The effort to end school choice in Wisconsin through the state’s supreme court has failed to convince Gov. Tony Evers. The Evers Administration late Friday submitted a brief with the high court, explaining there is no emergency basis for the Supreme Court to take the case. Progressive activist and often-candidate Kirk Bangstad filed the lawsuit last month, claiming school choice and Wisconsin’s voucher programs are both unconstitutional and hurt traditional public schools by sending money to private schools.

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The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly says he is encouraged by the University of Wisconsin’s plan to focus on in-demand degrees, but it's not enough to move him off his block of the university's pay raises. Speaker Robin Vos told reporters at the Capitol that without an agreement to pull back on diversity, equity and inclusion spending there won’t be any movement on raises for university workers. Republican lawmakers put a hold on those raises last month. That came after Vos ordered a $32 million cut to the university’s budget over DEI. Vos says the school spends about $32 million a year on nearly 200 DEI administrators.

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Despite test scores that show nearly 60% of students in Wisconsin schools cannot read or do math at grade level, more than 90% of school districts in the state meet the state’s expectations. The Department of Public Instruction recently released its school and school district report cards. Of the 378 public school districts in the state that received a report card this year, 357 met or exceeded expectations.

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It looks like taxpayers in Wisconsin will continue to pay for the Brewers’ baseball stadium. The Wisconsin Senate on Tuesday morning approved the plan to spend about $500 million on future renovations and maintenance at American Family Field. To make it happen, the Republican sponsor of the plan had to work a few changes.

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Tuesday was a day for Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol to show their frustrations with the University of Wisconsin. The State Assembly was scheduled to vote on a series of plans that would force changes upon the Universities of Wisconsin. The biggest proposed change would create a punishment for UW campuses that do not respect the free speech rights of students – particularly conservative students, according to Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie.

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 Democratic lawmakers at the Wisconsin Capitol are framing free school lunches for all students as a way to get more farm fresh vegetables into schools, as a way to hire more school workers and as a way to make sure no children go hungry. They are not, however, saying it will be cheap. The Healthy School Meals for All Wisconsin Coalition and several Democratic lawmakers Monday pitched a plan to maximize the federal free and reduced school lunch program to cover all children in the state.

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The latest poll shows President Joe Biden winning Wisconsin in 2024, but only if his opponent is Donald Trump. A new Marquette Law School poll gives the current president a 2-point lead over the former president, 50-48, in Wisconsin. President Biden trails, according to the poll, both Ron DeSantis and Nickey Haley.

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 A new report says Wisconsin is outpacing the rest of the country when it comes to smaller families. The Wisconsin Policy Forum is out with a new report that says Wisconsin families have shrunk faster than other states for about the last 50 years. The report says longer lives and a shift away from larger families both contribute to the change. Wisconsin is not alone in the shift to smaller families. The Policy Forum report notes many other states are seeing declines as well.

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Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol say students need free speech protections on University of Wisconsin campuses. The Assembly Committee on Colleges and University held a public hearing on a pair of plans Republicans say will not only make sure the Universities of Wisconsin are respecting the First Amendment but will also open the campus to more students.

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Wisconsin’s governor is accusing Republican lawmakers of hijacking power at the State Capitol. Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday filed a lawsuit that challenges the Republican-controlled legislature’s Joint Committee on Employment Relations, Joint Finance Committee and Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules for thwarting his power by refusing to approve pay raises for University of Wisconsin employees and for blocking a handful of conservation projects in the state.

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