Yearly Archives: 2022

(The Center Square) – A new report says part of the solution to the nation’s student loan crisis is for colleges and universities to be more honest with students before they pick a major.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Tuesday released its report ‘Bang for the Buck-y’ which looks at the costs and return on investment for various degrees at various schools here in Wisconsin.

“We make the case that public universities must serve as good stewards of taxpayer money, and those that are putting students on career paths where they’re unlikely to be able to pay their student loans ought to be held accountable,” the authors wrote. “Moreover, universities should aid in solving the growing workforce crisis by steering students towards careers where there are shortages in the state.”

WILL’s report ranks two-year, four-year, technical and beauty schools for loan default rates, and ranks majors at various campuses based on their return on investment.

Beauty schools in Wisconsin have, by far, the worst rate of students paying back their loans. The report notes that 10 beauty schools have a loan default rate above 11%, with the State College of Beauty Culture reporting a 28.5% rate of student loan default. By comparison, UW- Milwaukee has the highest default rate for four-year, UW schools at 6.2%.

“We should not ignore the extremely high default rates at many beauty schools,” the report notes. “Various cosmetology licenses require a certain number of hours at a state licensed school of cosmetology, barbering, or aesthetics.10 Given the default rates, one must question the utility of these programs.”

UW-Madison has the second lowest rate of students defaulting on their loans, at just 0.9%. Only the Nashotah House Seminary has a lower rate of default.

The report also looks at return on investment (ROI) for college majors. And once again there is a massive difference.

“The major with the most negative ROI is dance. All else equal, a student who majors in dance at UW-Milwaukee is likely to have a net negative effect on their lifetime earnings of nearly $250,000,” the authors wrote. “On the other end of the spectrum is perhaps what one might expect—five engineering majors. If a student with the same demographic profile and background chose a computer engineering major over dance, the net effect on their lifetime earnings would be expected to be $712,072.”

WILL’s report makes three suggestions to help turn things around.

One, the report says schools need to be much more honest with students about the return on investment for college majors. The report also suggests schools have students sign informed consent forms for certain majors, so students know just what they are getting into. And finally, the report suggests incentives for colleges and universities which help students get degrees with higher returns on investment, and the schools that see fewer students default on their loans.

(The Center Square) – Public schools in Wisconsin are getting more expensive in the latest round of property tax bills that are being mailed this month.

A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum says taxpayers will pay more than $78 million for K-12 schools on their latest property tax bills.

“Statewide K-12 property taxes will rise for the 11th-straight year,” the report notes.

The Policy Forum calls the $78 million increase “modest,” and says while people will be paying more in taxes, their tax rates will technically fall.

“This year, modest property tax increases for each of [the] four types of local governments will coincide with about a 14% increase in the value of property in the state – the highest single-year increase in recent memory.” the report explains. “So while many taxpayers will see higher bills (depending, in part, on whether their property has been reassessed this year), tax rates will decline because the value of property is increasing much faster.”

The four types of property taxes include Wisconsin’s school districts, counties, technical colleges, and special districts. The report does not look at taxes for cities, villages, and towns because the data on those won’t be available until early next year.

Wisconsin limits local tax increases as an attempt to lower the cost for taxpayers. But the report notes that many school districts have turned to voter-approved tax increases (referendum questions) to get around those limits.

“Since the beginning of 2018, voters around the state have approved 456 referendum questions – more than one per district. That includes 246 for operating budgets and 210 for borrowing for capital projects,” the report states. “Property tax levies increased 3.7% on December tax bills in those districts that have adopted referenda since 2020 while they fell 1.3% in districts that have not. In all, 285 of the 421 (67.7%) K-12 districts have passed at least one referendum in the last five years, with many passing more than one.”

Some of the biggest increases in local taxes have come in Wisconsin’s biggest school districts, Milwaukee and Madison, because of those voter-approved tax referendum questions.

“This year, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) will raise its levy by more than $14 million, an increase of 4.7% that is greater than the statewide average. The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) is raising its levy by just under $6 million, or about 1.6% - just above average,” the report notes. “While not the sole cause, it is worth noting that in 2020, both of the state’s largest districts passed operating referenda to exceed levy limits with increases that ramped up over multiple years; MMSD also passed a debt referendum.”

The report ends with a conclusion that lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers have a decision to make on local school funding. The report recognizes that Wisconsin has a record $6.6 billion budget surplus, and questions how much of it can be used to keep property taxes in the state low.

You can read the Policy Forum’s report here.

(The Center Square) – The Green Bay Area Public School District is preparing for a "significant fiscal cliff" for the 2024-25 school year once federal emergency funding for COVID-19 dries up.

Like school districts across the U.S., federal emergency funds have allowed districts to realize an increase in funding during the pandemic.

Federal money for the district's general fund has increased from $12.2 million in 2019 to $33.5 million in 2022, a 175% increase. Total revenues for the district jumped from $275.6 million in 2019 to $304.6 million in 2022, an 11% increase.

But the federal emergency funds are running out. The district is projecting $28.5 million in federal funds in 2023, far more than the pre-pandemic days but a $5 million decrease from the year before.

While the district has had an increase in funding, enrollment has declined over the past six years, peaking at 21,937 students in 2016-17 and dropping to 19,828 in 2022-23.

Green Bay schools' spokeswoman Lori Blakeslee said the district relied on $12.5 million of COVID-19 emergency funds for operational expenses in the 2022-23 budget. The federal money helps offset no increase in state per pupil aid, Blakeslee said.

"The District is currently planning for a significant fiscal cliff for the 2024-25 school year," Blakeslee said in an email. "Our state legislature will be working on the state budget this next session, which begins in January."

Blakeslee said the district used its federal relief money to hire contact tracers, additional nurses, additional staff to support students, technology and personal protective equipment. The money was also used for all-day summer school programing.

"With the (federal emergency) funds being one-time money, we have been reducing staff back to pre-pandemic levels," Blakeslee said.

(The Center Square) – There will be a Republican-vs.-Republican race for the open state Senate seat in the Milwaukee suburbs.

Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Monday said she is jumping into the race to replace Alberta Darling.

“After long hours of consulting with my family, friends and countless political allies, I have decided that the best place for me to continue to represent the people of Wisconsin would be in the 8th Senate District,” Brandtjen said in a statement.

Darling announced her retirement about two weeks ago. She’s served the area that includes parts of northern Milwaukee County, southern Washington County, and northern Waukesha County for more than 30 years.

Brandtjen is currently the state representative for a third of Darling’s 8th Senate District. She will face the other Republican in Darling’s district, Rep. Dan Knodl. Knodl announced his campaign for the state senate last week.

Brandtjen is on the outs with leadership in the Assembly.

She was disinvited from the Assembly Republican caucus, and is widely expected to lose her committee chairmen position when lawmakers return for a new session in Madison in January.

Brandtjen became a very vocal critic of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos during the investigations into the 2020 election in Wisconsin.

Brandtjen went on to support Vos’ primary opponent Adam Steen.

Brandtjen talked-up her conservative bona fides in her campaign announcement.

“I can guarantee that I will continue to fight for the principles that every American shares. No one has fought harder for Life, Second Amendment rights, keeping your family safe and allowing every family to send their children to a great school,” she added.

Gov. Evers on Friday set the dates for the special election to replace Darling. They fall on the same dates as the previously scheduled spring election. That means the primary will be February 21, and Election Day will be April 4.

Public employee pension systems are some of the largest financial liabilities on state government balance sheets. The 50 states have over $4.5 trillion in cumulative pension liabilities combined, roughly double the amount all 50 states spent in fiscal 2020. For years, state pension systems were woefully underfunded in much of the country, but according to a recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, this trend may be reversing.

Driven by higher investment from both employees and employers, state pension systems have largely stabilized as of 2020. Since 2007, states across the country have more than doubled annual pension contributions, often cutting funding for other programs to do so.

Still, some states are better positioned to pay public sector employees in retirement than others. In Wisconsin, estimated pension liabilities totaled an estimated $118.7 billion in 2020. Meanwhile, the state's pension assets totaled $125.0 billion. Considering both assets and liabilities, Wisconsin's pension funding ratio is 105.3%, the highest in the country.

According to 2021 estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Wisconsin state government employs some 91,500 people, or 3.2% of the total private and public sector workforce in the state.

It is important to note that 2020 is the most recent year for which comprehensive state level data is available and that the recent market downturn has all but erased much of the financial gains states have made in recent years. Still, while markets are always susceptible to turmoil, improved policies have gone a long way to improving pension funding in much of the country.

All state pension data in this story was compiled by the Pew Charitable Trusts using comprehensive annual financial reports from each state.

RankStatePension funding ratio (%)Total pension liabilities ($B)Total pension assets ($B)State gov. employment as share of workforce (%)50Wisconsin105.3118.7125.03.249South Dakota100.012.312.34.048Tennessee98.142.741.93.047Utah96.640.439.05.046Washington95.1110.6105.14.245Nebraska91.817.015.64.244Idaho89.120.117.93.743North Carolina86.7119.0103.24.442New York86.2229.9198.12.741Delaware85.212.710.87.240Iowa82.942.134.94.339Maine82.518.415.13.938Ohio81.7213.3174.23.137West Virginia80.819.615.96.736Minnesota80.788.371.23.435Wyoming78.612.39.65.134Georgia77.3126.897.93.433Nevada77.060.746.72.932Oregon75.890.168.32.331Missouri75.479.559.93.530Arkansas75.336.827.76.029Florida74.5217.5161.92.728Virginia74.4106.779.43.927Oklahoma73.545.133.24.926California71.8689.9495.53.225Maryland69.978.654.94.224Colorado69.583.958.34.523Indiana69.045.031.13.622Texas67.5288.7194.93.321Alabama67.458.539.45.920Montana67.317.511.85.619Kansas66.331.120.63.618Alaska65.623.115.17.317Louisiana63.255.935.44.616Arizona61.980.249.63.015Michigan60.4108.265.44.114Mississippi59.147.828.25.013New Hampshire58.815.69.23.412Pennsylvania58.5160.093.62.511Vermont58.48.04.75.910Massachusetts55.9103.657.93.49North Dakota55.410.86.05.38Rhode Island54.212.16.64.07Hawaii53.232.717.411.56South Carolina51.760.431.35.05New Mexico50.055.827.96.64Kentucky44.654.824.44.73Connecticut42.674.631.84.32New Jersey38.4208.279.93.41Illinois37.5246.292.32.5

(The Center Square) – There are new questions about the 2020 election after the latest numbers from the 2022 election.

Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Tuesday said this year’s military voting numbers show something happened between the two elections.

“We have learned that the number of active military members voting in the 2022 election dropped by over 83% since the 2020 election!” Brandtjen said in a statement.

Brandtjen is at the center of the story about military ballots in Wisconsin.

She received three fake military ballots ahead of Election Day. Those ballots, it turned out, came from a Milwaukee election manager.

“When Milwaukee deputy election clerk Kim Zapata created three military members out of thin air and sent requests for legitimate ballots to my home address, the vulnerability of the military ballot process was exposed,” Brandtken added.

Military voters in Wisconsin don’t have to actually register, and never have to show voter ID in order to get an absentee ballot in the state.

Brandtjen said there were nearly 10,000 military votes in the 2020 election, and not even 2,000 in the 2022 election.

“The 2022 active military voters dropped to 1,573 after a 2020 high number of 9,876, 4,966 in 2018 and 6,736 in 2016," she said. Referencing the Wisconsin Election Commission, Brandtjen continued: "The substantial drop should have been noticed by WEC, and inquiries should have been made. Once again, WEC failed to do their job.”

Wisconsin law requires local election managers track military voters on a list, and Brandtjen said many clerks did not do that.

Brandtjen is not saying whether she thinks the shift in military voting numbers point to more shenanigans from the 2020 election or a lack of shenanigans in the 2022 election.

Brandtjen has, of course, led one of the investigations into the 2020 election. She also was a supporter of the investigation conducted by former Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman, and has said the questions first raised in that probe have not yet been answered.

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin Republican congressman is amping-up the war of words against TikTok.

Congressman Mike Gallagher was on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures over the weekend, and talked about China and its influence over TikTok.

“TikTok should be banned. Senator Marco Rubio and I have legislation that does exactly that. TikTok is digital fentanyl addicting our kids, and just like actual fentanyl, it ultimately goes back to the Chinese Communist Party.,” Gallagher said.

TikTok is owned by a Chinese tech firm called ByteDance. The company says more than a billion people use TikTok each month.

Gallagher says that means China is essentially spying on a billion people each month, including a lot of young people in America.

“TikTok is owned by ByteDance. ByteDance is controlled by the CCP. That means the CCP can track your location. It can track your keystrokes. It can censor your news. Why would we give our foremost adversary that amount of power?” Gallagher asked.

Gallagher’s criticism wasn’t just limited to TikTok. He labeled the entire Chinese Communist Party a “repressive regime.”

“The CCP is using the pretense of public health to institute a system of total techno-totalitarian control. And that’s not just for domestic use, that’s a model of repression they want to export around the world…As the CCP doubles down on oppression, we need to double down on freedom,” Gallagher added. “We have too many people bashing America, we have too many useful idiots in the American media. We need to embrace American values as a self-evident contrast to the Orwellian oppression of the CCP. That’s how we win the ideological fight over the long term, by remembering that we’re the good guys.”

Gallagher, along with Texas Senator Marco Rubio have written legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States.

There’s been no movement on the legislation, which was introduced just a few weeks ago. There is a sense that something may happen when Republicans take over Congress next year.

(The Center Square) – The next legal fight over whether someone has to belong to a group in order to do their job may be coming for the courtroom itself.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Monday asked the United State Supreme Court to once again take a look at mandatory membership in the state bar.

“For far too long, this Court’s precedents have allowed States to put attorneys to the choice of either losing their ability to earn a living in their profession or associating with and funding opinions with which they disagree,” WILL argued in its amicus brief.

WILL is calling the challenge a First Amendment case.

“Forcing objecting attorneys to join and fund an organization that engages in speech with which they disagree is contrary to fundamental values of free speech and free association,” WILL Deputy Counsel, Anthony LoCoco, said. “If the State Bar wants members, it should have to earn their support.”

Wisconsin’s State Bar was voluntary for much of its history.

The State Bar does very little actual work.

WILL notes it doesn’t regulate, discipline, or monitor the competency or character of attorneys – those roles belong to the Board of Bar Examiners and the Office of Lawyer Regulation.

“The State Bar is akin to a trade association. That role may be unobjectionable but association with the Bar should be voluntary,” WILL added.

WILL challenged Wisconsin’s bar membership in 2019 after the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the Janus ruling that stopped unions from forcing workers to join in order to keep their jobs.

The high court passed on the case then, though Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

The petitioner in the latest lawsuit is Schuyler File, who is represented in part by lawyers at Liberty Justice Center.

File argues that forcing Wisconsin lawyers to choose between practicing their profession or joining and funding an organization with which they disagree violates First Amendment guarantees of free speech and association.

More than 40% of U.S. small business owners say they couldn’t pay rent on time or in full for the month of November, the highest this year.

The small business network group Alignable released the survey, which found that the hardship varies by industry. A notable 57% of beauty salons said they couldn’t make rent as well as 45% of gyms, 44% of retail and 44% of restaurants.

“Making matters worse, this occurred during a quarter when more money should be coming in and rent delinquency rates should be decreasing,” Alignable said. “But so far this quarter, the opposite has been true.”

This latest report continues a steady increase in businesses that can't pay rent this year.

“Last month, rent delinquency rates increased seven percentage points from 30% in September to 37% in October,” Alignable said. “And now, in November, that rate is another four percentage points higher, reaching a new high across a variety of industries.”

Business owners cite a range of reasons for the difficulty making rent, including higher rent costs and lower revenue. But 60% cite inflation.

“One indicator of the toll inflation is taking on businesses is a steep drop in the percentage of small businesses that are fully recovered, earning as much if not more than they did monthly prior to COVID,” Alignable said. “The percentage was 24% in October, but dropped to 14% in November -- an all-time low.”

Michigan had the highest percentage of small business owners unable to make rent at 51% with New York in second at 49% and Massachusetts third highest at 45%.

The survey queried 6,326 small business owners in November.

(The Center Square) – The University of Wisconsin is all but closing one of its smallest campuses.

UW President Jay Rothman said in a letter Tuesday the UW-Platteville will end all in-person classes at its Richland campus.

Rothman ordered Platteville’s chancellor to end the degree program at the Richland campus because only 60 students are taking classes there right now.

“While the University of Wisconsin System remains committed to the branch campuses and to providing as broad of access for students as possible, there comes a time when financial pressure and low enrollment makes in-person degree level academic instruction no longer tenable,” Rothman wrote in his letter.

Next year the 60 Richland students will be transitioned to either the Platteville or Baraboo campuses.

No one is saying what will happen to the faculty and staff members teaching at the Richland campus.

And Rothman isn’t saying if this will be the last or only small UW campus to close.

“Each of the branch campuses have a different strategy about what it’s going to look like going forward,” Rothman said earlier in the week. “But we’ve got to address [enrollment], and we have to have the branch campuses be sustainable in the long run.”

The UW System says only the main campus in Madison, as well as the campuses in Green Bay and Superior added students this fall. The rest either saw enrollment flatline or drop.

Sen, Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, who represents the Richland area said the loss of classes at the campus will hurt the community.

“I am saddened to hear that the UW Board of Regents has decided to end in person instruction at UW Richland. I know this was a difficult decision that they have been discussing for quite some time,” Marklein said in a statement. “There is no doubt that this is a major change for our community. The campus has been a hub of activity and learning for many, many years. I appreciate the UW’s efforts to provide options for those affected and ideas for ways to fill in the gaps that this departure will leave in Richland County.”

UW officials say they may use the Richland campus as an outreach center, or offer adult education and enrichment classes there in the future. But nothing is certain.

(The Center Square) – There is already a focus on Wisconsin’s next election.

Former Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday said if liberals win the race for Supreme Court in Wisconsin, all of the state’s reforms from his time in office will be in danger.

“An activist court, as we’ve seen elsewhere in the country, could do almost anything,” Walker told News Talk 113O WISN’s Jay Weber. “If you listen to at least a couple of of the liberal candidates … they sound very much aligned with some of the things we’ve seen in California and Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.”

Walker says that could mean changes not only to Act 10 or Right to Work in Wisconsin, but could mean changes to things like redistricting that he says “affects the rest of the country.”

Judge Dan Kelly is the leading conservative candidate for Supreme Court on the Republican side so far. Walker appointed Kelly to the court back in 2016, and on Tuesday said Kelly made his mark on the court.

“Kelly to me was much like [Antonin] Scalia was on the U.S. Supreme Court, just brilliant,” Walker added.

There are some Republicans who are talking about Waukesha Christmas Parade Judge Jennifer Dorow as a candidate. Gov. Walker isn’t sure.

“I appointed her. I like her. Her and her husband are friends of mine,” Walker explained. “To me, I think one of the benefits, and we’ve seen this in statewide races in the past last couple of cycles, there is a tremendous benefit to having someone who has been vetted, who’s been tested."

One of the keys, Walker said, will of course be voter turnout.

Kelly lost his reelection race in 2020, in part because Democrats saw a huge turnout.

“In the general election for the court, which was in April of that year, [Kelly] got more votes than Brian Hagedorn in 2019. He got more votes than most candidates need to win outright,” Walker explained. “But at that time there was a presidential primary where you had both Donald Trump up, and you had Joe Biden up. He was the presumptive nominee, but Bernie Sanders was still on the ballot.”

Walker said Republican and conservative voters must turn out in the race for Supreme Court next year. .

The spring primary election in Wisconsin is February 21, the general election is April 4.