Monthly Archives: October, 2022

(The Center Square) – Tim Michels is suggesting more changes at the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

Michels told the crowd at the Rotary Club in Milwaukee on Tuesday that he could see splitting the DNR into separate agencies.

“Maybe we break the DNR into two parts. One that services the business side, and one that services the hunters’ side,” Michels said. “I don’t have all the answers today, but I will sit down with the smart people and figure that out.”

Michels made headlines when he suggested during his only debate with Gov. Tony Evers last Friday that the DNR is broken.

“It’s not my opinion that the DNR is broken. It’s what I hear everywhere I go,” Michels explained. “Go talk to some hunters, they don’t feel that the DNR has their backs right now. They feel that the DNR is out to get them.

Michels said he wants to “recalibrate” the DNR.

The DNR deals with both hunting, fishing, and boating as well as environmental regulations.

Michels said he’s heard from a lot of businesses who also have complaints. He says many businesses in the state are waiting to get the go-ahead for things like water permits and expansions.

Gov. Evers has turned the DNR’s attention to environmental issues during his time in office.

It was just last month that the DNR released its Climate Action Report that stated one of the main focuses at the agency is “climate change and environmental equity.”

Michels said dealing with the DNR will be one of his top priorities if elected.

“I am very aware that we need to have a strong secretary of the DNR,” Michels added. “I am going to surround myself with great people, strong people. We’re going to have an outstanding administration. No one will have questions about the DNR or any other state agency.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s latest public school headcount shows fewer kids in traditional public schools and more kids moving into schools of choice.

And school choice supporters say that shouldn’t be a surprise.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released its headcount for the 2022-2023 school year last Friday. It shows a 1% drop in public school enrollment, plus a 7% increase in voucher-school enrollment and a 4% increase in charter school enrollment.

“This shows that the momentum around school choice was not just a pandemic-related event, but rather that parents value the opportunity to choose the best school for their child,” Libby Sobic with the Wisconsin Coalition for Educational Reform told The Center Square. “Both private schools in the parental choice program and independent public charter schools saw an increase in enrollment over the previous year.”

The numbers aren’t huge, but they are telling.

DPI said public school enrollment fell by about 7,000 students, while voucher-school enrollment grew by about 3,000 kids. DPI said charter school enrollment grew by just 460 students this year.

“The losses here appear to be from moving or demographic shifts more than growth in private school choice,” Will Flanders with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty said. “ Many of the best schools in Milwaukee have wait lists, and the supply of high-quality seats hasn’t fully kept up with demand.”

Wisconsin has seen steady growth in its school choice programs for several years, but Sobic said the coronavirus and the push to learn from home supercharged that growth.

“We all know parents or grandparents or friends who need a different school for their child. The pandemic exacerbated that need,” Sobic added. “We expect that demand for school choice will increase. Unfortunately, the current system keeps many families from accessing more options both because of limits on participation and because of too burdensome regulations that make it hard for schools and parents to participate.”

DPI’s numbers show that Milwaukee Public School lost more students than any other school district in the state, losing nearly 2,000. Suburban Milwaukee schools either gained students, or lost fewer students than other schools across the state.

Headcount numbers are important, not just as a snapshot of where students are going, but because Wisconsin funds schools based in part on enrollment.

School districts across the country are spending federal COVID-19 relief money on bonuses to employees saying their employees earned it for their work during the pandemic.

The bonuses vary from district to district, ranging $250 to more than $20,000 per employee.

Flint Public Schools in Michigan gave each of its teachers a $22,500 bonus in 2021.

Tucson School District in Arizona is going to pay $7,500 retention bonuses to all of its full-time employees spread over three payments starting Dec. 2, 2022, through Dec. 1, 2023.

Gaston County Schools in North Carolina approved $5,000 in retention bonuses for all of its permanent employees during the 2021 and 2022 school years.

District officials cited additional responsibilities employees "have endured" since the pandemic and said the bonuses helped improve the stability of the district's work force.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is paying teachers a 3% retention bonus in 2022-23 and 2023-24. That would be about $2,200 for a fifth-year teacher with a base pay of $72,696. The district also gave nurses a $20,000 salary increase.

" ... the District recognizes the hard work and dedication of our employees and the need to compensate them fairly in the current economic environment," the district stated in a September news release.

The National Council on Teacher Quality surveyed 148 school districts and reported that about 40% offered some kind of retention bonus to teachers in 2021-22.

But it's not just teachers getting bonuses.

Boston Public Schools is paying part-time cafeteria attendants and bus monitors a $250 bonus for every 10 days worked through the 2022-23 school year.

Some politicians wanted to give out even more federal money.

In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed adding a state retention bonus on top of what school districts were already paying.

Whitmer's plan was to spend $2.3 billion on K-12 public education workforce recruitment and retention bonuses in 2022. It would have given bonuses to an estimated 200,000 employees working in public schools and teachers could get up to $11,000 in bonuses over four years, above and beyond what their districts are already paying in bonuses.

The public policy research nonprofit Citizen's Research Council concluded Michigan's K-12 workforce had increased by 11,000 employees in 2021-22 and stated, "it is hard to see the justification for the broad scope of the governor’s statewide school employee retention bonus spending proposal. A more targeted intervention, one that would be less costly to taxpayers, would focus funding on those schools most adversely affected by high employee turnover and that face the greatest difficulties staffing specific positions."

Whitmer's bonus plan was not included in the budget lawmakers passed in July, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

Christian Barnard, senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation, said retention bonuses could be a good use of federal COVID-19 emergency dollars because they don't come with any long-term commitments, such as a new hire.

"However, it's important that districts target retention bonuses to staffing categories with the greatest retention challenges – for example, science and math teachers and special education teachers," Barnard said in an email.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s governor wants abortion 100% legal or nothing at all.

Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday told the crowd at the Rotary Club of Milwaukee that he would not sign a new law allowing for abortions in Wisconsin in cases of rape or incest.

“I wouldn’t sign it because it leaves the underlying law in place,” Evers explained.

The governor has made abortion the centerpiece of his re-election bid.

He has spent millions of dollars, and seen millions more from outside groups spent on campaign commercials calling Republican Tim Michels “radical.”

“[Abortion] shouldn’t be a politician's choice. And that’s where I absolutely disagree with my opponent,” Evers explained.

Michels, for his part, said even though he is pro-life, he would sign a law allowing women who are the victims of sexual assault or incest to get an abortion.

“I am pro-life and make no apologies for that. But I also understand that this is a representative democracy. And if the people, in this case, the legislature, brought a bill before me, as you just stated, I would sign that,” Michels said last month.

“Doing something around [exemptions] is not where I am,” Evers said Tuesday. “I think we should codify Roe v. Wade and get back to the way it has been in the last 50 years in the state of Wisconsin.”

It doesn’t appear likely that Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature would send the governor an abortion exemption plan.

Senate Majority Leader Devin Lemahieu said last month Republican views on abortion have “not changed.”

Wisconsin is one of about two dozen states that saw their original abortion law trigger into effect when the United States Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last spring. Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law only allows for abortions to save a mother’s life.

(The Center Square) – The final snapshot of Wisconsin’s races for governor and U.S. Senate reveals the Republicans have momentum heading into next month’s election.

The latest Marquette Law School Poll gives Republican Senator Ron Johnson a six-point lead over Democrat Mandela Barnes, 52-46, among likely voters.

The poll gives Gov. Tony Evers a one-point lead over Republican Tim Michels, 47-46, among the same likely voters.

“The gap has narrowed,” MU lead pollster Charles Franklin said Wednesday. “In August Evers was up by four points, then in September by three, and now by one point.”

Franklin said there’s a similar trend in the race for U.S. Senate.

“We had Barnes by seven the week after the [August] Primary,” Franklin explained. “Then it tightened to a one-point Johnson advantage in September, And now it’s a six point Johnson advantage in October.”

Franklin said the tightening in both races is not because more Republicans or Democrats are making up their minds. It’s because of independent voters.

“In August Evers had an 11-point advantage with independents. Then in September that came down to a six-point advantage. And this month it’s actually Michels with a one-point advantage among independents,” Franklin said. “In August Barnes had a 15-point advantage with independents. Then in September it was Johnson by two points with independents. And this month is Johnson by six points among independents.”

Michels Campaign Manager Patrick McNulty said voters are now starting to pay attention to Gov. Evers’ four years in office.

“The more people are reminded of Tony Evers’ failures, the more they coalesce around Tim Michels,” McNulty said. “Gov. Evers has released brutal murderers on our streets, shut down Main Street businesses, and crippled our education system. We look forward to carrying this momentum into Election Day.”

The Marquette poll shows there continues to be momentum for Gov. Evers’ sinking job approval rating.

“Forty six percent [of voters] approve of how he’s doing his job, 48% disapprove,” the poll stated. “In September, it was 44% approve, 47% disapprove.”

The poll also noted that Wisconsin voters are becoming more pessimistic about the state.

Pollsters say 63% of voters think Wisconsin is on the wrong track, while just 31% say it is headed in the right direction. In September, that was 53% wrong track, 40% right direction.

The Marquette Law School Poll was conducted Oct. 3-9, 2022, with 801 registered Wisconsin voters interviewed. Margin of error is +/-4.3%. Pollsters say that includes 652 likely voters and a margin of error for that sample is +/-4.8% among those voters.

(The Center Square) – If it weren’t for federal dollars, Milwaukee’s bad 2023 budget would be much worse.

A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum makes the case that Milwaukee is simply postponing an inevitable fiscal crisis for another year or so with Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s latest spending proposal.

The mayor is pushing a $1.7 billion spending plan that would raise taxes as well as make cuts to city services and Milwaukee’s head count.

The Policy Forum’s report states that Milwaukee’s left-over American Rescue Plan money is giving the city a “reprieve” from making deep cuts.

“Johnson’s 2023 budget proposal would tap $81.1 million of the city’s total $394.2 million allotment of ARPA funds. Nearly all would go toward operational costs within the Milwaukee Fire Department, supporting 470 sworn fire department positions,” the report explained. “Once the federal funds are spent, the potential need to cut all of those positions or substitute others across all city departments - as well as perhaps cut hundreds more as inflation and pension payments rise - would produce severe reductions in services that a city with Milwaukee’s vast needs arguably cannot afford to endure.”

Johnson has announced plans to cut about 20 police officers from the city’s payroll, and has told the city’s library to prepare to close four branches if his plan is accepted by the city council.

The Policy Forum report notes that Milwaukee is facing a fiscal cliff due to stagnant revenues and a ballooning pension payment.

“[Milwaukee’s pension payment] rises from $71 million in 2022 to $100 million in the proposed budget,” the report states. “As a buffer against this, city leaders have deliberately built up a pension reserve fund, the balance of which currently sits at $80.8 million, thanks in part to a $40 million contribution in the 2022 budget. But the $100 million figure may increase when the final determination of the 2023 contribution amount is made early next year, and it is anticipated that the pension reserve balance will be drawn down rapidly once ARPA funds are exhausted heading into 2025.”

The Policy Forum says Milwaukee’s two biggest income drivers, property taxes and shared state revenues, have remained largely flat.

Mayor Johnson continues to hope that the Republican-controlled legislature will change that and send his city more money.

The Policy Forum report said if not, Milwaukee is looking at a real crisis.

“City policymakers should be relieved that they have the federal resources in hand to delay their day of reckoning,” the report notes. “And area residents and businesses should be aware of the magnitude of the problem that is emerging, as well as what is at stake if state and local policymakers fail to avert worst-case outcomes.”