Yearly Archives: 2022

Republican U.S. senators on Tuesday questioned Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on the issue of school choice in the public education system.

In his opening statement during a hearing of a Senate appropriations subcommittee,, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., emphasized the desire for parents to have options when choosing where to send their children for school.

"Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic now more than ever, parents need to be involved. Parents want to have the flexibility, to choose the school that best meets their child's needs," Blunt said.

Cardona's department has what Blunt said he considers "overreaching charter school program regulations" that act to restrict the expansion of charter schools.

"I encourage you to reconsider those regulations," he added.

Advocates of charter schools argue that they outperform public schools.

A study released in 2019 by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), reported that Baton Rouge students enrolled in charter schools performed better than students in traditional public schools.

Another study by CREDO released in May found similar results among students in Denver.

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., also pressured Cardona on the issue of school choice.

"Part of what works in Indiana is the money follows the child, not the building, not the district, so to speak," Braun said. "Do you believe in that concept so that we're putting resources to the places that have the kids there?"

Cardona disagreed with Braun's proposal.

"I believe we need to make sure all of our schools are well resourced, so we don't have a system of winners and losers," Cardona said. "I believe that we need to fund public schools so that every student that attends a public school could have a high-quality education. I believe, there has to be an equal part, support, and accountability. You provide adequate resources, adequate professional learning opportunities, but then there has to be an equivalent amount of oversight and accountability to make sure that those schools are producing, and I understand that in some cases, that's not happening."

(The Center Square) – The tragic and deadly shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, have renewed the debate over gun control measures, but another policy idea also has been thrust back to the forefront: arming teachers.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., in 2013, Texas passed a law allowing teachers to sign up as firearm-carrying “marshals.” The program has not had widespread adoption. Several other states have laws allowing teachers to carry firearms on school grounds.

Now, Ohio may follow suit with its own plan to allow teachers to carry guns.

Ohio Republicans have spearheaded the issue in their state, passing a bill in both the House and the Senate this week that would reduce the amount of training teachers need to carry a gun to school from 700 hours to 24 initial hours followed by four recurring hours of training that the state’s attorney general would oversee. Ohio school districts would have the authority to add additional hour requirements.

Federal law prohibits carrying guns on K-12 school grounds but does allow exceptions for adults with state-issued licenses, leaving states wiggle room to create their own policies. So far, there is no nationwide consensus, and states have often deferred to local school districts.

The debate has been furthered after controversy surrounding the police response to the recent Texas shooting – the Uvalde shooter was active for over an hour inside the school before federal border agents confronted and killed him.

Newly released polling from Convention of States Action, along with the Trafalgar Group, found the majority of surveyed Americans say armed teachers would make schools safer. Currently, very few schools actually have teachers carrying weapons on school property.

The poll reports that “57.5 percent of American voters believe that preventing properly trained school teachers and school staff from carrying a firearm makes schools more dangerous” compared to 30.8% who say the opposite.

The poll surveyed 1,091 likely voters nationwide from May 25 through May 29 with a 2.9% margin of error. The poll's results varied by political affiliation, with 57.1% of Independents and 67.5% of Republicans favoring arming teachers while 48.2% of Democrats said the same.

Notably, younger Americans were most supportive, with 61.8% of 18-24 year-olds saying that prohibiting properly trained teachers from carrying guns would make schools less safe.

Polling of teachers suggests they are not as supportive. A Gallup poll from 2019 found that 73% of surveyed teachers “oppose teachers and staff carrying guns in schools” and 58% said “carrying guns in schools would make schools less safe.”

(The Center Square) – There are some unanswered questions about the end of the misgendering investigation in Kiel Schools.

The school district on Thursday sent a letter to parents explaining that it has closed the case.

“We are writing to share with you that consistent with our Board policies and procedures, we have issued clear directives and expectations to all students involved in this matter for the purpose of preventing bullying and harassment and ensuring a safe and supportive learning environment for all of our students,” the district wrote in its letter. “Based on these actions, and pursuant to District policies and procedures, the School District considers this matter closed.”

Kiel Schools had been investigating three eighth grade boys whose parents said they refused to use they/them pronouns for another student.

School leaders framed the investigation as a Title IX case involving sexual harassment and bullying.

“The Kiel Area School District prohibits all forms of bullying and harassment in accordance with all laws, including Title IX, and will continue to support ALL students regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, sex (including transgender status, change of sex or gender identity), or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability (“Protected Classes”) in any of its student programs and activities, consistent with Board policy and the law,” the letter stated.

But Luke Berg with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which was defending the boys, on Thursday said the investigation was about free speech.

"We are pleased that the Kiel Area School District has finally ended its misguided Title IX investigation. While the District’s statement attempts to reframe the investigation, it was always primarily about ‘mispronouning.’ The District may not be willing to admit it publicly, but it has recognized that it has no legal basis to demand that our clients refrain from ‘mispronouning’ other students,” WILL’s Luke Berg said.

Kiel schools are not saying what the outcome of the investigation is, or whether the boys will face any discipline.

The investigation touched-off a week of bomb threats to Kiel Schools, and one arrest of a California man who the FBI says threatened to kill a Kiel school worker.

(The Center Square) – Millions of Americans say the likely will have to push back their retirement because of rising inflation, newly released financial survey data found.

The BMO Real Financial Progress Index, a quarterly survey from BMO and Ipsos, showed that a quarter of Americans will likely need to delay their retirement because of higher prices.

“Nearly 60% of those surveyed said that inflation has adversely affected their personal finances, of which about one in four said that they have felt a major impact,” the group said. “As a result of inflation, 36% of Americans have reduced their savings and 21% have reduced their retirement savings. A quarter of Americans will need to delay their retirement. Younger Americans are feeling the most impact – over 60% of those aged 18-34 said they had to reduce contributions to their savings.”

This survey of more than 3,400 adults was conducted from March 30 to April 25.

Prices on a range of goods and services have soared since President Joe Biden took office, with energy costs leading the way. The latest data on the consumer price index, a key marker of inflation produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has reported the highest inflation rate in four decades.

“The all items index increased 8.3 percent for the 12 months ending April, a smaller increase than the 8.5-percent figure for the period ending in March,” BLS said. “The all items less food and energy index rose 6.2 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index rose 30.3 percent over the last year, and the food index increased 9.4 percent, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending April 1981.”

Those price increases are forcing many Americans to change their spending habits. According to the BMO survey, ​​”80% of Americans surveyed plan to change their actions to offset the impact of inflation and rising costs of everyday essentials.”

That includes looking for cheaper groceries, eating out less, driving less, canceling vacations and more.

"Prices across the board – from cars and gasoline to groceries and other everyday essentials – are rising at the fastest pace since the 1980s,” said Paul Dilda, head of consumer strategy for BMO Harris Bank. “Consumers must think differently about their finances in this inflationary environment."

The survey comes alongside recent polling that shows the majority of surveyed Americans blame Biden for inflation. Convention of States Action, along with the Trafalgar group, released polling this week that found that “59.9 percent of American voters believe that President Biden’s policies and spending are the leading contributor to rising inflation in the U.S.”

Biden has acknowledged rising prices but pointed to the invasion of Ukraine, blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin, though prices began rising well before the invasion.

According to the poll, many voters do blame Putin, but more hold Biden responsible, with only 31.6% saying that “Russia’s war with Ukraine is the leading contributor to rising inflation in the U.S.”

(The Center Square) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted this week she was wrong and underestimated inflation, which continues to soar.

During an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Tuesday, Yellen said that she failed to anticipate that inflation would become such a significant problem.

"I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take," she said, referencing a statement she made at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Summit in May of last year.

"I don't think there's going to be an inflationary problem," Yellen said at the time. "But if there is, the Fed will be counted on to address it."

Yellen's concession comes as Americans face record high gas prices with a national average of $4.67 per gallon of unleaded gas as of Wednesday, according to AAA. That average has risen every day this week. Food prices have risen by 9.4% since April of last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Yellen defended her previous comments during the CNN interview, though, saying, "there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that have boosted energy and food prices, and supply bottlenecks that have affected our economy badly, that, I didn't at the time, didn't fully understand, but we recognize that now."

(The Center Square) – The commander in charge of the police response to Tuesday's mass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school made the "wrong decision" to not send officers into the classroom to confront the gunman who shot and killed 19 children and two fourth grade teachers, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said Friday.

The chief of the Uvalde Consolidated School District Police Department, who was in charge of the initial response at Robb Elementary School, thought the shooter, 18-year-old Uvalde resident Salvador Ramos, was barricaded inside that classroom and that no other children were at risk, McCraw said.

“Obviously, based on the information we have, there were children in that classroom that were still at risk,” McCraw said. “From the benefit of hindsight where I’m sitting now, of course, it was not the right decision. It was the wrong decision. Period.”

Nearly 20 officers stood in a hallway outside of the classroom for more than 45 minutes before federal Border Patrol agents arrived and used a master key to open the door and kill the gunman, he said.

Outside the school, parents, neighbors and others said law enforcement waited close to an hour before confronting Ramos and killing him. Videos posted online showed a chaotic scene of parents pleading with officers who remained outside to enter the school as the active shooting incident was ongoing.

Victor Escalon, South Texas regional director in the Department of Public Safety, said at a Thursday news conference that the first officers on the scene did enter the school once they arrived but were shot at and began evacuating students and school personnel.

"Four minutes [after Ramos entered the school and began shooting students], local police departments, the Uvalde Police Department, the Independent School District Police Department are inside, making entry," Escalon said. "They hear gunfire, they take rounds, they move back, get cover. And during that time, they approach where the suspect is at."

After two officers were shot, Escalon said, law enforcement decided to start evacuating as many students and school personnel as they could.

About an hour after the shooting started, a tactical team from U.S. Border Patrol arrived, entered the building and killed the suspect, authorities said.

(The Center Square) – One of Wisconsin’s top critics of the 2020 election in the state is not staying silent about the resignation of one of Wisconsin’s Election Commissioners.

Commissioner Dean Knudson on Wednesday resigned his seat on the state’s Election Commission out of frustration with the continued focus on the last presidential vote in Wisconsin.

“Integrity demands acknowledging the truth even when the truth is painful. In this case, the painful truth is that President Trump lost the election in 2020 – lost the election in Wisconsin in 2020. And the loss was not due to election fraud,” Knudson said during Wednesday’s WEC meeting.

Knudson is a former Republican lawmaker, and helped create the Wisconsin Elections Commission back in 2015.

"I'll put my conservative record up against anyone in the state of Wisconsin, and yet now I've been branded a RINO," Knudson added, employing the acronym for Republican In Name Only.

But Republican state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Thursday questioned Knudson’s conservative bona fides.

“Wisconsin Election Commissioner Dean Knutson resigned yesterday citing lack of support from the GOP. He blamed conspiracy theories and misinformation about the 2020 election, but in reality, he simply didn’t do his job, which was to oversee the agency that Wisconsinites depend on for fair and honest elections,” Brandtken said.

Brandtjen has led one of the investigations into the 2020 election from her Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections since early 2021.

Brandtjen said Knudson allowed:

Bloated voter rolls to continue.Madison’s Democracy in the Park"Over $8 million in Zuckerberg money for targeted "get out the vote’ efforts.Ballot trafficking and drop boxes.Illegal suspension of special voting deputies, knowingly.WEC lawsuits against Justice Gableman and Brandtjen instead of cooperating with the investigations.

“Stripping our elections of the safety measures the legislature has put into statute is not what we expect from the Elections Commission; in fact, we expect the exact opposite,” Brandtjen added.

Knudson’s resignation means Republicans will have to appoint another commissioner. That search is underway.

His resignation also came as Commissioner Bob Spindell, who is a vocal 2020 election critic, is set to take over as commission chairman. That vote was supposed to happen Wednesday, but has now been postponed.

(The Center Square) – An elementary school counselor from Milwaukee is refusing to resign or change her mind about gender identity, even after the state opened an investigation that could cost her her job.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction sent Marissa Darlingh a letter on April 29, explaining that she was under investigation for what she said at a rally in Madison just six days before.

“DPI has opened an investigation to determine whether to initiate educator license revocation proceedings against you,” the letter stated. “It has been alleged that you engaged in immoral conduct.”

Darling was one of several speakers at a feminist rally in Madison on April 23 where she used a commonly expressed profanity repeatedly as she discussed transgenderism.

“I oppose gender ideology ever entering the walls of my school building,” Darling said. “Over my dead ... body will my students be exposed to the heart of gender identity ideology. Not a single one of my students under my ... watch will ever, ever transition socially, and sure as hell not medically.”

DPI’s letter said the investigation will “determine if there is probable cause to support allegations of immoral conduct.”

DPI gave Darlingh the option to resign ahead of the investigation, but Darlingh opted instead to fight.

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty sent a letter to DPI that promises a lawsuit if the state tries to suspend Darlingh’s license because of her opposition to transgenderism or her use of profanity.

“The state is, quite simply, trying to punish a public-school counselor for her views on gender ideology. This is a classic, clear-cut, violation of the First Amendment and the state can expect a federal lawsuit if it proceeds,” WILL’s Luke Berg said.

Darling said she will not back down, and will not change her mind about transgenderism even after the investigation is complete.

“My views on the harms of gender ideology to children are informed by a desire to serve and protect children,” Darling said in a statement. “That’s why I got into education. I will love and serve every child under my care, no matter what. But I won’t recant under threat from the state.”

(The Center Square) – A number of Wisconsin’s progressive advocates and big labor unions want Milwaukee to abandon plans to host the Republican National Convention because they don’t like Republicans’ politics.

Voces de la Frontera Action, Power to the Polls, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Never Again is Now, and SEIU all signed on to an open letter Tuesday asking Milwaukee’s city council to reject a contract that would be necessary for Milwaukee to host the RNC in 2024.

“We the undersigned community organizations want to send a clear message to city, county and state leaders: the Republican National Convention is not welcome in Milwaukee,” the groups wrote. “The Republican Party, both nationally and in Wisconsin, has become an organization that supports White Supremacists, the violent attempted coup at the US Capitol to overthrow a democratic election, and continues to engineer new ways to undermine fair and democratic elections.”

The open letter comes as city leaders in Milwaukee are set to vote on the RNC contract on Wednesday.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Tuesday said the city can host the Republican convention without endorsing the Republican Party’s political views.

"I think that the RNC presents a tremendous opportunity for us in Milwaukee," Johnson told reporters. "I think it presents a great opportunity for Milwaukee to be in the national conversation, to be a city that other large conventions and other large events look to. I want the RNC to be the bedrock for a new and stronger convention and tourism economy that we can build here in the city of Milwaukee."

Johnson said his support for the RNC is a “business decision.”

CJ Szafir with the Institute for Reforming Government said the opposition is “on-brand” from progressives and big labor in the state

“It's terribly disappointing that progressive and labor groups are opposed to Milwaukee hosting an event that could bring up to 45,000 visitors to the city, creating as much as $200 million in economic impact. This would directly benefit Milwaukee small businesses and workers, which ironically is who these groups claim to care about,” Szafir told The Center Square. “A political convention is one of the great American historic events and to have the RNC come to Milwaukee in 2024 would give Milwaukee the global spotlight that it deserves. This should get bipartisan support.”

Milwaukee and Nashville, Tennessee are the final two cities in the running for hosting the RNC in 2024. A decision on the winning city is expected later this summer.