News

In a panel discussion hosted by the Milwaukee Business Journal, educational leaders Rich Mannisto, Henry Tyson, and Colleston Morgan Jr. advocated replacing Wisconsin’s outdated K-12 education funding formula with a student-centric, needs-based model. They highlighted that Milwaukee choice and charter schools face per-student funding deficits of up to $7,000 compared to public schools, forcing heavy reliance on private fundraising to support high-need students facing poverty or academic gaps. Additionally, the panelists called for fair performance accountability systems that hold underperforming schools responsible while accommodating specialized school missions, emphasizing that closing funding disparities is vital to achieving equitable outcomes across all Milwaukee schools.

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In the article “The Hidden Back-To-School Supply Parents Can’t Buy: More Bandwidth,” Molly Wadzeck explores how the rise of apps, portals, and emails has created an overwhelming digital “invisible labor” for parents preparing for the school year. While these tools aim to keep families informed, navigating multiple platforms often causes information overload and fatigue—especially for non-English speakers or families with multiple children. Experts emphasize that meaningful family engagement requires schools to shift from overcommunicating across redundant channels toward building direct, two-way conversations focused on individual student progress.

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates Split on Education; Advocates See Next Year as Pivotal explores the sharp division among Wisconsin’s Democratic primary candidates for governor regarding school voucher programs, with candidates like state Sen. Kelda Roys and state Rep. Francesca Hong advocating to phase them out, while Joel Brennan and David Crowley contend that ending them immediately would destabilize public schools and harm families. Highlighting input from Colleston Morgan, executive director of the Milwaukee-based advocacy group City Forward Collective, the article notes his warning that phasing out or defunding private-school vouchers would effectively underfund one-fourth of students in Wisconsin’s largest city—many from Black and Latino families who rely on school choice—and that gradual phase-out plans could lead to sudden, disruptive school closures.

In There Is No “Responsible” Way to End School Choice, Colleston Morgan, Executive Director of City Forward Collective, argues that phasing out Wisconsin’s Parental Choice Programs would harm 30,000 low-income Milwaukee students by forcing them into an underperforming public school system while pushing Democratic candidates out of step with most voters.

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