The middle of the week finds a lot of news, so without delay, here are today’s key reads.

A group pushing for improvements in educational opportunities in Milwaukee is out with a new survey and their findings should open some eyes. City Forward Collective says their mission is to secure Milwaukee’s future by ending educational inequity and ensuring every child has the opportunity to attend high-quality schools. They issued the following report on Monday.

Milwaukeeans want reform and accountability; Majority lack trust in State Superintendent Jill Underly | Dairyland Sentinel

A recent survey conducted by City Forward Collective & CFC Action Fund among registered voters in Milwaukee has revealed key insights into public opinion on Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) governance and financial management. The topline findings are based on a survey conducted from July 12-15, 2024, among a demographically- representative sample of 341 registered voters in the city of Milwaukee.

The survey found that strong majorities of respondents support significant changes to MPS oversight and management, and oppose additional tax increases to recover withheld state funding. Voters expressed low confidence in current MPS and School Board leadership and showed strong support for the ongoing, grassroots-led recall efforts.

“This survey reveals a stark reality: Milwaukee residents are deeply dissatisfied with the academic and financial performance of Milwaukee Public Schools, they’ve lost confidence in district leadership, and they’re looking to city & state elected officials to drive fundamental reforms,” said Colleston Morgan Jr., executive director of City Forward Collective. “It’s time for leaders to heed this call to action, implement deep reforms at MPS and beyond, and ensure we have a plan to ensure all Milwaukee students have access to high-quality schools of their choice.”

Key Findings:

1. Milwaukee residents remain deeply dissatisfied with the state of affairs at MPS, and believe more must be done to address the district’s academic and financial shortcomings

76% of respondents assign MPS a grade of C or lower, and just 18% believe MPS is getting better

49% of respondents lack confidence in the steps taken to date by the MPS School Board to address the district’s financial and operational issues

2. Milwaukee residents believe MPS School Board members should be held accountable for the district’s issues

66% of respondents support the recall of MPS School Board members

49% of respondents lack confidence in the steps taken to date by MPS officials in response to the ongoing financial crisis

3. Milwaukee residents remain concerned by the financial impact of MPS’ incompetence and financial mismanagement on their own pocketbooks

60% of respondents would now oppose the $252 million property tax referendum for MPS, an 11-point swing from the April election results.

Only 4% of respondents support further increases in MPS’ property tax levy, to recover state funding withheld by DPI due to the district’s inaccurate financial reports

4. Milwaukee residents support significant, structural changes to MPS, though they remain opposed to both a full Mayoral takeover and to a breakup of MPS

77% support moving MPS School Board elections to fall of even-numbered years to increase voter participation.

63% of voters favor electing School Board members on a citywide, at-large basis

5. Milwaukee voters have lost trust in the public school bureaucracy, and are looking outside of the traditional system for leadership on K12 education

On education issues, 75% of voters trust Governor Tony Evers

67% trust Mayor Cavalier Johnson

45% trust the Wisconsin Legislature

27% trust DPI State Superintendent Jill Underly

The findings from this survey are crucial for anyone invested in Milwaukee’s long-term success. As the city grapples with persistent achievement gaps and financial challenges in its public school system, these survey results provide a clear mandate for change.

The stakes are high for Milwaukee’s taxpayers, as well. As a result of the April 2024 referendum, local property taxes for MPS will increase by 30% over the next four years. This increase will make MPS the largest single portion of Milwaukeeans’ total property taxes, and the highest-funded local government entity in Wisconsin. In October, the MPS School Board will approve a final FY2025 budget and set the district’s tax levy for next year. If MPS chooses to levy the full revenue limit, it will include not just the referendum but an additional $81 million increase to recover lost state funding – adding hundreds of dollars more to property taxes and rents for Milwaukee’s residents.

The impact of these findings extends beyond Milwaukee, as more than 300 school districts across the state will see reductions of up to 17% in their state equalization aid payment

The poor conditions within some facilities within the Department of Corrections still exist, but at least day-to-day prison life is returning to normal in Waupun and Green Bay. Still no word on how Governor Evers will rectify the brewing scandal, which has seen nearly a dozen DOC employees, including a former warden, criminally charged over inmate deaths.

Signaling end to lockdowns, Waupun and Green Bay prisons resume visits, recreation | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

After months of public scrutiny and backlash from advocates and correctional staff, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections signaled an end to lockdowns at two of the state’s most beleaguered maximum-security prisons.

The agency announced a return to in-person visitation at Waupun Correctional Institution on Monday, along with an increase in recreation time for those held at Green Bay Correctional Institution starting July 28.

….Months after Gov. Tony Evers and DOC promised to lift restrictions and increase staff in Wisconsin prisons late last year, the two prisons are transitioning out of a state of “modified movement.”

If only the test scores also went up…

Wisconsin per-pupil spending up over past decade | The Center Square

Public schools in Wisconsin are spending nearly $1,000 more per-student than a decade ago, despite falling enrollment and flat test scores.

The latest spending information from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction shows public schools in the state spent $17,697 per-student in 2022. That’s down from the $18,088 in 2020, but about $1,000 more than what schools were spending in 2011.

Will Flanders with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty say those are inflation-adjusted number and show most schools in Wisconsin have plenty of money to spend.

“Wisconsin school spending since 2019 has remained relatively steady between $17,000 and $18,100 per student,” Flanders wrote in a report this week.

Some of that steady spending can be attributed to the influx of $2.3 billion in federal coronavirus money and some can be blamed on the impact of record-high inflation.

Still Flanders said the spending numbers show that even with inflation and ups-and-downs, Wisconsin schools have plenty of money to spend.

“Claims that Wisconsin schools are ‘underfunded’ fall on deaf ears when one considers that costs per student are nearly $1,000 greater than they were 12 years ago in 2009,” Flanders added.

The jump in spending also comes as statewide enrollment continues to drop.

“Public school enrollment has declined by nearly 41,000, or 4.79%,” Flanders added. “Declining enrollment in Wisconsin public schools has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic. By comparison, for the time period between 2005 and 2019, the state only saw an enrollment decline of 2.19%. In the last five years, that rate of decline has more than doubled.”

Some of those students have moved, but others have gone to choice schools.

“A significant number of Wisconsin families continue to make alternative choices when it comes to their children’s education,” Flanders explained. “Choice enrollment has grown by more than 11,000 students, with relatively steady increases each year. Over the past five years, even as public-school enrollment has declined by about 4.79%, choice enrollment has grown by about 26.7%.”

Many schools, including Madison Metropolitan Schools, are now asking voters for millions-of-dollars more this fall.

“While the last three years have seen a slight spending lag, we are still spending nearly $1,000 more per student than a decade ago after adjusting for inflation. There is simply no justification for the claim that more spending is needed in Wisconsin schools,” Flanders told The Center Square.

And, to wrap things up, it’s not just air travelers that have been impacted by the Blue Scree of Death outbreak.

Wisconsin businesses see ripple effects of CrowdStrike tech outage | WPR

The system crash was due to a faulty software update from a cybersecurity company called CrowdStrike. Thousands of organizations use CrowdStrike’s services, including some U.S. government agencies.

The error created a widespread tech outage that affected local municipalities, health care systems, airports, and businesses across the globe, including in Wisconsin.

…While the outage caused the most disruption on Friday, the ripple effects were felt through the weekend as IT departments everywhere scrambled to get computer systems back up and running.

That’s because it wasn’t just individual computers that were affected by the outage, according to Keatron Evans, a cybersecurity researcher at the Wisconsin-based company Infosec.

“It’s not just the end users — it’s the infrastructure, like the servers that hold all the data that a lot of us are using,” he explained on WPR’s “Wisconsin Tod ay.”

“When those devices are shut down, it (has a) multitude of effects,” he said.

…Friday’s outage is being called “the largest IT outage in history,” and for many it was a wake-up call to be ready for future system failures.

It makes us wonder about the wisdom of putting all our cyber security eggs in one basket…

Godspeed to those businesses and consumers affected by the ‘glitch.’

That’s all for today.

As always, updates on any breaking news will be posted on the main website, and we’ll be back with more key reads tomorrow.