Boots & Sabers

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Category: Education

Hartford School Board Protects Girls

by | 0652, 24 Jul 24 | , , , | 0 Comments

Good for them. We win back this country at the local level with work like this.

HARTFORD — The Hartford Union High School (HUHS) Board voted not to accept a revised definition of the term “sex” under Title IX on Monday night.

[…]

 

The current HUHS process regarding students wanting to use different pronouns or a different name would not change. The school would still contact the parents and set up a meeting or have conversations with the parents, and only the parents’ written permission would allow HUHS to address the student by that name or pronouns.

School Board President Tracy Hennes, also a Moms for Liberty member said the Title IX document itself is very long and complex and it feels like the Department of Education is trying to force districts to accept it in an election year, as well as that there are required trainings for staff that would have to be implemented before the school year.

HUHS Board member Nolan Jackett said he was hesitant to accept the revised policy, due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises V. Raimondo, which struck down Chevron Deference (an administrative law principle that compelled federal courts to defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous or unclear statute).

 

“The Department of Education, without congressional authority, they shouldn’t be going and making drastic changes like this,” said Jackett.

 

[…]

 

According to HUHS Board member Heather Barrie, based on paraphrasing what both Hennes and Lacy said, if this is not a reasonable way for the government to act, the district shouldn’t go along with it and they should wait for the current challenges to the policy to go through the court system (which could take “years and years and years,” according to Lacy).

 

HUHS Board member Craig Westfall motioned to approve the revised policy, but no other members, which included Hennes, Jackett and Barrie, seconded the motion, thus it failed and the current policy will stay on the books. HUHS Board member Don Pridemore did not attend the meeting.

 

[…]

 

Lacy said it is likely that HUHS will be hit with an audit from the U.S. Department of Education, through the Wisconsin Department of Instruction, for not approving the revised Title IX policy.

That last sentence is why we need to get rid of the Department of Education. Not only has it failed to improve educational outcomes despite spending hundreds of billions of dollars, but it is also how they federal government bullies local communities into adopting their ideology.

Wisconsin’s Government Schools Are Flush With Cash

by | 2039, 23 Jul 24 | , | 0 Comments

We keep spending and spending and the performance is stagnant to declining. After a minimum floor of spending is met, there is no positive correlation between school spending and educational outcomes.

(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.

California Bans Schools from Telling Parents About Their Kids

by | 0628, 16 Jul 24 | , , | 20 Comments

When the government refuses to tell you information about your own minor children, they are not acting in the interests of the children or the parents. The government is acting in the interests of someone else. Do not endanger your children by trusting these people with their care.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California became the first U.S. state to bar school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of their child’s gender identification change under a law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

 

The law bans school rules requiring teachers and other staff to disclose a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to any other person without the child’s permission. Proponents of the legislation say it will help protect LGBTQ+ students who live in unwelcoming households. But opponents say it will hinder schools’ ability to be more transparent with parents.

Declaration of Independence of the United States of America

by | 0737, 4 Jul 24 | , , | 0 Comments

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Mequon Schools Increase Spending Despite Decreasing Enrollment

by | 0638, 3 Jul 24 | , | 0 Comments

This is happening all over Wisconsin.

The budget, as of now, assumes the following: An increase in equalized values of 2.5%, a decrease of 40 resident students, $325 per pupil increase on the revenue limit, a continuation of service for personnel and educational programming, as well as salary increases that include a 4.12% cost of living increase applied to teacher base wages, 4% increase for support staff and 3.5% for all other groups.

 

It calls for a general fund budget of $52,718,149, a 6.9% or $3,418,913 from the previous year. The total budget of all funds — excluding Fund 73 — is roughly $70.6 million and net total expenditures are $65,040,309.

Most districts are educating fewer and fewer kids and spending keeps increasing. There’s always an excuse. Inflation. Old buildings. Whatever. At some point, should spending decrease with the student population? No, it’s not linear, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single district actually lower their spending even though many of them have lost well over 10% of their previous attendance. It’s not like this is a temporary bubble. All of the projections show the decline in students to be a widescale trend that will continue for at least another 10 years.

I’m tired of hearing excuses for why school districts can’t scale spending to their customer base like every other private entity in the universe.

West Bend School Board Spitballs Referendum Amount

by | 1629, 26 Jun 24 | , | 0 Comments

FFS.

– After discussion on maintenance needs, the board returned to the discussion of the referendum total. “We kinda need that price point so we can combobulate that accordingly,” said Wimmer.

 

– An initial total of $110 million was proposed as a starting point.

 

– “Typically, the minimum would be $80 million to get a new Jackson K-5 built,” said Donaldson. “Asking for extra money to do something that has to be done anyway; if we’re going to ask for the money just to make it easier to balance the budget…I think that’s wrong.  We do have a capital maintenance budget if we have to shift stuff around or using the money we already get, using it the right way then… $100 million gets us $20 more million anyway.”

  • “So you’re telling me if we don’t get $80 million, we’re leaving all the schools open,” said Donaldson.

  • “No, you can still close schools,” said Wimmer.

  • “That’s what I’m talking about,” said Donaldson. “Those things have to happen anyway … just to be utilizing the district the way it should be. We are way under capacity at schools. Silverbrook has half the school closed down in sections because they don’t have enough students to fill them.”

  • “Once we know what Phase 1 is … and if it fails – I’m still going to close some things, voting ‘No’ doesn’t mean I will keep your school open,” said Wimmer.

  • “The purpose of this work session is to pick a number, whatever it is and then you’re coming back to us with (a list) of this is what you will get for it,” said Zwygart.

Notice how this discussion is going. Instead of defining a list of critical needs, adding up the cost, and going to the taxpayers with the request, they are starting with the number and working backwards. They are trying to gauge how much they think they can bamboozle the taxpayers into approving and then seeing how much they can do with it.

Having followed this district for over 20 years and seen referendum after referendum, they are running a playbook. They are flush with cash and could free up more cashflow by just closing some buildings and right-sizing staffing. They haven’t done that. Instead, they are fishing around for the right number and the right messaging to see what they think will cobble together enough votes to pass a referendum. They just want to spend some money and take credit for “doing something.” This is not about improving education.

Jay Z’s Company Pushes for School Choice

by | 0918, 22 Jun 24 | , | 0 Comments

This is the way.

Philadelphia parents learned about school choice on Friday at a lunch provided by an unusual benefactor: Jay Z‘s entertainment company Roc Nation.

 

The A-lister is making his final push in a campaign to urge Pennsylvania lawmakers to spend millions on school vouchers ahead of the state’s budget deadline, June 30. The vouchers would entitle families to use public funds traditionally used for public schools toward private and parochial schools.

 

Jay Z’s New York-based entertainment company announced this month it was backing a $100 million private school choice program in Pennsylvania.

Desiree Perez, Roc Nation’s CEO, said the state’s public school system doesn’t work for some disadvantaged students, and their families deserve unfettered access to alternative options, including high-performing private schools.

 

“It’s an immediate need,” Perez said.

Educational freedom used to be an issue initiated and championed by the Black community. They have been muted in the last couple of decades as they adopted the anti-choice stances of the Leftists. It is good to see the Black community reasserting their power and influence on this important issue.

West Bend Schools Ape Milwaukee Schools

by | 0636, 19 Jun 24 | , | 0 Comments

Heh.

WEST BEND — The West Bend School District (WBSD) announced on Monday the results of their recent community survey on facilities showed a majority of respondents support a capital referendum on the November ballot to address urgent needs in the district.

 

According to the release, 86.02% of respondents believe the district’s urgent facility needs must be addressed immediately, and 72.28% of respondents support a $100 million capital referendum to address a large portion of Phase 1 needs.

There are two possible explanations for these results in the current economic climate in conservative-leaning West Bend. Fist, it’s a BS survey. This is certainly true. They even say in the survey results, “by design, this data is not based on a scientific sample. Therefore, it should be treated as qualitative data.”

It’s also worth noting that the survey questions were long and intrusive. Rather than a simple survey, this one took some effort to respond to. What does that do to results? It ensures that only people motivated will fill it out. Who is that? People who really want the referendum and people who hate it. The indifferent or uninterested won’t take the time. But those people vote.

The second possibility is that even with the goofy survey structure, that the majority of people in the West Bend District do actually want to drop another $100 million into buildings. In this regard, they would be going the way of Milwaukee. There are many of the same factors at play.

Milwaukee’s educational performance has been bad and declining for years despite more money. West Bend’s educational performance is better but has been mediocre to declining for years despite increasing funding every year. Are Benders satisfied with less than half of their kids being able to read at grade level? I guess so.

Milwaukee’s school board has been opaque about the district’s finances to the point of outright fraud. West Bend’s school board has been opaque about the district’s finances. Go to the district’s website and try to find budget information. It’s there. Kind of. There are occasionally a couple of high-level slides in a board meeting if you know which board meeting to go look at. Years ago, the district published actual detailed budget information. That no longer happens. Every school board candidate for a decade has run promising more “transparency” and the board has gotten increasingly less transparent. Where is all of the money going? Your guess is as good as mine. Wherever it’s going, it’s not improving outcomes for kids.

Milwaukee has been facing declining enrolment for years. West Bend has been facing declining enrollment for years. A district that once served over 7,000 students with the same building structures is projected to serve just over 4,000 students by the end of the decade (table 12). That is a 40% drop in enrollment. Why is spending not decreasing with the decline in enrollment? Why does this school board want to spend another $100 million on top of their already bloated budget? If the taxpayers are stupid enough to let them, they will.

The West Bend School District is only different from the disaster of the Milwaukee School Board by a matter of degrees. Let us pray that the voters are not so stupid as the voters of Milwaukee to give them more money to waste.

 

 

Evers Calls for Audit After Failed Audit

by | 1121, 8 Jun 24 | , | 0 Comments

When can you tell that a politician doesn’t give a crap but knows that he needs to pretend for the sake of appeasing the people? When they appoint a Blue Ribbon Committee. This is the same thing. Evers was head of the DPI for ten years and governor for six years. MPS has been a disaster for all of that time and longer. Throughout, he did nothing. This is more of the same. Evers owes his political fortunes to the money and manpower of the teachers’ unions. He is not going to even attempt to stand in the way of the gravy train in Milwaukee. And no… he doesn’t give a crap about the kids. If he did, he would have done something about MPS long ago.

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Governor Tony Evers announced on Friday that he is calling for operational and instructional audits of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).

 

Officials say Governor Evers is proposing direct funding to support both audits. This proposal would give a more comprehensive review than the ongoing MPS audit, which focuses more on the district’s financial statements.

Baraboo School Board’s Ridiculous Reaction

by | 1053, 7 Jun 24 | , | 2 Comments

I got to this part of the story and just rolled my eyes.

“That this adult felt emboldened to behave in this way in front of hundreds of students and other adults should deeply trouble us all; this type of behavior will not be tolerated,” the school board said, adding that it “condemns such actions and asks the community to take a stand and speak out against this type of behavior that threatens the fabric of our democracy.”

The story is that a dad went up on stage during graduation and pushed the superintendent because the dad didn’t want the superintendent to shake his daughter’s hand. The dad’s behavior is completely inappropriate. He’s been appropriately charged with disorderly conduct.

To extrapolate this dad’s idiotic, isolated, behavior as something that “threatens the fabric of our democracy” that requires that the “community take a stand” is absolutely idiotic. Get over yourselves, Baraboo School Board. This is one guy and he’s been dealt with. His behavior is not indicative of anything other than he’s a dolt. And I’m willing to bet that the Baraboo School Board is not the paragon of democracy.

MPS is terrible at math

by | 0601, 4 Jun 24 | , | 6 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Not withstanding the resignation of the superintendent last night, MPS is rotten to the core.

The Milwaukee Public School District is absolutely awash with money. Already one of the highest spending districts in the state, the district received hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars from state taxpayers, COVID money, and a new tax increase. They have so much money that they cannot even tell anyone where they are spending it. And yet, the kids in their charge continue to receive a terrible education. Milwaukee’s voters do not seem to care, but the cost to the rest of the state is enormous.

 

One cannot discuss MPS without reminding ourselves how terrible the district is at educating kids. After all, all of the money is supposed to be for educating kids, right? According to the state Department of Public Instruction’s district report card, only 17.3 percent of MPS students are proficient or better in language arts. That means that less than one in five district kids can read or write at or above grade level. For math, it is worse. Only 11.1 percent kids can do math at or above grade level.

 

The district’s graduation rate is a pathetic 71.1 percent compared with a 91.8 percent state average. Considering how abysmal the performance scores are for MPS kids, the fact that they are graduating over 70 percent speaks to how pathetically low the standards are to graduate from MPS.

 

Keeping in mind the knowledge of how bad MPS is at their core mission of educating kids, the recent debacle over finances should enrage you even more.

 

A couple of weeks ago, federal officials suspended funding for the Head Start program (a program that has proven to be ineffective and should be shuttered, but that is not the subject of this column) over MPS officials slipshod management of the program. Last week, state officials at the DPI threatened to withhold state funding until MPS submits mandatory financial reports to the state. MPS is eight months late in submitting the financial reports.

 

It is clear that MPS has become so dysfunctional that they cannot even manage to submit routine financial reports that have been done for decades. The more cynical of us might suspect that they have not submitted their financial reports because they do not want people to know where they are spending all of the money. As a practice, however, I try to not ascribe to malice what can readily be explained by rank incompetence. And if there is any word that describes MPS’ leadership, “incompetence” is a word that is easily defensible.

 

Federal and state actions come as MPS has submitted its budget for this year. At $1.47 billion, MPS intends to spend about $1.5 billion to educate about 62,000 students. For those doing quick math at home, yes, that is over $24,000 tax dollars being spent per student to ensure that one in five can read and one in 10 can do math.

 

Bear in mind that MPS has been rolling in cash for years. During the pandemic, MPS received over $1 billion in COVID relief money despite the fact that their schools were closed much longer than most other schools in the state.

 

In the most recent state budget passed last year, state lawmakers increased K12 spending by $1 billion. The lion’s share of that went to MPS.

 

Just a couple of months ago, district voters idiotically passed a referendum that allowed MPS to jack up property taxes to spend an additional $252 million. During the debate over that referendum, MPS officials were unable or unwilling to even tell voters where the money would be spent.

 

Given how bad MPS officials are at math, it is no wonder that they are terrible at teaching kids how to do it.

 

If there was ever a case for ending the government monopoly on the delivery of education, MPS is it. While they spend an eye-popping amount of money, they are unwilling or unable to give details on where the money is being spent. And at the end of the day, they are dreadfully bad at executing their core mission to educate kids. How much longer will parents and taxpayers ignore the fact that MPS is a failed institution? If history is any guide, the answer is “forever.”

 

Harvard to Stop Taking Stances on Issues

by | 1938, 29 May 24 | , | 0 Comments

Good. This is the correct course of action. It may be too little, too late, to recover Harvard’s reputation. And while they may stop taking official stances, it will matter little if the bigots on their faculty continue to bleat their hate for the media.

May 29 (UPI) — Harvard University officials the institution will not make comments on public policy issues in the future as the campus remains divided over the Israeli-Hamas war.

 

The move was a step to accept a key recommendation from Harvard’s “Institutional Voice” working group, led by its faculty, that said on Tuesday Harvard should not “issue official statements about public matters that do not directly affect the university’s core function,” according to the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson.

 

“Because few, if any, world events can be entirely isolated from conflicting viewpoints, issuing official empathy statements runs the risk of alienating some members of the community by expressing implicit solidarity with others,” the working group said in its three-page report.

All university administrators, governing board members, deans, department chairs and faculty councils should avoid commenting on public issues under the policy.

 

The working group left some wiggle room for university officials to speak on specific issues along with some of its centers that advocate for specific policies. It added, though, that those individuals and the centers should avoid appearing to speak for the university.

Harvard’s Bad Product

by | 1938, 23 May 24 | , | 0 Comments

I don’t think I would ever consider hiring a Harvard grad from the last 10-20 years if these are the kind of people that university produces.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Hundreds of students in graduation robes walked out of the Harvard commencement on Thursday chanting “Free, free Palestine” after weeks of protests on campus and a day after the school announced that 13 Harvard students who participated in a protest encampment would not be able to receive diplomas alongside their classmates.

 

Some students chanted “Let them walk, let them walk” during Thursday’s commencement, referring to allowing those 13 students to get their diplomas along with fellow graduates.

 

Student speaker Shruthi Kumar said “this semester our freedom of speech and our expressions of solidarity became punishable,” she said to cheers and applause.

She said she had to recognize “the 13 undergraduates in the class of 2024 who will not graduate today,” generating prolonged cheers and clapping from graduates. “I am deeply disappointed by the intolerance for freedom of speech and the right to civil disobedience on campus.”

 

Over 1,500 students had petitioned, and nearly 500 staff and faculty had spoken up, all over the sanctions, she said.

And what the heck is a “right to civil disobedience?” Civil disobedience is… disobedient. It’s in the name. What she means by that is that she wants a right to be disobedient without any consequences. But if there are no consequences, then are you really disobeying? It’s a paradox.

UWM Chancellor Apologizes to Jewish Community After Intense Pressure

by | 2108, 21 May 24 | , | 1 Comment

It’s difficult to believe his sincerity when it comes this late. The Gaza/Hamas issue has been roiling for decades. This specific war has been going on for eight months. He’s allegedly a highly-educated university Chancellor. We are not wrong to think that he thought about his words and actions deeply before issuing them the first time. This is a man saying what he thinks he needs to say to save his job.

The UW-Milwaukee chancellor is apologizing to the campus Jewish community after a pro-Palestinian encampment spent two weeks on the corner of Downer Avenue and Kenwood Boulevard.

 

On Tuesday, Chancellor Mark Mone shared a message with UWM students, faculty and staff. In the message, Mone said he heard from people on campus and in the Jewish community that UWM’s response to global events and the local protest “left them feeling vulnerable, unsafe and unseen.”

Mone said he also heard some students have not felt comfortable sharing their concerns.

 

“This distresses me,” Mone said. “The expressions of grief and frustration over the conflict in the Middle East must not destabilize our shared sense of humanity or be twisted into a platform to spread hatred.”

 

Mone said it is now clear to him that UWM should not have weighed in on these “deeply complex geopolitical and historical issues.” Mone apologized and said he acknowledged right now is a difficult time for many Jewish students across the U.S.

 

Mone reinforced UWM’s stance that the university continues to condemn antisemitism, Islamaphobia, and all other hatred. He said the campus must be a place that welcomes students from all backgrounds.

 

Mone said his message is not enough.

 

“But words alone cannot create the culture of inclusion we desire, which is why we must transform our words into commitment and action,” Mone said. “This work will take time, as all hard work does, and it will also take the openness of our entire community.”

UWM’s disgraceful appeasement

by | 0722, 21 May 24 | , , | 0 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here you go:

Most Americans have stood aghast as a wave of antisemitic and pro-Hamas protests swept through our universities. We thought that such hate was the stuff of 1905 Russia or 1938 Germany, but here we are witnessing it in 2024 America amongst those who are supposed to be our future. Many universities responded deplorably, but none more so than the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

 

Hamas has been clear about their goal to wipe out Israel and the Jews who live there since their inception. Everything they have done — including the October 7 massacre — has been to further that goal. While one can criticize Israel’s response to the attacks and wish for peace, the campus protests long since descended into the hateful rhetoric of, and support for, Hamas.

 

Some universities took immediate action to clear out illegal encampments and threatening protesters. Some universities offered minimal appeasement coupled with a firm rejection of hate. Then there is UWM, which decided to weigh in with full-throated support for Hamas and has encouraged a campus culture where Jewish students can no longer feel safe.

 

The protests and encampment at UWM was instigated by the UWM Popular University for Palestine Coalition (PUPC), whose coalition includes the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Muslim Student Association (MSA), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Un-PAC, and Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA). These groups range in interests from communism to overthrowing capitalism to ending our republic to the destruction of Israel. All of their interests coalesced around supporting Hamas in their terrorism against Jews.

 

These groups are well-funded and well-organized. In return for ending an encampment that was already illegal, UWM Chancellor Mark Mone and the UWM leadership gave these communists and Hamas supporters a seat at the table. Mone agreed to have the UWM Foundation release financial statements to the PUPC and meet with them to discuss where the Foundation invests.

 

Mone also agreed to “study” whether UWM should end studying abroad in Israel and pressured the Water Council, on whose board Mone serves, to end relationships with two Israeli companies. Mone agreed to forgo any punishments for the protestors’ encampments despite the violation of state law. He agreed to further meetings and a working group with PUPC for a “series of campus conversations and educational opportunities.” That’s eduspeak for “spreading Hamas propaganda.”

 

Most egregious was Mone’s statement on behalf of UWM condemning Israel for responding to Hamas’ violent pogrom of October 7. Calling Israel’s war in Gaza a “plausible genocide,” Mone calls for a ceasefire in Gaza without any precondition for Hamas to release hostages or stop their violence against civilians. Mone voiced this condemnation with full knowledge that Hamas started the war, raped and killed civilian women and children, and has repeatedly rejected a ceasefire. Mone’s statement is indistinguishable from those issued by antisemites and Hamas supporters that were camping on the UWM campus.

 

Rightfully, Jewish groups Hillel Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and the Anti-Defamation League Midwest, condemned Mone’s UWM for appeasing PUPC. After reminding us that Mone has refused to meet with Jewish students despite a surge of antisemitic incidents on campus since October 7, they say, “Chancellor Mone gave protesters who fueled hate and violated school policies at UWM a seat at the table and even invited them to nominate individuals and faculty to serve on key university committees and working groups … the chancellor’s decision to grant immunity to individuals who mocked and broke school rules and the law sets a dangerous precedent for future incidents on campus.” Indeed, it does.

 

When given an opportunity to educate young adults and reject antisemitic, terrorist, and communist activists, UWM and Chancellor Mone chose to support and enable them. This choice is a disgrace that succors a culture of hate on the UWM campus.

Biden at Morehouse

by | 1956, 19 May 24 | , , | 0 Comments

Whatever.

The president took the opportunity on Sunday to address students’ concerns over the Israel-Hamas war.

“What’s happening in Israel and Gaza is heartbreaking,” Biden said. He acknowledged the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, who also kidnapped nearly 250 hostages that day. Biden also underscored the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, which is on the brink of famine and in desperate need of medical supplies.

 

In his address, Biden called for an immediate ceasefire and said his administration is working on a deal “as we speak” so that Israelis taken hostage can be returned home and more humanitarian aid can get into war-torn Gaza. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is in Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend to talk with top leaders.

I watched this speech in its entirety and encourage you to do so too. It’s enlightening to watch Biden speak in long form. Yes, there were the mumbles, mispronounced words, lies, and weird shouting, but I finished this speech with two overriding impressions.

First, Biden talks about himself a lot. A LOT. The first 10 minutes of the 27 minute speech was about him. His past. His stories. I. I. I. The remaining 17 minutes had more of the same, but not exclusively. It reminded me a lot about how Obama spoke. Biden rarely references his administration or the government or America. It’s all about him.

Second, Biden’s race-baiting is crude and belongs in the previous century. He acts like America in 2024 is still 1958 Jim Crow Mississippi. We have come a long way since then and he gives no credit for the progress. He’s still telling Black men graduating from a prestigious university like Morehouse that America doesn’t love them and that they are being oppressed. Biden’s low opinion of America and Americans is nauseating. I don’t want to live in the America in his mind either.

Teachers Facing Mass Layoffs Due to Terrible Budget Practices

by | 0927, 12 May 24 | , | 1 Comment

There. I fixed their headline. The “free” covid bonanza allowed school districts across America to delay adjusting staffing for declining enrollment. With the money coming to an end, there is a glut of unfunded and unjustified positions that need to be reduced all at once instead of gradually. If the school districts had managed their staffing to need instead of to available funding, they would all be flush with surpluses and not have this problem.

Schools across the country are announcing teacher and staff layoffs as districts brace for the end of a pandemic aid package that delivered the largest one-time federal investment in K-12 education.

 

The funds must be used by the end of September, creating a sharp funding cliff as schools also struggle with widespread enrollment declines and inflation.

 

Many districts have warned of layoffs as the current school year comes to a close and next year’s budgets are planned. The local headlines about teachers likely won’t help Americans who remain stubbornly pessimistic about the economy feel any better, adding to the challenge President Joe Biden faces to show voters how things are better than they were four years ago.

Government solutions make things worse

by | 0727, 7 May 24 | , | 0 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here you go.

President Joe Biden is continuing his illegal and obvious effort to buy votes by “forgiving” student loans. It is a healthy reminder that government involvement makes everything worse. Let us remind ourselves of how we got here.

 

The cost of college has been increasing for decades far in excess of almost any other major expense. Throughout this period, our culture shifted and parents and K-12 educators pushed more and more kids to college by portraying college as a requirement for future financial stability and personal fulfillment. This characterization is not wrong, but it is also not universal. There are many paths to financial stability and personal fulfillment.

 

As demand for college continued to swell, the prices continued to rise (basic demand curve consequences), and students took on more and more debt to pay for their sheepskin Golden Ticket to the Middle Class. According to The Education Data Initiative, the cost of college has risen by 747.8% since 1963 after adjusting for inflation.

 

Prior to 2010, college students primarily had to get student loans from private financial institutions. In this construct, the private financial institutions were taking a risk loaning tens of thousands of dollars to 18year-olds with no credit history and no current means of paying the loan back. Those institutions generally required a co-signer from a responsible adult before issuing the loan. Private institutions were taking a risk on the future earning potential of college aspirants. The risk and apposite interest rates served as market pressures to limit the amount that students could borrow.

 

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson pushed for and signed the Higher Education Act. Part of that law was the Guaranteed Student Loan Program or Federal Family Education Loan Program. In this scheme, the federal government became the co-signing guarantor for student borrowers based on a few qualifications. With the federal government guaranteeing the loans, the private financial institutions providing the loans relaxed their requirements and were much more willing to provide more money to students.

 

Demand was rising and the supply of money to meet that demand became easier to get. America’s colleges rose to the challenge by continuing to increase prices to accept the available money supply.

 

Over the decades, the qualifications for the loans guaranteed by the federal government were gradually loosened to allow more students to borrow more money. Between 1965 and 1992, all federally guaranteed loans were subsidized with the taxpayers paying the loan interest while students were still in school. In 1992, the federal government began guaranteeing unsubsidized loans where the student loans would continue to accrue interest for the student to pay back after graduation.

 

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed a law that had the federal government allow higher interest PLUS student loans for graduate students that would also allow them to borrow up to the total cost of attendance.

 

2010 was a pivot point. President Barack Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. This law eliminated the Federal Family Education Loan Program by requiring all federal student loans to be Direct Loans. Effectively, it was a government takeover of student loans as it was no longer economically viable for private financial institutions to compete with the federal government for high-risk borrowers.

 

With the federal government now in charge of student loans, any remaining market pressures to regulate the issuance of debt were eliminated. With an unlimited supply of money, the decision to issue a loan to a student became perfunctory. The people issuing the loans did not care about the risk because it was not their money. The students taking the loans were willing to take as much money as possible. The politicians overseeing the programs were, and are, motivated by political considerations and not economic considerations.

 

We have created a third-party payer system in higher education where the people paying for the service (taxpayers) are paying for an unrelated person (students) to receive a service from provider (colleges). By trifurcating the financial transaction, market forces that might otherwise provide downward pressure on prices or demand are obscured.

 

The result was inevitable. With students able to borrow as much as they want from an unlimited vat of cash, colleges raised prices to capture as much money as possible. According to the Education Data Initiative, College tuition inflation averaged 12% annually from 2010 to 2022. That is twice as fast as tuition was increasing in the previous decade and well above the rate of currency inflation.

 

With the federal government now fully in charge of student loans, political motivations trump economic realities, fairness, and common sense. In a tough election year on the tail end of a disastrous presidency, Biden is willing to violate the law to force the taxpayers to eat the debt of borrowers in order to buy their votes. In doing so, Biden will further exacerbate the problem of rising college costs and debts for short-term political gain.

 

LBJ created the problem by having the federal government guarantee student loans. Obama accelerated the problem by having the federal government take over student loans. Biden is inflaming the problem by effectively having the federal government eliminate loans and just pay for college through debt “forgiveness.”

 

Government intrusion always makes things worse. President Reagan was right. “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

Abbott Rejects Demands of Hamas Supporters

by | 2135, 5 May 24 | , | 0 Comments

Good.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a defiant statement Sunday, vowing that the demands made by student protesters at the University of Texas at Austin will “NEVER happen.” The students called for the school to divest itself from companies manufacturing weapons for Israel and demanded the resignation of university President Jay Hartzell.

 

“This will NEVER happen,” Abbott wrote on X about the demands. “The only thing that will happen is that the University and the State will use all law-enforcement tools to quickly terminate illegal protests taking place on campus that clearly violate the laws of the state of Texas and policies of the university.”

Key word in that statement is “illegal.” Protests are fine. People have a right to speak. They do not have a right to infringe on the rights of others.

Also, if these student protestors are so appalled by the fact that the University invests in companies that manufacture weapons for Israel, then why are they helping fund the university through their tuition? They should all immediately withdraw if they are sincere.

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