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Speaker Vos threatens to cut UW funding over plans to keep DEI staff

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A threat to UW System funding over DEI. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Thursday afternoon the University of Wisconsin System “will never get another nickel out of the Legislature” unless it cuts diversity, equity and inclusion programming. Vos responded in a statement to the Daily Cardinal, after the paper reported that UW-Madison vice chancellor for student affairs Lori Reesor confirmed DEI positions would not be cut during a Wednesday meeting with student government. 

Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee cut $32 million from the UW System’s 2023-25 state budget and tied that to elimination of 188 DEI positions. Democratic Governor Tony Evers used a partial veto to let UW officials absorb the cut as they see fit.

Office of School Safety funded through 2024

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Attorney General Josh Kaul (WRN file image)

Wisconsin’s school safety office remains in place, for now. The Office of School Safety and its Speak Up, Speak Out 24 hour tip line remain in place this school year. During a Tuesday news conference at Waukesha Catholic Memorial, Director Trish Kelton said they can make a difference.

“In previous acts of school violence, it often starts with a grievance or an upset,” said Kelton. “We believe that if we resolve those issues early, we can prevent tragedies.”

Attorney General Josh Kaul explained that long term funding for the office remains in doubt.

“We had asked in the current budget for approximately $2.2 million,” said Kaul.  “Just to put that in perspective, the state currently has a surplus of about $4 billion. So this is something that we certainly can afford. It’s a matter of priorities.”

For now, the Wisconsin Department of Justice has reallocated $1,340,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to fund the office through the end of 2024.

Help your kids keep stress down as they go back to school, says UW pediatrician

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It’s back to school for students soon and that can be very stressful for kids.

Dr. Marcia Slattery from UW-Health Pediatrics says parents should know that developmental changes in tweens and teens can drive anxieties. 

“During an earlier grade school, the focus is really on activities and tasks. Whereas when we’re moving into middle school and high school, it’s much more a gradual shift to a social emphasis. And that can be incredibly confusing.”

Dr. Slattery says parents should keep up with the interactions their children are having with other students, and not simply focus on academic scores. “They’re just not quite sure how to put all the pieces together yet. So parents need to have some flexibility and give some room for kids to understand and learn what’s happening.”

She says you should keep an eye on your child’s social life and make sure they’re getting support at a time when they’re figuring out who they are as a person.

Vos ’embarrassed’ by DEI efforts at UW System

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Assembly Speaker Robin Vos continued to hammer on the UW System’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts during the weekend’s state Republican Party convention in La Crosse.

The Republican leader made his comments during a panel discussion on Saturday. “For the past 10 years the left has used every bit of their resources to indoctrinate – and to burrow like a tick – inside the university system where it’s really hard to get at it.”

Vos wants a cut of at least $32 million to the UW system’s budget – an amount he says is equivalent to what is spent on DEI. System President Jay Rothman says shrinking the UW’s would have serious consequences for the state.   

 

“The overt racism, the overt exclusion, the overt indoctrination is so deep inside the UW system I am embarrassed to be an alumni,” said Vos, who is a UW Whitewater alumnus. “We have got to fix that.” 

Governor Tony Evers  has said that he won’t sign a state budget that includes a big cut to the UW System.

 

 

 

Evers says he won’t sign budget with massive cut to UW System

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Governor Tony Evers said Wednesday that he won’t sign a state budget that includes a big cut to the UW System. The $32 million cut from Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature is equivalent to what the UW had projected for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said at the Capitol that taxpayer money should not be going to what he calls “a new religion for people on the left,” adding that “they no longer go to church on Sunday, but boy, are they trying to make sure that everybody is evangelized on campus, that there’s only one acceptable viewpoint.”

“If you want to raise money in the private sector, if you want to have a bake sale or put money into your own ideology you have every right to do that because we live in America,” Vos said. “But it’s not the right to use taxpayer dollars to try to push one ideology over another.”

During a stop at a Monroe dairy plant, Evers was asked whether he’ll sign a budget with the massive cut to the UW. “No. $32 million is a ridiculous effort on his part,” Evers said, referring to the Assembly leader. “To cut at this point in time the University of Wisconsin System when we have a $7 billion surplus is irrational. Tying that to diversity issues frankly is equally bad.”

Evers said he hopes the UW cut will be changed before work on the budget is completed.

    

Legislative Republicans push for return to phonics-based reading lessons in public schools

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Legislative Republicans are making another attempt at a bill that would require more reading education in grade school.

State Senator Duey Stroebel says lawmakers want to see a return to using phonics as a method of teaching. 

“We put a significant amount of money aside to make this program work.”

State Representative Joel Kitchens says new methods of teaching have failed children.

“We need to reteach our teachers because our universities over the last couple of decades have not been teaching reading properly.”

The bill would spend 50 million dollars on the program to send coaches to districts to help teach phonics. Governor Tony Evers vetoed a similar measure last year that had no funding attached. 

JFC rejects funding for UW Madison engineering building

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Budget writers at the state Capitol said no to a major investment for UW-Madison on Thursday. Joint Finance Committee Republicans on Thursday rejected Governor Tony Evers’ proposal to spend $355 million on an engineering building on the Madison campus

UW System President Jay Rothman said the new building is the system’s top priority because “to compete and prosper, we must invest in high-demand programs at all our universities.”

In a statement, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said the “building would promote the state’s economic development. It would create significant workforce opportunities. It would propel innovation. And without it, we harm businesses all across Wisconsin.” Nearly half of the project’s budgeted $347 million cost was going to be provided by private funding.

And JFC proposed reducing Evers’ capital budget request of $3.75 billion to nearly $2.4 billion. “We had to reduce an unrealistic capital budget,”  said committee co-chair Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam). The committee also approved setting aside $2 million to help Green Bay host the 2025 NFL draft, something requested by lawmakers representing the area.
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Wausau family files appeal to DPI over school district’s dismissal of complaint against teacher

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A complaint has been filed with the Department of Public Instruction against the Wausau School District over its handling of a case of racist and homophobic statements directed at a student by a teacher.

Attorney Elizabeth Lambert says the School District erred when it chose not to take action against band director Rob Perkins.

“The district applied a definition of harassment that violates both state law and its own policy.”

School administrators decided not to punish Perkins claiming his comments were jokes. The school board has since said it will investigate the matter again with the help of a consultant. Lambert says schools need to follow policy. 

“We really need to make sure that school administrators in this state understand what fair inclusive schools look like and understand how they are supposed to put those principles and those ideals into practice every day.”

Dozens of people commented on the case at a school board meeting on Monday.

UW System Regents approve tuition increase

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The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents voted Thursday to raise in-state undergraduate tuition. Increases will average 4.9% and will mean hundreds of dollars in additional costs for students and families.

The approved recommendation provides for adjustments in tuition and segregated fees that vary by university but average 4.9% (or $404) for resident undergraduates.

Accounting for an average 3.5% increase in room and board rates, the average increase to the overall total cost of attendance for Wisconsin resident undergraduate students at the four-year campuses would be 4.2% (or $706).

UW System President Jay Rothman said earlier this month that a decade-long tuition freeze is unsustainable. “We just have to make an adjustment so that we can continue as well to meet that ultimate goal of delivering the highest quality education, a world class education to our students.”

Regent Rodney Pasch was the only no vote as the Regents met Thursday at UW Stout in Menomonie. Pasch said Rothman’s tuition hike is too much for struggling students and isn’t a good look when more people are questioning the value of a college degree.

Parents Bill of Rights includes Fitzgerald’s CRT Transparency Act

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The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a Parents Bill of Rights. The Republican measure which passed on Friday includes Wisconsin Congressman Scott Fitzgerald’s CRT Transparency Act. That would require school districts post curriculum for each grade on a publicly accessible website as a condition of federal funding.

CRT, or critical race theory, is an academic concept not taught in Wisconsin K-12 schools. However, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly said last year that “teaching about race and racism is the only way to teach the complete story of the United States.”

The parents Bill of Rights is unlikely to advance in the Democratic controlled US Senate.