The lawsuit, which was filed directly in the state supreme court, argues that the program violates the Public-Purpose Requirement and Uniform Taxation Clause.
The Milwaukee voucher program started in 1990-91 under former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and is the oldest modern voucher program in the country. In the first year, the program enrolled 337 students. Enrollment has grown almost every year, with more than 29,000 students attending 130 private schools on vouchers in Milwaukee as of October, according to the state Department of Public Instruction....
While the state Supreme Court in 1992 found Milwaukee’s voucher program to be constitutional, the complaint alleges “circumstances have changed dramatically since 1992.”
“What started out as a small experimental program in Milwaukee in the 1990s has been transformed by our Legislature into a large and growing cancer on Wisconsin’s public schools,” the complaint continues.
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40 comments:
Justice is the politics of the majority. I already know precisely how this court will rule on this case. The liberals who filed the lawsuit will win because they now have a 4-3 majority on this court. Irrespective of the facts or the law.
The case will be decided 4-3.
Having a trial is stupid and a waste of money when the outcome has already been decided before the case even begins.
You taught law school Ann. Great job.
Maybe exposed a cancer in public schools is more appropriate.
What’s changed? The public schools certainly haven’t gotten any better and parents are voting with their feet.
What’s really changed is that the teacher’s union got their candidate elected to the WI S. Ct and she promised to throw stare decisis out the window.
In 40 years of reading Nebraska Reports, I’ve seen maybe five precedents overturned.
29000 students is still very small. Since public schools are not controlled by parents, the money should follow the students.
We only want pro-Hamas schools/ Pro- Crook biden /They them trans/ gay sex porn in the 4th grade library schools.
Somehow THAT is fair to the tax payer.
With our new liberal court our first priority is to restore the taxpayer funded political gravy train for our sacred teachers unions. Fuck you kids!
Everyone with a child or grandchild enjoying the voucher benefits AND who voted for the Democrat will quickly learn the price of their vote. Sadly
How is opposition to individual choice, liberal?
so, your state constitution explicitly Requires that state money be sent to union personnel ?
i guess circumstances HAVE changed.
No teachers' union payoff in that, I'm sure.
It seems to me that the far left in Wisconsin wants to get rid of every law that was Constitutionally passed in the state’s history that they despise. Now that the Regressives have been able to get a majority of the WI Supreme Court justices installed, they feel they don’t have a need for a legislature representing a majority of the voters to pass laws - the Court of 4 lefty women will make laws for the Regressives and not the people. Act 10 is next on the docket.
I recently read that the best schools in our nation are the military schools run by the DoD. Best academically and best socially for kids of all different backgrounds.
Perhaps raze the department of education and the public school program and put the DoD people in charge ?
I love school choice. But school choice while keeping the public schools as is is a bandaid on a bullet wound
The real ‘problem’ here is 29000 people giving the teachers union the finger on a voluntary basis. Can’t let that stand.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs ignore (or, maybe, celebrate) the actual cancer on our public schools: DEI.
So if something in education works, it's a death-spiral-causing cancer.
Or, it was supposed to not succeed, but just exist, and just remain experimental, and then that would be OK?
The most expensive room in any state capitol is the room where the Education Committee meets, which is why that room is always filled with dozens or hundreds of intentionally faceless lobbyists from a swirling alphabet soup of organizations all representing the education/teacher/administrator/union borg, most paid all or in part by your tax dollars, speaking with one voice against all of your interests.
Ironic! A local media, just this morning, in the Banana Republic of Madistan ( named after a slave owner) published a study on racial disparity and had this comment "The report states Black students are less likely to feel safe and like they belong in school environments". So now 1 elite liberal will sentence these students back to the gulag known as "public schools"
And even more amazing, the non white voters keep voting these elite into office!!!!
Milwaukee has and entire generation of results. 33 years.
The defense against the suit is 33 years of results. How many of those kids did not read 'proficiently' ie illiterate?
Maybe the quicker cleaner defense is how many seniors in Milwaukee public schools are performing at grade level?
"funding death spiral"
Yes, we constantly hear how tossing a couple of pennies at non-state schools that receive hundreds of billions of dollars is taking money away from those government-run schools (which specialize in putting money in "educators" pockets).
I thought everyone here was happy with how Walker destroyed the teachers unions.
Given the comments, it seems like people think Walker's big claim to fame is a load of bullshit and he didn't even land a blow on them.
Elections have consequences and the voters chose this by a wide margin.
The best explanation I’ve seen for the success of the military schools is that parents are held responsible. Your kids mouths off in class or otherwise screws up, that results in your commanding officer having words with you or worse. That’s quite unlike the rule in most public schools, where the parents will try to get the teacher fired for disciplining or harshly grading their little pet.
Once the voucher program has been predictably overthrown on a predicted 4-3 look for the Wisconsin black-white achievement gap, still the worst of any state in the nation, to increase. I do not understand why having the worst black-white educational achievement gap is not a matter of deep shame and humiliation for every liberal Wisconsin resident. Do Wisconsin residents enjoy their racial bigotry?
I feel sorry for the poor children. With the new court, a lot of things are going to go to hell. I'm sure this is just the beginning.
I talked to a new state court judge earlier this month. He had attended "judges school." I think it is the National Judicial College. He talked with his classmates and how much they hated running for office; especially raising money.
I know I'm a broken record here, but I can't understand why every state doesn't follow the Nebraska system. Lawyers apply. A board of lawyers and lay people publicly interview the applicants. Those deemed qualified are passed onto the Governor. The Governor then appoints one. After a certain number of years, we have retention votes. Maybe 3 judges haven't been retained in my lifetime but the option is always there.
Election of judges is just a bad idea.
Dave Begley said...
Election of judges is just a bad idea.
Letting the ABA pick judges is just a worse idea.. Unless you want always leftist judges
Mark said...
Elections have consequences and the voters chose this by a wide margin.
Makes you (me) wonder what Mark will say if/when voters in Wisc go back to being red?
HOW much did Biden win by last time? Less than 30,000 votes?
How many times will people in Milwaukee and Madison have to vote next time? Twice? Three times?
The Wisconsin Public Schools are a cancer on Wisconsin. Seriously, it's not safe to turn your kids over to the public schools any more, if in fact it ever was. It's a seriously unhealthy environment. The tough ones tough it out, but the weaker ones can't handle it. And it is getting worse.
Per pupil spending in Wisconsin rose by about 5% in inflation-adjusted terms between 2002 and 2020.
So of course the big crisis is that some of the states that lagged behind Wisconsin increased their spending faster. It's a crisis because every state should spend more than the national average. Just ask Randi Weingarten.
WA and OR elect their judges. Most judges run unopposed. Any opposition lawyer is afraid of losing and having to face the winning judge in court.
There are few non-incumbent races because the Democrat Party uses a dirty trick to make sure all judges are incumbents. After the filing period has closed, a judge will announce his/her retirement. Then, the Democrat governor will appoint a replacement judge, who then is the incumbent candidate at the next election.
I vote REJECT for all unopposed elections. It's the only way to sink the Democrat governors' dirty tricks.
Why have statewide elections for Judges? It'd make more sense to have 7 Judicial districts and elect a judge from each district.
Anyway, when are Dumbo Conservatives going to wake up and realize Judicial power only helps the Left. The legal profession is almost entirely leftwing. Althouse was considered some "Rightwing crazy" at UW because she's not completely 100 percent hardleft. She voted for Clinton/Obama and Liberal Democrats for winsconsin Senate, but that wasn't leftwing enough.
Objectively speaking judges rule the USA. Dumbo Conservatives don't want to change that. Which makes me think they just want to lose.
So while the entire nation is moving- state by state- to school choice, and with great results, Wisconsin, under new regressive rule, is about to go back into the past. Can’t wait for these people to explain to the parents of kids in Milwaukee that their kids MUST go back to the old public schools in their neighborhood. The failed, awful schools in their neighborhood. Too bad about the kids, but we have a teachers union to keep afloat!
Election of judges is, in my view, no better nor worse than appointing judges. Each has their strong pros and cons.
If you think appointing judges takes politics out of the equation, you've never experienced the politics involved in the appointment process.
"The best explanation I’ve seen for the success of the military schools is that parents are held responsible."
The best explanation is that the vast majority of the students in such schools have two-parent households and that at least one of those parents has the mental and emotional self-discipline to remain in the armed forces for longer than 12 weeks. Additionally, the military, at least until recently, didn't allow morons to join up.
I was so naive that I used to think that the law was the law, and it didn't matter the political opinions of a judge.
What a fucking moron I was...
Don't want vouchers?
Then pass a law mandating that any public employee (politicians, judges, teachers, etc.) MUST sent their children to public schools.
No exception.
@Dave Begley .. Iowa uses a similar system of appointment/retention though I think appointment doesn't involve any attempt at non-partisan screening.
I have also wondered why more states don't go the retention route rather than straight up election. Like most things procedural it's not a particularly sexy topic. The insiders know how to game the system and don't want to change it.
Given the comments, it seems like people think Walker's big claim to fame is a load of bullshit and he didn't even land a blow on them.
Well, that would certainly explain why they're squealing like stuck pigs right now, wouldn't it?
The only religion the left, approve, administer, force, and accept - it the religion of the left.
Mark said...
"I thought everyone here was happy with how Walker destroyed the teachers unions.
Given the comments, it seems like people think Walker's big claim to fame is a load of bullshit and he didn't even land a blow on them.
Elections have consequences and the voters chose this by a wide margin."
Yes they do, Mark. And now you can enjoy the methodical indoctrination of the young minds of your state. Dialectical materialism will be the critical thinking of the day. But whatever you do, Mark. Never ever give the working class a choice.
And so it begins. Next up:
-The Second Amendment only applies to the National Guard, aka "the Militia," not individuals. The actual history and writings of citizens and politicians since the Founding that it is an individual right will be studiously ignored.
-The Clinton-inspired effort to "deprogram" non-Progressives in general and Trump voters in particular will be affirmed as crucial to protecting and ensuring the "general welfare".
-The government's campaign against "disinformation" will be affirmed as a legitimate "protection" of First Amendment freedoms
And so on...
If justice is blind, it's like a bat.
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