofit colleges to report cost and student outcome data and required the information be provided to high school juniors and seniors in academic and career planning services. 

Evers said in his veto message that he didn’t want to burden the state’s higher education institutions with more administrative requirements, especially without “necessary resources.” He noted that the UW system says that the requirements in the bill “overlap substantially” with existing information that is already available. 

The University of Wisconsin system keeps a public dashboard with some of the information that the bill would have required, including for financial aid, retention and graduation, and time and credits to degree.

Evers also vetoed SB 10, which would have mandated that Wisconsin public school districts provide military recruiters with access to common areas in high schools and access during the school day and during school-sanctioned events. He said that while he supports the troops, he doesn’t support lawmakers’ attempts to “usurp” local control of decisions on when and where military recruiters are given access to schools. 

Bill that would have eliminated requirement for Elections Commission appeal

Voters currently can file a complaint to the Wisconsin Election Commission if they allege an election official serving the voter’s jurisdiction has failed to comply with certain election laws or has abused his or her discretion with respect to the administration of such election laws. A voter who doesn’t agree with a WEC decision can appeal to a court, though currently courts are only allowed to take up an appeal if voters have suffered an injury to a legally recognized interest as a result. That requirement was established in a 2025 state Supreme Court decision.

SB 270 would have eliminated that requirement, and Evers said he objected because it “would open the floodgates to frivolous lawsuits that not only burden our courts, but our election systems as well.” 

Penalties for those who falsely claim a service animal

AB 366, which would have allowed housing providers to require documentation for service animals and created penalties for misrepresentation of an animal. Evers said he objects to “the creation of unnecessary barriers for individuals with legitimate disability-related needs.”

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Students arrive for the first day of school at a Minnesota elementary school. Four-day school weeks are gaining in popularity, especially in rural districts. But researchers say the evidence on four-day weeks is unclear. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Northeast of the capital city of Des Moines in central Iowa, the 400-student Collins-Maxwell Community School District is one of many across the state shifting to a four-day school week.

Like many rural K-12 schools, the district has struggled to find teachers, and it sees the four-day week as a useful recruiting tool. It also wants to curb student absences, which tend to spike on Mondays and Fridays.

The district maintained its traditional five-day calendar in August and September. But from now on, with scattered exceptions, the middle school and high school in the Collins-Maxwell district will be closed on Mondays. To meet Iowa’s minimum number of instructional hours, the district will lengthen the other days during four-day weeks.

Superintendent Marc Snavely said he watched nearby schools transition to shorter weeks and was intrigued by the reports he got from his counterparts in other districts. Snavely hopes the shorter week will boost teacher morale, reduce burnout, and make the rural district more competitive with nearby districts that are larger and can offer teachers better pay.

“Ultimately, the ‘why’ behind the four-day school week came down to staff recruitment and retention,” Snavely said in an interview. “We felt being a small school district, the four-day week would allow us to better compete.”

He added that surrounding schools with four-day weeks said they experienced fewer discipline problems and improved attendance. And rural school districts across the country tout the four-day work week as a way to stretch tight school budgets amid K-12 funding uncertainties at the federal and state levels.

But despite the reports of higher attendance and calmer classrooms, education researchers say the evidence tells a more complicated story.

Emily Morton, lead researcher for the Northwest Evaluation Association, which creates standardized testing for K-12 schools, cautioned that the promised benefits have not shown up in the data. Moreover, longer school days can harm academic performance, Morton said.

But such concerns might not matter as four-day school weeks become more popular nationwide.

“One thing that does show up clearly is that there is an extremely high approval rating for these policies,” Morton said. “Parents and students overwhelmingly want to stay on a four-day week once they have it.”

A rural trend

There are more than 2,100 schools in 26 states using four-day weeks, according to researchers at Oregon State University. In Iowa, the number of districts on a four-day schedule has grown from six in 2023-24 to more than two dozen in 2025. In Colorado, two-thirds of districts are on the altered schedule.

But so far, it’s almost entirely a rural phenomenon.

“To my knowledge, there’s not a single urban district using a four-day week,” Morton said. “What a four-day week looks like in a rural community is very different from what people in suburban or urban areas imagine.”

Dr. Shanon Taylor, an education professor at the University of Nevada, Reno who studies school scheduling, said districts typically adopt the model for economic and staffing reasons, not academic ones. Rural districts often save money on transportation, utilities and building operations, she said, and the promise of permanent three-day weekends helps recruitment efforts.

However, the burden of accommodating this transition may fall heavily on parents who work five days a week, and especially on the parents of younger students who must find a child care alternative on the selected day off.

“The research is still mixed,” Taylor said. “We don’t yet have decisive evidence showing academic benefits or drawbacks.”

In June, researchers at the University of Oregon published a review of 11 studies on four-day school weeks, which included data on academic achievement, attendance, discipline and criminal activity. The impact of a four-day week varied based on grade level and on location, the Oregon researchers found, but overall “there was no evidence of large positive effects.”

They also noted that “maintaining activities that foster healthy youth development on the fifth day is important for minimizing other negative impacts.”

State vs. local clashes

In some states, the policy has sparked conflict between state and local officials.

“There’s a lot of tension between state leaders and rural districts over whether the four-day week is something the state should allow,” said Morton. “In Oklahoma, when the state tried to take it away, districts simply shifted to ‘virtual Fridays’ — and instruction mostly didn’t happen.”

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank, found through a public records request that more than 100 Oklahoma districts had at least one school where students had at least two full weeks’ worth of “virtual days” in the 2022-23 school year. More than 60 districts had at least one school that went online for three weeks or more. During many of those days, there was minimal live instruction.

In response, Oklahoma this year enacted a law that restricts public schools’ ability to shift to virtual learning. The measure limits districts to two days of virtual instruction each school year, and only allows them under certain circumstances, such as a state of emergency declared by the governor.

Missouri enacted a law in 2024 requiring that certain big city, charter and county districts obtain voter approval before adopting or continuing a four-day week. The Independence School District, a 14,000-student suburban system on the edge of Kansas City that switched to the shorter week in 2023-24, has since sued the state, alleging the law unconstitutionally targets certain districts based on arbitrary criteria such as county size.

Last year, a New Mexico mandate for districts to adopt calendars with more school days was halted in court. And Arkansas legislators considered a bill that would allow for range of instructional times from 160 to 190 days, which would be contingent on a school’s rating. A large number of rural districts there have moved to four-day schedules.

Meanwhile, uncertainty over the costs and benefits of the approach are likely to persist.

Morton, the education assessment researcher, said that small rural districts might not be equipped to determine whether a four-day week produces benefits until further studies are conducted across the country.

“Even if your test scores stay flat, nearby districts might be rising, so your ‘flat’ could actually be a negative effect,” she said. “States need to equip districts with what national research shows, because local data will never be able to answer these questions alone.”

Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at rsequeira@stateline.org.

Student protesters shout during a “Hands Off Our Schools” rally in front of the U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., in April. The same group held a virtual press conference Tuesday to protest President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — A pair of Democratic lawmakers joined student leaders Tuesday in blasting President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. 

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, alongside college and high school students from across the United States, rebuked the Trump administration’s plans to shift several of the Education Department’s responsibilities to other Cabinet-level agencies as part of a larger effort to abolish the 46-year-old Education Department. 

Markey said Trump’s and Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s “dismantling of the department will have immediate negative consequences for students, for families, for local schools nationwide,” during a virtual press conference organized by “Hands Off Our Schools,” a coalition encompassing student government leaders from Washington, D.C.

“When a parent or superintendent needs support or technical assistance, there will be no one to pick up the phone,” he said. 

McMahon defended the move at a Nov. 20 White House press briefing, saying “these interagency agreements to cut our own bureaucratic bloat are a key step in our efforts to shift educational authority from Washington, D.C., to your state education agency, your local superintendent, your local school board — entities that are accountable to you.” 

But Markey and Underwood said the administration’s moves would have deeply negative impacts.

“The Trump agenda to destroy the Department of Education is not about cutting red tape — it is about enacting cruelty and intentionally breaking the programs that ensure the promise of education is delivered to every single student,” Markey said. 

Underwood said “this administration’s attacks on our Department of Education are part of a much larger assault on the very foundations of our constitutional rights and our democracy.”

She added that “by tearing down the Department of Education, this administration has made an explicit choice to abandon students and families.” 

Underwood — who is a registered nurse — also took aim at the department’s proposal stemming from congressional Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law that would place stricter loan limits on students pursuing graduate nursing programs because they would not fall under the “professional” degree classification. 

She said the effort is “devastating for our already overburdened nursing workforce, and it’s a disaster for our health care system, especially in rural communities.” 

‘Brainless decision’ 

Students from California, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C., also slammed the department’s plans to transfer responsibilities to other agencies and potential impacts on marginalized students. 

“This brainless decision to shift programs out of the (Education Department) is targeting the most vulnerable among us,” Darius Wagner, a student at Georgetown University, said, describing the move as “unnecessarily cruel.” 

“Other federal departments that now (bear) this responsibility do not have the resources, staff or expertise to manage these programs and will inevitably mismanage resources that will leave our most vulnerable children behind,” Wagner added.

Ayaan Moledina, a high school student in Austin, Texas, said “dismantling and destroying the department will lead to major consequences on the success of marginalized students.” 

Moledina, who serves as federal policy director of the advocacy group Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), said that “without a federal department, there will be no federal oversight of institutions to guarantee the basic and fundamental rights of students.” 

He added: “There will be no federal assistance for institutions to implement federally mandated programs, putting more of a burden on schools that already have their plates full.” 

Six interagency agreements 

The agreements to transfer several of the Education Department’s responsibilities to four other departments drew swift condemnation from Democratic officials, labor unions and advocacy groups, who questioned the legality of the effort and voiced concerns about the harm that would be imposed on students, families and schools as a result. 

The Education Department clarified that it would “maintain all statutory responsibilities and will continue its oversight of these programs” regarding its six agreements signed with Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services and State.

Prior to the six announced interagency agreements, the agency had already undergone a slew of changes that the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily greenlit in July, including mass layoffs that gutted more than 1,300 employees and a plan to dramatically downsize the department ordered earlier this year. 

An empty high school classroom. (Dan Forer | Getty Images)

Wisconsin lawmakers are exploring ways to make it easier for school districts to consolidate as they face  declining enrollment and financial difficulties.

There are 421 school districts in the state of Wisconsin and about two-thirds are struggling with declining enrollment. According to preliminary numbers from the Department of Public Instruction, enrollment for public school districts in the 2025-26 school year fell by about 13,600 students, representing a nearly 2% decrease from last year’s estimate. Total enrollment across school districts is about 759,800 this year. 

Reps. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay), Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) and Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said during an Assembly Education Committee public hearing Tuesday that declining enrollment is to blame for the financial troubles that schools are facing.

“The districts that are going to referendum all the time. It’s almost always because of declining enrollment. It just gets more expensive per student to educate those kids as the districts become smaller,” Kitchens said. “We’re not telling districts this is what you have to do or what you should do. We’re telling them this is an option for you to consider.” 

Schools in Wisconsin have seen a drop of about 53,000 students over a decade, from the 2013-14 to 2022-23 school years. Kitchens pointed to estimates from the Wisconsin Department of Administration that the population in Wisconsin is projected to drop by 200,000 by 2050, noting it will be largely due to the state’s declining birth rate.

Wisconsin’s school funding system is based in part on per pupil numbers, meaning that if fewer students are enrolled schools receive decreased funding from the state, even if a district’s overall costs may not fall. 

Kitchens said that having 421 school districts is not going to be sustainable in the long term in Wisconsin and questioned whether there is another state that “on a per capita basis has that many” school districts. 

Kitchens said the issue shouldn’t be partisan. He noted that school consolidation is something that the 2019 Blue Ribbon Commission on Wisconsin school funding supported through its  recommendations.

“Many districts have used the referendum process to increase the property tax burden on the local residents to backfill the loss in state aid revenue,” Nedweski said. “Many others have seen them repeatedly fail as property taxpayers are unwilling to raise their taxes to increasingly fund empty schools.” She noted that a recent Marquette Law School Poll found that 57% of participants said they would vote against a referendum request. “There is no referendum that can be passed or law that can be signed to single-handedly reverse decades of birth rate declines to alleviate the stresses of declining enrollment in our schools. It’s clear that a more long-term solution is needed to address these demographic challenges because the status quo is not sustainable.” 

Wisconsin has had a record number of school districts go to referendum to help meet costs. But beyond declining enrollment, public school advocates say the burden on local taxpayers asked to fund their schools through referendum has grown mostly due to the fact that state investments in public schools have not kept pace with inflation for almost two decades. In the most recent state budget, Wisconsin lawmakers provided additional special education funding, but opted not to provide any increase in general aid, leaving increased costs to fall on property taxpayers.

State Superintendent Tom McCarthy noted during the hearing that Wisconsin is currently spending the least, proportionally, in state revenue that it has ever spent on schools under the current funding formula. He noted that about 32.1% of state general purpose revenue goes to state general aid to schools, and that percentage used to be around 35%. He also said the conversation about declining enrollment and costs had to include the acknowledgement that school districts’ revenue limits have been frozen at different points over the last decade, prohibiting school districts from raising more funds unless they go to referendum to ask voters.

Nedweski said the bills would be useful tools and incentives for districts facing decisions about whether to consolidate.

“Buildings do not educate kids, teachers do,” Nedweski said. “By finding efficiencies through voluntary consolidation, districts will be able to reduce overhead and direct resources to the classrooms so that our students can continue to receive a quality education, while taxpayers receive relief on their property tax bills.”

The package of bills would take a number of steps to encourage districts to explore consolidation, including providing financial incentives.

School districts already receive additional aid when they consolidate. For the first five years after consolidation, a consolidated school district gets $150 per pupil. In the sixth year, the aid drops to 50% of what the school district received in the fifth year and in the seventh year, the aid drops to 25% of the fifth year. 

AB 644 would increase that additional state aid to schools that consolidate in 2026, 2027 and 2028 to $2,000 per pupil in the first year. The last six years would be the same as under current law. 

Kitchens said that he thought most school districts would be able to decide within a year whether consolidation is something that they want to pursue. 

“I’m very open in the future to extending that deadline, but I think to get it passed, we need to put a sunset on it, so we’re doing three years,” Kitchens said. 

Dee Pattack, executive director of the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance, noted that the inclusion of 2026 won’t really be useful for school districts since districts that want to consolidate have missed the opportunity to do so if they haven’t decided by now for next year. She also suggested that lawmakers look at spreading out  the additional aid more gradually, saying that dropping aid from $2,000 to $150 per student creates a cliff.

Kitchens said he would look at amending the timeline included in the bill. 

Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) noted that decisions about consolidation can be emotional and personal for communities. 

“Public schools are the heart of our communities, oftentimes in rural communities, especially. They’re one of the largest employers. It’s where you have the most celebrations. There’s athletic events that are important to everyone in the communities and so this decision of consolidation is deeply complex. It’s personal for a lot of school districts,” Hong said. 

Hong, who is running in the Democratic primary for governor, questioned whether lawmakers had considered just leaving the decisions on consolidation up to local communities altogether, noting that Wisconsin law favors local control of schools. 

“That’s why it’s voluntary. That’s why we’re offering these tools. It is not mandatory. We know it’s going to be difficult,” Kitchens said, adding that Door County used to be full of one-room school houses until there was a consolidation in 1960. “When they consolidated that and formed Southern Door [County] School District, people were out there with pitchforks. It’s always going to be difficult, but we have to look at the future and what it’s going to be.” 

Kitchens noted that districts are not “clamoring” to consolidate and that the option exists as a last resort for most. 

“There are a few that are, and you’ll hear from at least one of them today that really have reached that point where they know it’s necessary,” Kitchens said. “We’re not hearing districts begging for this.” 

Joe Green, district administrator and director of special education for the Greenwood School District, and Chris Lindner, district administrator for the Loyal School District, testified about the rural school districts’ journey of consolidation, which their school boards are focused on getting done by July 1, 2028. They said it has been an emotional journey as people are attached to their schools and communities, but that it could be the best option for them. 

“It might be the thing that gets us over the hump to consolidation,” Green said of the new legislative proposal. “It might be the funding that our two districts need to put a good plan in front of our communities. It might allow us to do some small projects to make consolidation smoother. There may be small construction, or things that we need to do to retrofit buildings, if that’s the way that our facility studies go. There’s a million different scenarios out there on what consolidation can look like. But without that funding, I mean, honestly, with our two districts $150 bucks a kid is $100,000 — not gonna do much with that… it’s just not going to do much.”

Green said the districts already share bus service and that 50% of their co–curricular activities are shared. They said that the schools began sharing students and staff due to their difficulty finding adequate staff to deliver instruction in rural Clark County in central Wisconsin. 

Lindner said that consolidation could help open up more opportunities for students. “We do drama together. If we did not, we would have five to six students that would not be able to do drama because, you know, can’t do it with five or six kids,” he said. 

Lindner said consolidation could also help save money.

“Our taxpayers are paying a lot of money for our operating referendums,” he said. “We tell communities if we do not start working together more, then we will be losing.”

AB 645 would instruct DPI to provide grants of up to $25,000 to groups of two or more school district boards for the costs of a feasibility study for school district consolidation or whole grade sharing agreements. 

Another bill, AB 647, would have DPI provide four-year grants of up to $500 per pupil enrolled in a single grade to school districts that enter into a whole-grade sharing agreement, agreeing to educate students at one location. 

Felzkowski said that whole-grade sharing is a step before consolidation.

“It lets them test the waters if they ever want to move to full consolidation,” Felzkowski said, adding that middle and high schools may be able to provide more class offerings, including advanced coursework, to students with grade sharing.

AB 648 would help create new supplemental state aid for consolidated school districts to  address differences in school districts’ levies when they merge. The measure is meant to address concerns of higher property taxes for residents of low-levy districts when a consolidation takes place.

AB 649 provides the funding for the bills, including $2.7 million for grants to schools that enter whole-grade sharing agreements, $3 million to provide state aid to offset levy limit differences and $250,000 for feasibility studies. 

McCarthy of DPI noted at the hearing that there are already several legal and mechanical supports in place to encourage consolidation, and that even with those, the last major consolidation that took place was on July 1, 2018. Two K-8 districts merged to become the Holy Hill Area School District in Richfield. 

McCarthy of DPI said the slate of bills being proposed are “largely building from past efforts to support and to incentivize consolidation” and that the agency doesn’t view them as “a brand new door that’s being opened up” to solve problems.

The final bill in the package, AB 646, would study what changes should be made to Wisconsin’s school districts. Under it, DPI would hire a contractor to conduct a study of Wisconsin’s school districts that looks at current school district boundaries, potential school district consolidations, existing school district facilities, staffing levels and salary scales, the population of school-age children in each school district, and revenue limits and current overall spending. 

McCarthy said the agency is most excited about this final proposal.  He said it is similar to what Vermont has done and addresses some of the factors that are important to consider when consolidating. 

The study would culminate in recommendations for changes to school district boundaries, a survey on the conditions of school district facilities across the state, information on the current and 10-year projection of the population of school-age children in each district and recommendations for school district consolidations that promote efficiency, are geographically feasible and economically viable. 

“We probably owe it to our school partners to take a long look at what are the right geographical boundaries here,” McCarthy said. “As we’re thinking about how to manage this stuff, it might be a good moment in time to slow down and think about how do we sync some of these things up to be a more effective patchwork of schools that are serving our communities?”

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A hallway in La Follette High School in Madison. (Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin Superintendent Jill Underly faced more criticism from lawmakers on Wednesday as the Joint Legislative Audit Committee reviewed the findings of a financial reporting audit and launched an audit of the agency’s licensing procedures.

During the first three hours of the committee hearing, Underly’s absence was a major discussion point for lawmakers on the committee as they reviewed the financial audit. She has also faced criticism for being absent about two weeks ago at the Assembly Government Oversight Accountability and Transparency committee meeting when she was in Indiana to accept an award. 

“This body is extremely disappointed that right now, when we’re going over an audit that probably impacts over $12 billion in what’s spent by our educational legal entities, that Dr. Underly is not joining us,” Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Caledonia) said, adding that the committee provided details on the meeting weeks in advance.

Wittke said Underly is the only agency head who has not come before the committee when it is discussing an audit. 

“You don’t get the governor out of every hearing, do you?” Superintendent Deputy State Superintendent Tom McCarthy said. “Dr. Underly is an elected official and has dispatched us to manage parts of these duties, and that is why you have me at these, because she does take it very seriously and is staying deeply briefed.” 

“It’s interesting, you say that she’s an elected official, but when I had an audit before us that included the Department of Justice, it appeared that Attorney General [Josh] Kaul could be in front of us and comment on that,” Wittke said. “Constitutionally, she supervises the educational system here, whether elected or not, and… so, I would think that it would be something that she would want to address.”

Wittke quipped that maybe McCarthy should be signing off on the audits instead of Underly. 

Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Oconto) said he found it “very concerning” that Underly was not at the hearing to discuss the first audit and her absence is a sign of “cowardice in a leader.” 

“To send the people who work for you in to take heat and not take it yourself would make me have a lack of confidence in my leader. I wouldn’t expect Superintendent Underly to have all the answers. Oftentimes an executive leader does not. They’re managerial… to defer to you to answer is quite different than not being available to be held accountable,” Wimberger said. 

The committee launched the audit into the financial reporting and the agency’s process for reviewing audited financial statements following a financial reporting scandal at the Milwaukee Public Schools last year. 

MPS faced significant criticism from lawmakers especially as the information came to light shortly after the district passed a $252 million operational referendum.

“The problem was recurring and compounding to a point where DPI was having difficulty appropriating funding accurately. That information was hidden from the public until after MPS convinced voters locally to approve a $200 million referendum,” Wimberger said during the hearing. “I’m sure voters would have had a different opinion of whether MPS needed money if they knew the district was so unaware of their internal finances.” 

In accordance with state statute, DPI monitors financial school districts’ financial statements  with a requirement that schools submit annually. Schools must contract with a certified public accounting firm, which submits the audited financial statements to DPI. 

Financial information from public schools and independent charter schools is required to be submitted by Dec. 15, under DPI policies. Voucher schools are required to submit financial information by Oct. 15 each year.

MPS was a recurrent discussion point during the hearing, though the audit found that MPS is not the only district with difficulties submitting documents on time.

Among schools’ 2022-23 audited financial statements, the Legislative Audit Bureau found that 77% were submitted on time and 22% were submitted late. For school districts that submitted on time, the agency took on average 87 days to complete its review of those audited financial statements.

Of those submitted late, 70% were submitted at least 29 days late. 

The audit looked at a sample of 18 school districts that submitted their statements late, finding that the agency contacted those districts 47 days after the Dec. 15, 2023 deadline. 

Milwaukee Public Schools’ audits for that year were submitted on Dec. 20, 2024, about a year after the due date —  the latest among all 421 school districts.

McCarthy said Milwaukee Public Schools had been historically late in turning in the district’s  annual audit, but it typically came with communication about why they were late and a commitment that the district would have the audit submitted in the following weeks. 

“That was not a normal year of being late for them,” McCarthy said of December 2023. 

When the lateness of the school district’s reports came to public attention, DPI said it had been meeting with MPS quarterly since April 2023, monthly since February 2024, weekly starting in March 15 2024 and then daily in May 2024 to get the district to submit its reports. The agency has since placed the district under two corrective action plans and withheld over $50 million from Milwaukee schools. Gov. Tony Evers has also launched separate audits of the district.

Wimberger expressed concern that MPS was given a “two-year grace period.” 

McCarthy said he believed the agency was “pretty strict” with the district. 

“If you consider withholding $51 million to be grace, I’ll call you next time we have a problem,” McCarthy said. 

“We used the tools and authority that we had at our disposal to compel the district through two separate corrective action plans, stood shoulder to shoulder in trying to clean up some of the local aspects of what’s going on, and I think the current superintendent has been deeply engaged in committing resources and staffing to making sure that this does not happen again,” McCarthy said. 

McCarthy said the situation with MPS has been a “long, painful journey that we don’t ever want to repeat with any other district.” 

The legislative audit found that DPI does not have a requirement that agency staff contact schools that haven’t submitted financial statements and audits on time. 

The Legislative Audit Bureau made 22 recommendations to DPI to improve its processes. 

Those recommendations included establishing written policies to require that it contact school districts within one month if their documents aren’t submitted by the deadline and regularly contacting schools until those audits are submitted. It also recommended that the agency establish a written policy that implements a deadline for starting its review of audited financial statements and completing those reviews. 

The audit bureau  made similar recommendations for DPI in overseeing private voucher schools and for the Department of Administration in overseeing the financial information for independent charter schools. 

McCarthy said that the agency is taking the audit bureau’s recommendations into consideration. That includes putting in writing all communication with district administrators and school boards as late reporting occurs.

McCarthy also noted that the agency has launched a school financial transparency dashboard that allows people to “dive in and look at any district” including reviewing records of compliance for reporting. 

“I’m glad you’re moving forward to try and crack the systemic problem, in my opinion, that deceived the public in the passing referendums without understanding the true financial situation of their respective district,” Wimberger said. 

Licensing and sexual misconduct audit

Underly was present during the latter half of Wednesday’s hearing, testifying on the agency’s licensing policies and changes it plans to make, especially  to investigations into educators accused of sexual misconduct and grooming. 

“Where were you this morning?” Wimberger asked.

“I was at the DPI,” Underly replied. Wimberger did not push the point. 

Underly repeated much of her testimony from the Tuesday Senate Education Committee including laying out some of the steps the agency is taking, launching a new webpage with the list of educators who have surrendered their licenses or had them revoked, as well as the changes she wants to see lawmakers work on, including providing additional resources for the agency’s licensing responsibilities and closing the loophole that allows unlicensed teachers to work in private schools.

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted unanimously to launch an audit into DPI’s policies and processes for educational licensure revocation, suspension, restriction and investigation. The audit will look at trends in the DPI’s investigations, its policies and how Wisconsin compares to its midwestern neighbors.

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U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany (center) at the Wisconsin State Capitol Thursday Oct 23 with Sen. John Jagler (L) and Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R). Republicans scolded State Superintendent Jill Underly for not appearing at a hearing prompted by a Cap Times investigation of teacher sexual misconduct. | Photo by Ruth Conniff/Wisconsin Examiner

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the leading Republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin, held a press conference on the steps of the state Capitol Thursday to declare his outrage over a Cap Times investigation that tracked more than 200 cases of alleged child sexual abuse by Wisconsin teachers and suggested a lack of accountability and transparency by the state Department of Public Instruction. 

Bolstering Tiffany’s case, State Superintendent Jill Underly decided to skip Thursday’s Senate hearing on the controversy. Instead, Underly traveled to Indiana to accept an award from her alma mater, leaving DPI staff to endure questioning by members of a state Senate committee eager to hang child sex abuse allegations around the necks of DPI, Gov. Tony Evers and other Democrats.

Recognizing an opportunity, Tiffany parachuted in to add his voice to the chorus. “You will never have to wonder if I will show up,” Tiffany declared. “I will always be there for Wisconsin and our children, even when state Democrat leaders fail to do so.” He drew a tenuous connection between the accusation that DPI has provided insufficient oversight of predatory teachers to bashing the state agency for “lower standards” in schools and for embracing diversity, equity and inclusion. ”DPI spent two hours a week creating a DEI plan, but couldn’t find the time to investigate these cases,” Tiffany declared. He promised that if he’s elected governor he will ensure proper misconduct investigations of teachers and create a public dashboard showing why they lost their licenses, “most of all,” he added, “we’re going to educate kids, not indoctrinate.” 

As soon as Tiffany finished converting the story about abuse by teachers into red meat for his campaign, state Democrats jumped into the mosh pit, accusing him of hypocrisy because he voted against releasing the Epstein files. 

None of this mud-slinging sheds any light on what’s happening to kids in Wisconsin schools or how the state can better protect them.

Several of my daughters’ friends at Madison East High School were targeted by David Krutchen, a popular teacher who had close relationships with many of his students and who, it turned out, spent years spying on girls during overnight field trips, placing hidden cameras in hotel bathrooms and bedrooms. The Krutchen case took a heavy toll on those kids and their families. It was a shocking, disgusting betrayal of the students by a trusted adult. For years the court hearings dragged on, and traumatized students had to keep showing up to testify. Finally, Krutchen went to prison.

According to the Cap Times story, which includes interviews with some of Krutchen’s victims, DPI “shielded” more than 200 cases of teacher sexual misconduct from the public. That frame could lead you to believe that DPI was protecting pedophile teachers the same way the Catholic Church spent years shuffling pedophile priests around to avoid accountability and bad press. But that’s not the impression I got from DPI’s testimony. In a video Underly posted on Facebook, and in her deputies’ testimony to legislators, the agency insisted that allowing teachers to voluntarily give up their licenses is not a “loophole” to end embarrassing investigations but ensures teachers who face misconduct charges are entered into a national database that can be accessed by other state education departments.

The Cap Times story, aided by a successful open records request, does give the sense that DPI has a slipshod system for keeping track of misconduct investigations, with just two staff people in charge of hundreds of cases, information stored on a Google spreadsheet, and 20% of cases where it’s unclear what type of misconduct was investigated. 

In its defense, DPI points out that the Legislature cut the agency’s budget by millions of dollars and they are doing their best. That point would have sounded better coming from Underly herself, instead of her deputies who had to fill in because she couldn’t bother to appear in person to demonstrate she actually cares about these horrible cases. 

Underly’s failure to show up and address the repercussions of the story is inexcusable. As the top educator in the state, she needs to reassure students and their parents that she cares about them and is on their side.

But the Republicans rushing to connect Underly’s weak leadership to all of their talking points about schools are equally unhelpful.

Ever since former Gov. Scott Walker began heaping scorn on teachers, painting them as lazy, overpaid and incompetent while ramming through his explosively controversial union-busting Act 10 law, the GOP has weaponized divisive distrust of teachers and public schools. Aided by a powerful private school choice lobby, they’ve hammered away on the idea that private schools are better and siphoned millions of dollars in taxpayer support for public education out of public classrooms and into the private sphere.

“We are going to make sure that Wisconsin goes back to the top of the game,” Tiffany declared Thursday, adding, “We are behind Mississippi in educational attainment. Less than one in three kids can read at grade level in the fourth grade in the state of Wisconsin. Is that not a disaster? That will not be the case if I’m elected as governor, we will have accountability and we will have higher standards.”

But the defunding of Wisconsin public schools that began under Walker and continues today is directly tied to the decline in quality. It’s not laziness or pedophilia that plague our school system. It’s deliberate neglect.

Republican calls for “higher standards” and “accountability” have, over the past two decades, been accompanied by disinvestment and the steady expansion of a publicly funded private voucher school system.

Ironically, the private schools Republicans champion in the school choice program have no teacher licensing requirements and DPI has no way to oversee or investigate their employees. Nor are private schools subject to Wisconsin’s open records laws. We will never get to see how they handle cases of employee misconduct.

There’s a reason it’s a big story when adults abuse the trust of children. It’s despicable behavior. Politicians who ignore or capitalize on that crime for political gain do us no good.

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This story was originally published by ProPublica.

Following public outcry, the U.S. Department of Education has restored funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, about a month after cutting it.

But rather than sending the money directly to the four programs that are part of a national network helping students who are deaf and blind, a condition known as deafblindness, the department has instead rerouted the grants to a different organization that will provide funding for those vulnerable students.

The Trump administration targeted the programs in its attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion; a department spokesperson had cited concerns about “divisive concepts” and “fairness” in explaining the decision to withhold the funding.

ProPublica and other news organizations reported last month on the canceled grants to agencies that serve these students in Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as in five states that are part of a New England consortium.

Programs then appealed to the Education Department to retain their funding, but the appeals were denied. Last week, the National Center on Deafblindness, the parent organization of the agencies that were denied, told the four programs that the Education Department had provided it with additional grant money and the center was passing it on to them.

“This will enable families, schools, and early intervention programs to continue to … meet the unique needs of children who are deafblind,” according to the letter from the organization to the agencies, which was provided to ProPublica. Education Department officials did not respond to questions from ProPublica; automatic email replies cited the government shutdown.

When the funding was canceled, the programs were in the middle of a five-year grant that was expected to continue through September 2028. The funding from the center is only for one year.

“We don’t know what will happen” in future years, said Lisa McConachie of the Oregon DeafBlind Project, which serves 114 students in the state. McConachie said that with uncertain funding, her agency had to cancel a retreat this fall that had been organized for parents to swap medical equipment, share resources and learn about services to help students when they get older. She hopes to reschedule it for the spring.

“It is still a disruption to families,’’ she said. “It creates this mistrust, that you are gone and back and gone and back.”

Oregon’s grant application for its deafblind program, submitted in 2023, included a statement about its commitment to address “inequities, racism, bias” and the marginalization of disability groups, language that was encouraged by the Biden administration. It also attached the strategic plan for Portland Public Schools, where the Oregon DeafBlind Project is headquartered, that mentioned the establishment of a Center for Black Student Excellence — which is unrelated to the deafblind project. The Education Department’s letter said that those initiatives were “in conflict with agency policy and priorities.”

An advocate for deafblind students said he was happy to see the funding restored but called the department’s decision-making “amateurish” and disruptive to students and families. “It is mean-spirited to do this to families and kids and school systems at the beginning of the year when all of these things should be so smooth,” said Maurice Belote, co-chair of the National DeafBlind Coalition, which advocates for legislation that supports deafblind children and young adults.

Grants to the four agencies total about $1 million a year. The department started funding state-level programs to help deafblind students more than 40 years ago in response to the rubella epidemic in the late 1960s. Nationally, there are about 10,000 children and young adults, from infants to 21-year-olds, who are deafblind and more than 1,000 in the eight affected states, according to the National Center on Deafblindness.

While the population is small, it is among the most complex to serve; educators rely on the deafblindness programs for support and training.

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Students with hearing and vision loss get funding back despite Trump’s anti-DEI campaign is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A bill restricting referendum proposals comes as school districts continue to rely on funding raised from property taxes through referendum requests, requiring voter approval. A rally calling attention to schools' reliance on referendums in the Capitol in 2025. Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner.

Wisconsin Republicans want to restrict school districts’ ability to seek referendums if they haven’t turned in financial reports to the Department of Public Instruction on time. 

At a public hearing Thursday, the Assembly Education Committee Thursday heard testimony on a bill drafted in reaction to the historic referendum that voters approved for the Milwaukee Public Schools last year, and that was followed by the revelation that the district was months late in submitting financial documents to the state.

The school district’s tardiness has led to upheaval throughout the district, including the decision to replace the MPS superintendent and additional audits ordered by Gov. Tony Evers.

The education committee also took testimony on a bill that would allow education students to complete their student teacher requirements during the summer and a bill to change curriculum requirements for human development classes if districts offer them. 

Rich Judge,  assistant state superintendent in the Division of Government & Public Affairs for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), registered against each bill, but did not provide testimony. The agency has not yet responded to a request for comment from the Wisconsin Examiner about its opposition to the bills.

AB 457, coauthored by Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) and Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield), would require DPI to certify schools are in compliance with all applicable requirements to submit financial information to DPI. 

If a district is not in compliance, the school board would be prohibited from adopting a resolution to hold  a referendum. A resolution adopted or a referendum passed without the certification would be void.

“If a district cannot even meet its minimal statutory reporting duties, how can voters trust them to be responsible?” Nedweski asked rhetorically during her testimony. “This bill places no additional cost or burdens on school districts. It simply reinforces accountability and transparency… Trust is the foundation of strong schools and strong communities, and AB 457 helps ensure that that trust is never taken for granted.” 

MPS sought a $252 million recurring operating referendum in April 2024 to assist with staff pay and educational programming costs. The measure passed narrowly, and by the end of May 2024, DPI announced that the district was months late in submitting required financial reports. 

The DPI was still withholding about $42 million from the district as of June of this year due to its late financial reports. 

Nedweski said she didn’t know how many other districts might be late in their financial reporting to DPI. School districts need to be in compliance before they seek a referendum so that voters have adequate information, she said 

“If you’re going to pass a $252 million dollar recurring referendum, I think you should be able to make an informed decision,” Nedweski said.

The legislation comes as school districts continue to rely on funding raised from property taxes through referendum requests, requiring voter approval.

Democratic lawmakers on the committee expressed concern about the potential barrier the legislation could pose.

Rep. Angelina Cruz (D-Racine) noted that there have been a record number of referendum requests t in recent years and that the state Legislature opted not to provide any additional general aid in the 2025-27 state budget. School district leaders have said the lack of state aid will put them in tough positions when it comes to funding, even with the additional aid that the state is providing for special education costs. 

“With the state Legislature putting zero dollars in state [general] aid forward in this last budget to local school districts, we’re going to see that pattern of referendum continuing,” Cruz said. “I’m just concerned that we are creating another barrier in terms of our local public school districts having access to choosing to… fill the gaps that the state is intentionally creating.”

Even with the recent referendum, MPS is still looking at a $100 million budget shortfall and newly hired Superintendent Brenda Cassellius is looking for ways to tighten its budget.

This is not the only bill lawmakers have introduced that would place additional barriers and limitations on school districts seeking referendums. A bill introduced in March would eliminate the ability for school districts to seek recurring referendums, which are ongoing into the future, in part due to Milwaukee’s referendum. 

“Are you saying that people shouldn’t have access to the financial data for school districts before they make a decision to raise their own taxes?” Nedweski replied. 

“Absolutely not,” Cruz said. “I’m seeking clarity in terms of are we trying to create an additional barrier for public school districts, local communities to fund their schools? [The financial reports are] already a requirement by law.” 

Changing human development requirements 

The committee also took testimony on AB 405, also authored by Nedweski, which would change requirements for school districts that offer human development education.

Wisconsin doesn’t require public schools to teach human growth and development, or sex education. If they opt to do so, the state makes recommendations for the curriculum and state law imposes some requirements. Those include presenting abstinence from sex as the preferred choice of behavior for unmarried students, providing instruction in parental responsibility and the socioeconomic benefits of marriage for adults and their children, and explaining pregnancy, prenatal development and childbirth. 

Nedweski’s bill would add to those requirements. If it is enacted, students would have to be shown a “high-definition ultrasound video that shows the development of the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development” and a “high-quality, computer-generated rendering or animation that shows the process of fertilization and every stage of fetal development inside the uterus and that notes significant markers in cell growth and organ development for every week of pregnancy until birth.”

Nedweski said that allowing students to “actually see the real life process of fetal development in action will be more tangible to them than simply reading in a textbook or seeing it in the still diagram or drawing.” 

“We have the resources at our disposal to bring this science into the classrooms, and we should use it to our advantage to give students a stronger educational experience,” she added. 

Nedweski’s bill would also require schools to include a presentation on each trimester of pregnancy and the physical and emotional health of the mother if they opt into teaching on recommended topics. She said this would help address mental health concerns.

“This bill simply builds off of those existing requirements to incorporate more scientific resources, such as the ultrasound video as well as lessons pertaining to the mental and physical health of the mother,” Nedweski said. “This bill is not a mandate because school districts are not required by law to offer human growth and development instruction. It merely makes modern enhancements to the topics required of districts that choose to teach it.” 

Nedweski was the sole person to testify on the bill. 

Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) asked Nedweski whether she consulted public health officials, noting that the Wisconsin Public Health Association and Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards are registered against it, according to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission lobbying website.

Nedweski said she didn’t speak to any public health officials or either statewide group in the process of authoring the bill, but spoke to a member of one of the local health departments in her district. 

Cruz asked about how much the curriculum would potentially cost. 

“There are all kinds of free materials available to any school district that would be wanting to utilize the video portion or the high resolution animation,” Nedweski said. She added that the curriculum decisions would ultimately be made at the local level.

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Milwaukee Public Schools has rolled out a new emergency protocol designed to standardize and simplify responses to emergencies.  

Staff, families, students and the broader community were tragically reminded of the need for such protocol when, just weeks ago, a gunman opened fire during a student Mass at a Minneapolis school, killing two children and injuring more than a dozen others. 

Shannon Jones, MPS director of school safety and security, said shooting incidents like these prompt staff to reflect and assess.

“I think after every incident that has happened nationwide, actually worldwide, we kind of look at where we are and try to take in consideration the ‘what ifs,’” Jones said. “Overall, it’s about the safety of the kids.” 

What’s new?

On Sept. 2, the first day of the school year at most MPS schools, students were introduced to the Standard Response Protocol, said Kevin Hafemann, emergency operations manager for the district. 

The protocol was developed by the “I Love U Guys” Foundation, a national nonprofit that provides free safety resources to schools. 

Posters explaining each response are displayed in classrooms at MPS’ roughly 150 schools. 

Those responses are: Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate and Shelter. 

Five emergency responses

Here’s what each response entails for students and teachers. 

• Hold: Students remain in their room or area, while hallways are kept clear. While holding, normal activities can continue. 
• Secure: Teachers lock outside doors to protect people inside buildings. Although awareness should be heightened, normal activities can continue. 
• Lockdown: Teachers clear hallways, lock doors to individual rooms and turn off the lights. Students hide and keep quiet. 
• Evacuate: Students move to an announced location, leaving personal items if necessary. 
• Shelter: Depending on the hazard announced by the teacher, students respond with the relevant strategy. For example, if there’s an earthquake, students should drop, cover and hold.

Easier in an actual emergency

“The neat thing about the SRP (Standard Response Protocol), it’s very simple. There’s only five, so it’s an all-hazards approach,” Hafemann said. 

The posters replaced a much more detailed flipbook. 

“This is where we came from,” Hafemann said, holding up the flipbook. “Very great, excellent information. But during a crisis, you lose your fine motor skills. You’re not going to have time when you’re scared to be able to read what to do.” 

Many community partners were involved in bringing the new protocol to MPS, Hafemann said. This includes the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee Fire Department.

Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said the collaboration has helped MPS avoid “reinventing a wheel on something that might not work in the real world.”   

For example, he said, it’s important for staff to know that during a fire, one of the safest areas of a building is the stairwell. 

“Through good incident command and communication with folks at the building, that gives us time for them to go, ‘Hey, we got a kid in a motorized wheelchair on the west stairwell, third floor.’ That becomes a major priority for us,” Lipski said. 

Some emergency protocol details cannot be shared publicly for safety reasons, but families are informed whenever changes directly affect school procedures, said Missy Zombor, president of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors.  

What’s the same?

Although the Standard Response Protocol is new for the district, it is part of the district’s ongoing Emergency Operations Plan.

The plan is an overarching safety framework mandated by state law, requiring school districts to coordinate prevention, mitigation, response and recovery efforts across the district. 

A range of emergency drills are also mandated: monthly fire drills; at least two tornado or hazard drills annually; one “school violence” or “lockdown” drill annually. 

MPS also conducts defibrillator drills and, for younger students, bus evacuation drills each year.

What steps can be taken now?

Families should review the Standard Response Protocol poster with their schoolchildren, Hafemann said. 

“Just have those discussions with children about these and that they’re aware of what to do,” he said.

Lipski advised reviewing “the basic stuff” as well. 

“They probably do well to review basic ‘stranger danger’ stuff,” he said. “Yes, we want you to follow instructions that your teachers are telling you, but if you need to leave the building because there’s an emergency and you get separated, make sure you find an adult that you are familiar with.”

As children get a little bit older, Lipski added, it would be helpful for them to get CPR training and some basic first aid. 

“It just reinforces that, ‘Hey, you know what – helping people is a thing you can do,’” Lipski said.

For more information

Families can update their contact information in the online Parent Portal to effectively use SchoolMessenger, the district’s emergency communication tool.

If families have safety and security-related questions, students can reach out to their respective teachers first, while parents can contact Jones or Stephen Davis, media relations manager for MPS, Davis said. 

Jones can be reached at 414-345-6637. 

Davis can be reached at 414-475-8675 and davis2@milwaukee.k12.wi.us.

MPS also provides some opportunities for input from families through school-based councils, district surveys, board meetings and community listening sessions, Zombor said. 

The Wisconsin Department of Justice maintains a statewide portal for reporting safety concerns. People can also call the tipline at 800-697-8761.

Families and students can access key safety and security documents on the MPS website.

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Milwaukee Public Schools rolls out new emergency protocol is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Rochelle Nagorski thought her son was all set to go to Burdick, his neighborhood elementary school, this year. 

“I got an email stating that he was enrolled, but we weren’t getting anything stating who his teacher was,” she said.

Nagorski later learned Burdick, 4348 S. Griffin Ave., Milwaukee, was at capacity and that her son was placed on the school’s waitlist.  

“Why wouldn’t he get into his neighborhood school? It’s literally two and a half blocks from our house.”

She is not alone. Others also have reported similar challenges. 

Steve Davis, media relations manager at Milwaukee Public Schools, explained in an email to NNS that the school district is working to make sure not to exceed maximum class sizes at schools. 

“This means more schools are at capacity and cannot accept new students, even if it is a family’s neighborhood school,” Davis wrote.

Capacity and other issues related to the enrollment process have forced Nagorski and others to scramble to find alternatives.

Frustration with central services

Citlali Torres said she already had enough on her plate after her uncle, Vincent Torres, was killed in front of his home this summer. Then, someone stole her wallet with her ID. 

While she dealt with those challenges, she decided to enroll her 4-year-old daughter at Morgandale Elementary, 3635 S. 17th St. 

“Morgandale is a great school. I went there all the way from K4 to eighth grade,” Torres said.

She tried to enroll her daughter but was told she needed to wait for the year to start to see if the school had space. 

Once the school year started, Torres called MPS central services but was told a picture of her ID wasn’t enough to enroll her. She needed a physical ID card, which was stolen along with her wallet. 

Torres said the staff at Morgandale have been helpful and supportive, but she has struggled to get help from central services.

“All I want is for, you know, to get my daughter enrolled in school.” 

Nagorski also had trouble with central services. When she called, the employee told her she should have put other schools on the list in case her son didn’t get into Burdick.

Nagorski didn’t know it was possible for her neighborhood school to fill up, so she only put Burdick on the list. 

Staff at central services said she’d have to come to the office and enroll her child in another school. Nagorski, who is on medical leave from ankle surgery, asked if there was another option but was told there was none. 

The district has since reached out to her to schedule a home visit.  

Scrambling for alternatives

Since her son was waitlisted, Nagorski has considered whether to re-enroll him in Wisconsin Virtual Academy, where he went last semester. She said online learning didn’t work well for him – she noticed him become disengaged – but it’s better than nothing. 

“I’d rather get them on online learning so he’s at least got some kind of schooling going on and get some kind of structure,” she said.

Nagorski said she wished the district notified her sooner that her son was on the waitlist at Burdick. 

“If I would have been notified a week prior to school starting, even if he was on a waitlist,” she said. “Give me something to work with.” 

Torres was finally able to enroll her daughter in school after NNS connected her with Davis. 

She began classes on Sept. 10 at Morgandale. 

How to enroll your student

Davis said parents will get the fastest service by coming in person to the central services office at 5225 W. Vliet St. 

Parents can apply to enroll their students by checking out this online portal. 

For families who can’t come in person or navigate the online portal, Davis said they can call 414-475-8159 and ask a canvasser to visit. 

The district requires identification when enrolling your student. If you don’t have a government-issued ID card, call the number above. 

According to Davis, one way to help avoid parents’ school of choice reaching maximum capacity is by applying during the regular enrollment period. 

“We appreciate that full classes and schools may present challenges for families,” Davis wrote in an email to NNS. “We do hope they can understand that a classroom filled above its maximum capacity can present a challenging experience for all the students, their families and the teacher.”

Parents face challenges navigating the Milwaukee Public Schools enrollment process is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

The U.S. Department of Education has pulled funding for programs in eight states aimed at supporting students who have both hearing and vision loss, a move that could affect some of the country’s most vulnerable students.

The programs are considered vital in those states but represent only a little over $1 million a year in federal money. Nonetheless, they got caught in the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, with an Education Department spokesperson citing concerns about “divisive concepts” and “fairness” in acknowledging the decision to withhold the funding.

The funding, which was expected to continue through September 2028, will stop at the end of the month, according to letters from the Education Department to local officials that were obtained by ProPublica. The government gave the programs seven days to ask officials to reconsider the decision.

The programs, part of a national network of organizations for every state, provide training and resources to help families and educators support students who are deaf and blind, a condition known as deafblindness that affects the ability to process both auditory and visual information. Those students often have significant communication challenges and need specialized services and schooling. (Education Week first reported that the department had canceled grants related to special education.)

Nationally, there are about 10,000 children and young adults, from infants to 21-year-olds, who are deafblind and more than 1,000 in the eight affected states, according to the National Center on Deafblindness. The programs targeted by the Education Department are in Wisconsin, Oregon and Washington, as well as in New England, which is served by a consortium for Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont.

“How low can you go?” said Maurice Belote, co-chair of the National DeafBlind Coalition, which advocates for legislation that supports deafblind children and young adults. “How can you do this to children?”

In Oregon, the 2023 grant application for the deafblind program there included a statement about its commitment to address “inequities, racism, bias” and the marginalization of disability groups. It also attached the strategic plan for Portland Public Schools, where the Oregon DeafBlind Project is headquartered, that mentioned the establishment of a Center for Black Student Excellence — which is unrelated to the deafblind project. The Education Department’s letter said that those initiatives were “in conflict with agency policy and priorities.”

The director of the Wisconsin Deafblind Technical Assistance Project received a similar letter from the Education Department that said its work was at odds with the federal government’s new focus on “merit.” The letter noted that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, which oversees the project, had a policy of ensuring that women, minorities and disabled veterans would be included in the hiring process.

The Education Department also was concerned about other words in the application, said Adrian Klenz, who works with deafblind adults in the state. He said he has talked with state officials about the discontinuation of the grant.

“I was told that apparently the administration is going through past grants and two words were flagged: One was transition and one was privilege,” Klenz said. “Transition — transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Privilege came up because a parent wrote a glowing review of staff that said what a privilege it was to work with them.” ProPublica obtained a copy of the grant application and confirmed that those words were included.

In a statement, Education Department Press Secretary Savannah Newhouse told ProPublica that the administration “is no longer allowing taxpayer dollars to go out the door on autopilot — we are evaluating every federal grant to ensure they are in line with the Administration’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education.”

Newhouse said the Education Department renewed more than 500 special education grants that fund services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. She said the agency decided not to renew fewer than 35.

“Many of these use overt race preferences or perpetuate divisive concepts and stereotypes, which no student should be exposed to,” she said, adding that the funds will be put toward other programs.

The department started funding state-level programs to help deafblind students more than 40 years ago in response to the rubella epidemic in the late 1960s. While the population is small, it is among the most complex to serve; educators rely on the deafblindness programs for support and training.

Deafblind programs help educators learn the most effective ways to teach reading and connect families with state and local resources. The programs also tally the number of students across the country who are affected by deafblindness.

Disability advocates, who promote inclusion for people in their communities with disabilities, said they are struggling to reconcile how they can now be under attack for language about inclusion.

What’s more, under Joe Biden, who was president when the grant applications were submitted, language about diversity and inclusion efforts was required. The department at the time noted that “deafBlind children have complex needs and are among the most diverse groups of learners served” using federal special-education funds.

“We were required by the Biden administration to write a statement around equity,” said Lisa McConachie, of the Oregon DeafBlind Project, which serves 114 students in the state.

She said the Trump administration’s view of DEI is different from how inclusion is thought of by disability advocates. “Our passion and our mission is around advocacy for inclusion for kids with disabilities,” she said. “Students in special education are often marginalized in their schools. Students in special education are often excluded.”

Lanya Elsa, who lives in Washington and has two sons served by the state’s deafblind program, said the organization has provided strategies for her son’s educators over the years and has helped her connect with other families. She also is the former director of the Idaho program.

Elsa said that while the funding loss may seem small, “those vulnerable students have nothing else. It is devastating.”

The Education Department notified Wisconsin earlier this month that funding for its deafblind program as well as a separate federal grant to recruit special-education teachers was being discontinued. Officials there plan to appeal, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

About 170 deafblind students in Wisconsin are served by that grant, which funds assistive technology tools, coaching, family support and professional training across the state. And the recruitment of special-education teachers was begun to address a severe shortage.

“Make no mistake, losing these funds will directly impact our ability to serve some of our most vulnerable kids,” Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly said in a written statement. “Losing these dollars at this point in the year will be devastating for the kids who need these supports the most.”

In Oregon, the impact will be felt soon. McConachie said about 20 families had signed up for a parent retreat next month to swap medical equipment, share resources and learn about services to help students when they get older.

“Gathering those families together is a lifeline for them,” she said. “These families are vulnerable and so are the kids.”

Without funding, the weekend will now be canceled. “The impact can’t be undone,” she said. “The disruption will be harmful for many years to come.”

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

Programs for students with hearing and vision loss harmed by Trump’s anti-diversity push is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

When Kristen Payne learned her child’s classmate at the Golda Meir Lower Campus tested positive for lead poisoning earlier this year, she said Milwaukee Public Schools had underestimated the amount of lead dust in the school. 

“We have come to find out that Golda Meir had one of the highest levels of lead dust of any of the schools tested,” said Payne, founder of the advocacy group Lead Safe Schools MKE. 

After MPS replaced the windows at Golda Meir in the 1990s, she said, district officials thought they eliminated a major hazard. But after starting remediation work earlier this year, they realized the problem was worse than they thought, she said. 

Payne said the experience broke her trust with the district. She’s one of several advocates calling for MPS to be more transparent with its lead action plan. 

As the school year approaches, lead safety groups want the district to share more documentation, open up about the money being spent on the plan and keep an eye on subcontractors doing remediation. 

Advocates urge transparency

As of Aug. 29, the Milwaukee Health Department had cleared 39 MPS schools, meaning lead hazards have been removed and it is safe for children to return. 

The district has posted full health department clearance reports for six schools and interim clearance reports for three schools, including Golda Meir. 

An interim clearance report means all indoor lead hazards have been addressed, even if there are still lead hazards outside, said Caroline Reinwald, marketing, communications and public information officer for the Milwaukee Health Department. 

“Some schools receive interim clearance reports because completing all exterior work can take months or even years,” Reinwald wrote. “In these cases, the buildings are still considered safe to occupy.” 

As of Aug. 29, the district had sent letters to families at 28 schools saying the Health Department cleared their school for occupancy, yet few of the full clearance reports are available online. 

“Trust is not going to be rebuilt if they continue to withhold information,” Payne said. “There’s many of us who aren’t clear or sure that truly these schools are safe.”

Richard Diaz is the co-founder of Coalition On Lead Emergency, which works to prevent and respond to lead poisoning in Milwaukee. 

He said he wants to know how much money MPS is spending on abatement efforts and how long the cleanup keeps students safe from lead exposure. 

Lead hazards can reappear after abatement, so the district will need to monitor schools for future lead risks, according to the Milwaukee Health Department clearance reports. New lead hazards can also appear as the building deteriorates, the reports read. 

“Because these aren’t full-fledged abatements, these are, you know, kind of just Band-Aids on a solution that will need to be addressed in years to come,” Diaz said. 

Contractor concerns

JCP Construction, the company MPS hired to assist with lead remediation, started the work with about 150 painters, but about 30 painters have since left due to difficult work conditions and high temperatures, MPS Interim Chief Operating Officer Mike Turza said in the July 31 school board meeting. 

Turza said JCP Construction hired Illinois-based Independence Painting to fill the void, a decision that raised concerns among advocates and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. The district currently has 172 painters working across buildings.

Andy Buck, political affairs director with the painters’ union, said safety is a big concern. He said people want to know and ensure contractors doing lead remediation have the necessary qualifications.

“How’s that being documented?” Buck asked.

MPS media relations manager Stephen Davis said the district holds the contractor, JCP Construction, accountable for ensuring subcontractors are compliant with state regulations and licenses. 

When the public raised concerns about out-of-state contractors like Independence Painting, the district worked with JCP to ensure it had all the necessary qualifications, Davis said.

There are generally no restrictions on the use of contractors from outside the area or state, but the district mandates that any staff meet the qualifications of state and building code requirements, Davis said.

Payne said the situation is another example of why she struggles to trust the district. Like Buck, she wants to see the documented qualifications of the subcontractors. 

During the July 31 school board meeting, Turza said a district staff member was always monitoring each worksite and that certified lead stabilization staff or Wisconsin Department of Health Services workers were always present. 

“It’s not clear to me who is correct,” Payne said. “I would want to see actual data on that before coming to any conclusion.”

What’s next

The first day of class for most Milwaukee Public Schools was Sept. 2. As of Aug. 29, there were still 11 schools that had not been cleared by the Milwaukee Health Department. 

Remediation efforts are ongoing with clearance of all schools expected by the start of the school year, according to the district’s most recent lead action plan report.

You can check on the progress of lead remediation efforts on this website. 

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.  

Advocates want more transparency in Milwaukee Public Schools lead action plan is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Jesús Daniel Ruiz Villamil wanted to be proactive, so before he started his junior year at Milwaukee’s South Division High School, he asked his counselors about courses beyond normal high school classes. 

They suggested dual enrollment, where Ruiz Villamil could get college credit for taking university-level courses like Latin American and Caribbean studies and advanced Spanish taught by his high school teachers.

Now a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ruiz Villamil credits the dual enrollment classes he took at South Division for the success he’s experienced so far in college. 

“I think those college classes … helped me to improve my writing and reading skills to be prepared for my English classes, psychology classes and political science classes,” he said.

Dual enrollment gives students the opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school. South Division is one of several Milwaukee Public Schools that offer dual enrollment in the school – MPS teachers teach college classes in the classroom.

MPS high school students at any school can also take advantage of dual enrollment on a college campus – where students can earn high school and college credit at the same time for taking college classes – through the district’s M-Cubed partnership with UWM and the Milwaukee Area Technical College. 

Participation in dual enrollment is growing in Wisconsin, but Milwaukee lags behind many other districts in the state, a Wisconsin Policy Forum report found. 

In Milwaukee Public Schools, 2.8% of high school students participated in dual enrollment, the study found using 2023-2024 state report card data. The report card data is based off enrollment data from the previous school year. 

In Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District, the rate is 47%, while at Racine Unified, the dual enrollment participation rate is 40%.

Concerns with state funding

Vicki Bott, UWM outreach program manager, said she thinks dual enrollment could grow at MPS, but limits in state funding force schools to weigh the benefits of increasing access with other pressing district needs.

The district covers nearly the entire cost of programs like M-Cubed or in-classroom courses like those at South Division, MPS postsecondary engagement coordinator Hannah Ingram said. Wisconsin does not give school districts funding to help cover these dual enrollment costs. 

For each UWM course that a high school teacher teaches, MPS pays $330 per student at no cost to the student. For this coming school year, the district is paying a little over $3,200 per student to participate in the M-Cubed program, Ingram said.

“It’s too much of a burden on school districts and high schools, so that’s where we’ve got some inequity,” Bott said. “If it’s a matter of like, you know, repainting to prevent lead poisoning or providing tuition for dual enrollment, they’re going to choose the lead poisoning prevention.”

Other hurdles

Some schools don’t have dual enrollment courses inside the classroom because no teachers have the necessary qualifications to teach a college-level course, MPS career and technical education manager Eric Radomski said. Teachers also don’t get incentives to teach dual enrollment courses. 

South Division can offer several courses in the high school because several teachers already had the necessary qualifications, including master’s degrees, Principal José Trejo said. 

Trejo said not many South Division students participate in M-Cubed. He said students tend to just participate in the courses within the high school.

Most dual enrollment courses across Wisconsin are similar to South Division’s program, where high school teachers get credentialed to teach courses for college credit in the classroom, Wisconsin Policy Forum researcher and report author Don Cramer said. 

South Division is one of 10 MPS schools that offer classes through UWM in the high school, Ingram said. Radomski said 15 high schools have career and technical education classes, eight of which offer dual enrollment career and technical education courses. 

Despite the financial constraints, Radomski said, “We have seen a gradual trend in the right direction with more and more (career and technical education) teachers offering dual enrollment courses over the past several years.”  

The district adds about one to two career and technical education dual enrollment courses in the high school each year, he said. 

Different schools, different priorities

Another reason dual enrollment access varies, according to Ingram, is because some MPS schools choose to prioritize other programs over dual enrollment in the classroom, like Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, the Rising Phoenix program through the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, or Early College Credit Program and Start College Now, Wisconsin’s two dual enrollment programs. 

At Pulaski High School, for example, three students dual-enrolled during the 2022-2023 school year, but 84% of students completed AP or IB courses. 

Not all students who take AP courses take the exam, and not everyone who takes the exam receives college credit. Students need to take and score high enough on an AP exam to earn college credit. 

AP exams are graded on a scale of one to five. Students typically need to score three or higher depending on the course and the requirements of the university to which the student is transferring. Students can check what AP scores their prospective college accepts using the College Board’s AP credit policy search.

Radomski said despite the benefits of advanced courses like AP and IB, a lot of MPS students see greater success in dual enrollment courses because they need to pass an entire class to receive college credit, not just a test. 

“We have over a 75% pass rate, for example, in Career Tech Ed, but the number is not nearly that high for students getting a three or four on their (AP) test in order to get that credit,” Radomski said. 

Ruiz Villamil said the rigor of AP courses helped him prepare for college classes, but he preferred dual enrollment. He said he failed two AP exams and didn’t earn credit despite taking the classes for a year. 

Helping students find their path

At South Division, principal Trejo has seen dual enrollment courses help students gain better clarity about what they want to do after graduation. With this clarity, Trejo said, students can avoid pursuing a college degree only to realize they don’t like it.

“It’s a really good experience in terms of understanding ‘maybe that’s not what I want to do’ and it’s OK,” Trejo said. “But at least you found that out early enough so that you’re not spending so much money in college.”

For example, students interested in becoming a teacher can learn how they like working in a classroom by taking college-level education classes and participating in an internship at an MPS school — an opportunity Trejo said students might not have if they didn’t start their education career until college. 

Ruiz Villamil said his dual enrollment courses helped expose him to new pathways of study. 

“That’s one of the reasons that I’m doing a Spanish minor, probably major,” Ruiz Villamil said. “Nowadays, I can look back to it and appreciate that I took those classes.”

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

Dual enrollment helps Milwaukee Public Schools students prepare for college success. Why are participation rates low? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Wisconsin doesn’t require daily exercise for students.

Physical education must be given weekly to students in kindergarten through sixth grade and, for older middle school students, with “sufficient frequency and instructional time to meet the objectives outlined in the district’s curriculum plan.”

High school students must follow a curriculum “designed to build lifelong fitness habits.”

In 2024, GOP lawmakers as part of a child obesity task force introduced legislation to require 180 minutes of weekly “physical activity” for K-8 students. One lawmaker said the aim was to require movement, such as playing tennis, rather than teaching tennis.

The bill passed the Assembly but not the Senate.

On July 27, former Gov. Scott Walker called for a 60-minute daily exercise minimum.

In 2022-23, 18.4% of Wisconsin children ages 6-17 were obese, the 16th highest rate in the U.S.

Childhood obesity that lasts into adulthood can result in conditions such as diabetes, liver disease and high blood pressure.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: Email
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: Email
• Speaker's Task Force on Childhood Obesity: Scope Summary
• Wisconsin Legislature: 2023 Assembly Bill 1016
• WPR: New bill requires Wisconsin students get 3 hours of movement per week
• Wisconsin Legislature: Assembly Bill 1016 actions
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: State of Childhood Obesity
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Childhood Obesity: A Complex Disease
• KFF: Obesity Rates Among Children: A Closer Look at Implications for Children Covered by Medicaid
• Johns Hopkins University Child & Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative: Child and Family Health Measures: Wisconsin

Does Wisconsin require daily exercise for K-12 students? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Trump administration is releasing billions of dollars in withheld grants for schools, the Education Department said Friday, ending weeks of uncertainty for educators around the country who rely on the money for English language instruction, adult literacy and other programs.

President Donald Trump’s administration had suspended more than $6 billion in funding on July 1, as part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House’s priorities.

While the majority of funding on hold was for K-12 education, federal dollars make up a greater share of the adult education budgets.

The withheld funding included $715 million nationwide for adult education and literacy programs, which help adults complete high school, learn English and improve their literacy skills, among other services. In Wisconsin, adult education providers and technical college leaders lamented the funding freeze earlier this month in interviews with Wisconsin Watch. In a state where 340,000 adults lack a high school diploma, they said the nearly $7 million in adult education funds promised to Wisconsin were crucial in efforts to bolster a thin workforce, and they warned canceled funding would prompt layoffs and program scale-backs.

The Wisconsin Technical College System applauded the Trump administration’s announcement on Friday.

“The system is glad the administration has decided to release the funds previously approved by Congress to fund adult education in Wisconsin,” Director of Strategic Advancement Katy Pettersen said in a statement. “The system and our colleges remain committed to providing education for all students, including those who are seeking adult education to help them find family supporting careers.”

The funding freeze had been challenged by several lawsuits as educators, Congress members from both parties and others called for the administration to release the money. Congress had appropriated the money in a bill signed this year by Trump.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, was among leaders in 24 states suing the Trump administration over the frozen funds. 

Last week, the Education Department said it would release $1.3 billion of the money for after-school and summer programming. Without the money, school districts and nonprofits such as the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club of America had said they would have to close or scale back educational offerings this fall.

The Office of Management and Budget had completed its review of the programs and will begin sending the money to states next week, the Education Department said.

A group of 10 Republican senators on July 16 sent a letter imploring the administration to allow the frozen education money to be sent to states, saying the withheld money supported programs and services that are critical to local communities.

“The programs are ones that enjoy long-standing, bipartisan support,” U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said Friday. She pointed to after-school and summer programs that allow parents to work while their children learn and classes that help adults gain new skills — contributing to local economies.

In withholding the funds, the Office of Management and Budget had said some of the programs supported a “radical leftwing agenda.”

“We share your concern,” the GOP senators had written. “However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds.”

School superintendents had warned they would have to eliminate academic services without the money. On Friday, AASA, an association of superintendents, thanked members of Congress for pressing to release the money.

The uncertainty around the funding was an unnecessary distraction for schools, said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

“Instead of spending the last many weeks figuring out how to improve after-school options and get our kids’ reading and math scores up, because of President Trump, communities across the country have been forced to spend their time cutting back on tutoring options and sorting out how many teachers they will have to lay off,” Murray said.

The grants that were under review included $2 billion in grants for teachers’ professional development and efforts to reduce class size; $1.3 billion for after-school and summer learning programs; $1 billion for academic enrichment grants, often used for science and math education and accelerated learning; $890 million for students who are learning English; $376 million to educate the children of migrant workers; and $715 million to teach adults how to read.

Miranda Dunlap of Wisconsin Watch reports on pathways to success in northeast Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.

Trump’s Education Department says it will unfreeze billions in grant money for schools is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.