The Dr. Can Cure The Delevan/Darien Dilemma

By Jeff Simpson

As this election season is coming to a frantic close, public education is still a top issue and we keep hearing that the current occupant of the Governors mansion is the "Education Governor". 

Sometimes the evidence is so strong that it is hard to see.  There is an exhibit 1, on how much of an education Governor that Scott Walker truly is along with the WISGOP,  right in the small town of Darien, WI - population 1,580.   While they still celebrate Cornfest(and who doesn't) one thing they no longer can celebrate is their local elementary school. 

The only public school in Darien was recently closed. 

The Delavan-Darien school board voted to close Darien Elementary School—the only public school in Darien—after the 2017-18 school year and approved 16 teacher non-renewals, bringing the total number of non-renewals to 39. This is after a $3.5 million referendum on the April 3 ballot, failed by more than 500 votes.

While schools are closing all over, what makes this school closing so unique, is it is the district that our "education Governor" attended.

Now as he travels the state and, falsely claims that he spent record amounts of our money on public schools, he refuses to acknowledge this his own home district is in trouble.     The record cuts to public education, along with record amounts funneled to his donors and friends in the private school voucher for profit industry, led by American Federation For Children - and formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen. 

The buck has never once stopped at the Governors office and this time it truly does not stop there alone.   Assembly District 31 Rep Amy Loudenbeck (R - Herding Goats). also likes to advertise her attempts at fighting for public education. 

Rep. Amy Loudenbeck: “Madison politics can be a bit like herding goats. It’s hard to get everyone moving in the same direction, when everyone is talking at the same time and no one is really listening. I’m Amy Loudenbeck. Whether it’s fighting for quality health care options, increased funding for education, or more workers in our district; I’ll listen to your concerns and be your voice in Madison. It doesn’t matter what your breed of politics is, Wisconsin is better when we all work together.”

I know it is silly season but we need to start holding politicians accountable for their actions and their votes.   There are some major problems

1.  fighting for quality health care options - By fighting for, she means turning down a billion dollars in medicaid money to help insure fellow Americans. 

2.  Increased funding for education -   By fighting for here, she means voting for the budgets that cut public education more than any state in the country and more than any time in Wisconsin history. 

3.  More workers in our district -  By fighting for here, she means overseeing 8 years of multiple business closings, almost 500 dairy farms closing and dead last in small business start ups. 

With friends like this.....

But wait there is more, there is always more. 

What else is in Ms. "fighting for funding for education" Loudenbeck's district? The shuttered Darien elementary school and 40 laid off teachers.  Luckily for the children of our state, while most other school districts in her district have had to go to referendum to survive(because Amy appears to be losing that fight) and many of these districts soundly support their local public schools. 

Why is Ms. Loudenbeck losing the battle for more education funding? Maybe it is by design, since a major funder of her campaign is the aforementioned American Federation for Children.   If you are going to be in the WISGOP, you do NOT cross Scott Jensen. 

That is why it is IMPERATIVE that we change the culture and the leadership in Madison. 

If you care at all about public education and do not want to see your local school next, please join me in voting for Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes.

However it can not stop there.  We need to send him a legislature that actually wants to govern.   We need to start voting out the false friends of education and vote in real public servants! 

That is why I also implore you to vote for Dr. Brittany Keyes from Beloit. 

Keyes, 31, has worked as a physical therapist for Beloit Health System since 2015.  Her practice has an emphasis on sports injury rehabilitation. She provides medical coverage at area high school sporting events and is in her third season as a volunteer assistant coach for the junior varsity football team at Beloit Memorial High School. She serves as strength and fitness coach for the team.
She was captain of the rowing team at the University of Iowa and was first team All-Big Ten in 2008.  She won a variety of sportsmanship and academic awards from the Big Ten.  She was a bronze medalist in the USA Weightlifting National Collegiate Championships in 2009.
Keyes is a founding board member of a Stateline area food cooperative and has an extensive record as a volunteer for various organizations during the last decade.
She is married to a teacher and the couple has a young daughter.
“Wisconsin needs people in the Assembly who will work for us, not the political donors,’’ Keyes said.  “I have a young family and I want to make Wisconsin the best place possible for all families.’’

It is time the 31st Assembly district was actually represented by someone who wants to do what is best for the people in her district and not whatever Robin Vos tells her to do.  Imagine if the 31st had a representative in Madison, who actually wanted you to have heath care and fully funds our local schools. 

You can make it happen on Tuesday,  November 6th, with a vote for Dr. Brittany Keyes! 

Please like her Facebook page and check out her endorsement in the right leaning Beloit Daily News. 

If you have a couple hours, or a couple bucks in the next week, please give Dr. Keyes some help. 

Also do not forget to call family and friends in the 31st district and encourage them to vote the Doctoral Ticket - Dr. Evers and Dr. Keyes.   

What Does $349,000 Buy These Days?

By Jeff Simpson 

What does $349,000 buy these days?

*  For about $1200 a month, it will buy you a house and a mortgage. 

*  A Mercedes Benz S 400

*  the payroll of the 1955 St. Louis Cardinals. 

* A Speech by Ben Bernanke;

*  Republican Senator Tom Tiffany:
Races in which AFC(American Federation for Children) has been active, include spending over $259,000 attacking Democrat Jeff Wright and promoting Republican Todd Novak in Assembly District 51; over $241,000 attacking Democrat Mandy Wright and promoting Republican Pat Snyder in Assembly District 85; over $54,000 attacking Democrat Dennis Hunt and promoting Republican Rob Summerfield in Assembly District 67; over $45,000 attacking Democrat David Gorski and promoting Republican Scott Krug in Assembly District 72; over $349,000 attacking Democrat Bryan Van Stippen in his race against Republican Tom Tiffany in Senate District 12; and over $62,000 attacking Democrat Mark Harris in his race against Republican Dan Feyen in Senate District 18.

We have written extensively about the American Federation for Children, and their frontman, formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen, here at CogDis and it is only fitting that they would be playing one big con, since they are primarily funded from the Amway fortune(which is one big scam where only a few benefit from the work of the many).  

That brings up some very serious questions.   

1.  How can an organization trying to steal money from public education afford to spend millions of dollars to do so? 

2.  Why give Tom Tiffany so much more money than everyone else?

3.  Why would anyone who gets less than $349,000 from American Federation for Children give Scott Jensen the time of day?   Is Tom Tiffany seven times more important to the cause than Scott Krug?  That is a question Scott Krug can contemplate when David Gorski is being sworn in in January.   

4.  If an out of state Billionaire has bought the allegiance of a candidate. why would we give them the power to enact their agenda in our great state.   

5.  Has there ever been a more bought and paid for legislator in Wisconsin than Tom Tiffany?

6.  Do you think its ok. and ever ask yourself why, people are so willing to spend so much money on a $50k/yr job?  or if that money could be better spent in the community?


We can change the direction of our state from the bought and paid for government we have no, to one where we actually have a say in our own Government.   

Here is Tiffany's opponent Bryan Von Stippen's website and Facebook page.  Helping him win his election, helps all of us!

It all starts next Tuesday.  Regardless of how you feel about the top of the ticket, please show up and vote for change in Wisconsin in the Bottom of the ticket! 

Righty's Get Your Guns

By Jeff Simpson

There seems to be a common theme lately running through the Republican Party and it all starts at the top.   The Republican nominee reality star has crossed the line numerous times and has done it once again.

First off The Donald once again hints at taking your guns and going after Hillary.

 Donald Trump on Friday wondered aloud what would happen to Hillary Clinton should her Secret Service detail disarm."I think her bodyguards should drop all weapons. Disarm immediately," Trump said. "Take their guns away, let's see what happens to her."
"Take their guns away, OK? It'll be very dangerous," he added.

The latest round of #WALKERDOCS show us that Head of the Wisconsin GOP and formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen sent an email the night of the Prosser/Kloppenburg race when they were worried that their personal Supreme Court Justice was going to actually not be elected:

The head of American Federation of Children advises his employees to lie like crazy, get as much misinformation as they can get on the airwaves and send "lawyers, guns and money."    Excellent example for children he continually sets.   Not sure who he wanted to send the guns for, but I am guessing some people are very lucky they were able to fix the recount in their favor.  

Finally, as we pointed out recently, the "education reporter" for the right wing Bradley funded blog, Watchdog.org  did not like that Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers criticized ACT 10.  Which Mr. Wigderson answered by writing a blog post and putting Superintendent Evers picture up with the caption - "Get Your Guns".  

Nothing like giving the crazies who follow you and the angry racists who support you, permission to go shoot your enemies.    As soon as one of their followers take them up on their offer, then we will really see how "The Shit Has Hit the fan."

ALEC Aims to Privatize All Schools

By Chris Taylor 

On the heels of a newly passed state budget that again leaves our K-12 public schools behind without ample and consistent funding, I recently headed back to where the school privatization push all began—the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

ALEC and its members, including theAmerican Federation for Children (AFC), have become more powerful than our citizens’ voices at the State Capitol. Despite massive public urging from Wisconsin school superintendents, principals, teachers, parents and students for consistent and adequate K-12 public education funding, Republicans legislators chose to dump more money into an unaccountable private voucher school system.

Since Republicans took over our state Capitol in 2011, they have cut $1.2 billion from public K-12 education. Under this latest budget, 55 percent of school districts will get less general student aid than they did last budget cycle and Wisconsin is spending $1,014 less per public school student than it did in 2008.

Yet for the private school special interests, this budget was like Christmas morning, with presents that blew the student enrollment caps off the statewide private school voucher program, diverted an additional $600-800 million from public schools over the next decade and increased per-pupil spending in the statewide private voucher system more than what even Governor Walker had proposed. The cherry on top was the last minute, late night passage of the special needs voucher program, which funds private schools for special needs students without requiring specialized instruction, teacher training or current legal protections.

At ALEC’s recent conference, I saw firsthand how these successes have emboldened them. State legislators were urged to push further for universal vouchers with no income or eligibility limits and for funding parity for unaccountable, independent charter schools.

The most far-reaching model bill the ALEC Education Taskforce adopted, Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), was pushed by AFC, and recently adopted in Nevada. Public monies are deposited into individual student accounts that parents may spend on any educational system. According to Nevada lead sponsor state senatorScott Hammond, this bill impacts 94 percent of public school students and will open up the floodgates to private schools in Nevada, sending “shockwaves” throughout the country.

Though school privatization model policies originating from ALEC have traditionally contained income eligibility limits, their new suite of model bills expanding independent charter school funding and private school vouchers reduce state oversight and accountability measures, contain no income cap and provide the same level of state and local funding per pupil that public schools receive.

To make their case, ALEC is now targeting suburban, middle-income families with a new argument that public education is failing not just low-income students, but middle-income students. ALEC’s new goal is to enlist middle-income parents to make a case for public school privatization.

And state legislators are being called upon as the foot soldiers to carry out ALEC’s orders.  As Arizona SenatorDebbie Lesko rallied when concluding her remarks in support of Educational Savings Accounts—“We’re here to save our country. That’s what ALEC helps us do.”

Or, more accurately, destroy the foundation of our democracy—quality public education. ALEC and many Republican legislators in Wisconsin have no vision for public education because they do not want it to exist. But there is a way to stop ALEC’s destructive policies. With 78 percent of Wisconsinites opposed to public education cuts, it starts with you.

There was one piece of advice from Senator Lesko’s ALEC speech that we should listen to —“Elections matter.”

The Scott Jensen Rule

     

By Jeff Simpson 

Assemblyman Mandela Barnes has announced he plans on challenging Senator Lena Taylor for the Senate seat she currently holds in the Democratic primary! This caused the Democratic Party to cut off Mr. Barnes access to the key voter access file due to a policy they have of not allowing challengers of incumbents access.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin rules ban candidates who are challenging an incumbent Democrat from using the party's Voter Activation Network, or VAN. The system provides insights about individual voters and allows candidates to target their messages.
Barnes' contract to use the VAN should've ended when he announced in April his bid to challenge Taylor in the Fourth state Senate district, party chairwoman Martha Laning said.
"The key here as the chair of the Democratic Party is that we consistently apply any rules or policies that we may have," Laning said in a phone interview.

The policy in question is here:

 The Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s bylaws outlines the policy we follow for voter file sales. Under Article 1, Section 6(f)

The Wisconsin voter file which is administered by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) will be made available to all the following individuals/groups in good standing with the DPW and legislative caucuses: all incumbent Democratic Party officeholders, Democratic nominees for public office, Democratic legislative campaign committees, and county, local unit, and Congressional District affiliates of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin...All other requests made by individuals, candidates, groups, organizations, or political committees not specified above, must be approved by the State Chair, subject to review by the Executive Committee. All appeals for reversals or exceptions are subject to review by the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin voter file and other Democratic Party list access fees will be determined by the Executive Committee established fair market value, as required by state regulation. 

Ok I understand that they have a policy, although I believe that anyone running on the Dem ticket should be allowed access to it.  I also think that sometimes we rely on it too much and ignore people we do not think are "voters".  However that is just my opinion and the party feels differently and that is their call.

HOWEVER, there needs to be a new rule enacted immediately.   I would call it the Scott Jensen rule. 

When you decide to team up with the horrible Scott Jensen and his American Federation for Children (AFC) you immediately lose all standing within the Democratic Party structure.

AFC and Scott Jensen are doing Push/Polls for Lena Taylor.



For those who are not aware of who Scott Jensen is, he is a former Asemblyman who was convicted of felonies in the Capitol Scandal until he was able to get a law passed allowing him to take his case to Brad Schimel who refuses to protect fellow GOP members regardless of the crimes.   Schimel decided that his punishment, instead of prison where he belongs, should be that he can not run for Governor.   Which is laughable because he could not pass a background test to substitute in your local school, so I do not think he would have ever sat in the Governors chair.  

If you need more of the Jensen resume here is a sampling .... Jensen has never been honest about his intentions in the public eye, he is paid $400,000/yr plus to privatize our public educational system and spents tens of thousands of dollars smearing Mandy Wright with blatant lies in her assembly seat that she lost by 80 votes.   That is just a sampling.


Lena also has a history of  working with AFC.  

Let's not be on the same side as Scott Jensen a day longer and reverse this decision, immediately!

As for Mandela Barnes, he was recently named one of the top pro-growth progressives in the nation.

 

Jim Bender: Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!

By Jeff Simpson

Milwaukee Voucher School Daughters of the Father Christian Academy, has already closed their doors this year, leaving about 150 students stranded.  

Being a "Christian"School, you would think they would have owned up to closingt the doors so that DPI could help the kids find a new school, etc...  Unfortunately no, it took a tip from someone phoned into Fox6.

When the School Choice movement in Wisconsin is run by Scott Jensen, you do not expect honesty but the Founder of this school, Bishop Doris Pinkney takes the cake:

On Friday, FOX6 News got a tip call from someone who works closely with the school. The caller said the school was closed, and that students had been sent to another choice school, Travis Academy.

Bishop Doris Pinkney

That's where we found Bishop Doris Pinkney, the founder of Daughters of the Father Christian Academy. She insisted her school was still open and kids were in the classroom on Friday, even though doors were locked and nobody came to the door.

With flat out lies like that, Bishop Doris, is angling for a spot on the American Federation For Choice campaign team in 2016.  

It is no big deal though, because all that Scott Walker and the Republicans sent her in Wisconsin taxpayer dollars was $5.4 MILLION!   What's a few million dollars between friends, of course when Robin Vos and his crew start sending more and more of our public education money to schools like this there will be less for your children, but that is just a minor detail.   Besides Robin Vos does not have kids anyway!  

The question I have is where is Scott Walker, Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald at times like this?  DO they not care that they just threw $5,400,000 of our taxpayer dollars down the drain?

Finally, where is Jim Bender on this? Why does he never seem to comment when these stories keep hitting the news over and over and over?  Isn't it about the children?  





If you see this man, notify the authorities immediately, he appears to be missing.  Approach with care, but he appears to only be dangerous to our children's future.  

Or else tweet them and ask them for our children's $5.4 Million dollars back! 

@SchoolChoiceWI

@JBenderWI

The Fight For Our Children's Future

By Jeff Simpson

We have written extensively, about the lies and lack of morals, about Scott Jensen's main group(the poorly named)- American Federation for Children(AFC).

They of course are at it again.  This time, they are having a national policy summit in New Orleans and since education is not valued by AFC, they have invited college dropout Scott Walker to be a keynote speaker.

The interesting thing about this summit though is their logo.  



A boxing glove logo?  For an education summit?

It really sums up who these despicable people are!

American Federation For Children Has A History of Lying

In Tennessee, the American Federation for Children, who is represented in Wisconsin by Scott Jensen,  won an award for the best negative direct mail piece.  

 Kiffin direct mail attack ad in TN legislative race wins national award 

				Kiffin direct mail attack ad in TN legislative race wins... NASHVILLE – At this year’s American Association of Political Consultants 2015 Annual Pollie Awards & Conference, Direct Edge Campaigns took home a POLLIE a...
				View on www.knoxnews.com	Preview by Yahoo

Also, in the  Mandy Wright assembly race, American Federation for Children spent much money on an ad against Ms. Wright that was not fact based.   It helped MS. Wright get beat by all of 86 votes.  https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1373125/wright1.pdf

Does American Federation for Children take pride in negativity and misinforming voters?  

Their mission statement being:

The American Federation for Children envisions an education system where parents are empowered to choose the best educational environment for their child, where innovation and entrepreneurism revolutionizes our education system, ensuring all children, especially low-income children, are provided with the opportunity to receive the finest education possible, whether it be in a traditional public school, public charter school, virtual learning, private school, home school or blended learning.

Are parents really empowered to choose the best educational environment when American Federation for Children spends millions of dollars to misled and misinform them?   Is lying, and smear attacks part of the curriculum of the schools they advocate for?    

The Jensen Deception

BY Jeff Simpson

 In Monona Grove, like many other public school districts in Wisconsin, we have a code of conduct that students have to sign and we expect them to live up to.   In this code of conduct this line is prominent:

Honesty (Students will be trustworthy and truthful, no matter what the consequence.)

 

The Elmbrook School District hasa special policy on Academic Honesty:  

Policy 5131.2 - Academic Honesty
The District regards academic honesty as vital to the academic, social and emotional development of all students. Honest and ethical behavior is an essential component in the learning process. Academic honesty requires that all academic work is the legitimate, truthful effort and product of the student. In contrast, academic dishonesty is an attempt by students to claim and show possession of effort, knowledge and/or skills that are not their own. Academic dishonesty in any form shall not be permitted.
Which brings us to the issue of the day, public education, and the recent November elections.  
We will see an expansion of "school choice" and the head of the "school choice" movement in Wisconsin is formerly convicted felon, Scott Jensen.  Jensen was basically given a "get out of jail free' card from his good friend and fellow Republican, Attorney General elect Brad Schimel.    
After Jensen left in disgrace, he went right to be head lobbyist for American Federation for Children(AFC). AFC is funded by the Walton and DeVos family and their main goal is to privatize our public education.   

AFC's visions is defined as(emphasis mine):

 

The American Federation for Children envisions an education system where parents are empowered to choose the best educational environment for their child, where innovation and entrepreneurism revolutionizes our education system, ensuring all children, especially low-income children, are provided with the opportunity to receive the finest education possible, whether it be in a traditional public school, public charter school, virtual learning, private school, home school or blended learning.

Doesn't there seem to be a disconnect that the organization that just wants parents to be "empowered to choose the best educational environment for their child" hired as its point person someone who has a proven history of not being able to be trusted to help serve the public?  

To make matters worse, they give the ethically challenged Jensen lots of money to buy elections.  As Bill Lueders recently pointed out:

 

School choice proponents, many from out of state, funneled $64,000 directly into candidates’ coffers in 2014, through AFC and another group. (The AFC-affiliated funder, Wisconsin Federation for Children Political Fund, filed its last report Nov. 26, a month late, risking a penalty of up to $500. Its Washington, D.C.-based administrator did not respond to an emailed question about the late filing.)In addition, AFC made independent expenditures of $866,000 to boost or oppose candidates. This adds to the nearly $10 million in state electoral spending by school choice proponents between 2003 and 2012, as tallied by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
AFC’s spending in the Nov. 4 elections included $148,000 to help narrowly defeat Democrat Rep. Mandy Wright, a former teacher and school choice critic. It spent $123,000 to help Republican Todd Novak score a razor-thin win over Democrat Dick Cates. And it poured $240,000 into GOP choice proponent Howard Marklein’s successful bid for an open Senate seat.**
** To put things in perspective, while they are spending tens of millions of dollars on elections, our annual budget(approximately 3200 kids, 250 staff, six buildings is $32 Million).   Also average teacher pay in WI is approaximately $47,000/yr, while Scott Jensen makes a over $200,000/yr.   

 When you give Scott Jensen that kind of money to play with, he uses it just as you would expect!    

 

Yet, in its electioneering, AFC commonly doesn’t even mention school choice. It attacked Wright for allegedly using sick leave to attend a protest, which she insists is not true. It went after Cates for his vote on the local school board concerning the Pledge of Allegiance. And it ripped Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz for threatening a female colleague and being cited in a massage parlor sting operation, both in 2011.

 

Now let's sum it all up, we have a disgraced former elected rep, who is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in small time races, to attack certain candidates disgracefully and dishonestly, late in the game, about every issue BUT school choice, and then AFC wins by razor thin margins.   Then Mr. Jensen declares:

 

Jensen is proud of these victories, which he says give it “a school choice majority in both houses.” He attributes this success to public support for school choice.

 

How Jensen sleeps at night is something he will have to answer, but why we continually reward this behavior in our political system is something that we have to take a long look at.  

 

Mr. Jensens behaviors, if he were a student in our district, would result in probably suspension and possible explusion(depending on the behavior plan we would work out between the principal, his teachers and parents).   

 

Is the person who would not be able to be hired into our schools, the person we want entrusted with millions of public education dollars?   

 

Do you feel safe knowing that YOUR children's future is in Scott Jensen's hands?    

 

Images from public profiles!  

Cross posted at Purple Wisconsin

In Education, Think of the Visible Reality

 By Jeff Simpson cross posted at Purple Wisconsin.

Journal Sentinel Opinion writer, Christian Schneider recently wrote a column expressing concern about the  fact, that there is a concerted effort to bring out the youth vote!   Now Schneider tells us that while society should not be so quick to allow the youth to vote, taxpayers should pay for them to attend any school of their choice.  Schneider even amazingly attempts to make the case for the massive cost savings of children attending voucher schools(whom he calls invisible children).
When one thinks of a public school student, a specific image typically comes to mind. It may be a boy showing up for elementary school wearing his favorite Minecraft T-shirt or a girl proudly adorned in her rainbow loom bracelets(Edit Note - no one thinks either of these things).
But when discussing public school finance, we often don't think about the "invisible kid," the one who isn't sitting in the public school classroom. The "invisible kid" is instead sitting in a classroom at a private school of his or her parent's choosing, with the education paid for with a state-funded voucher.
When teachers unions criticize the choice program, they always forget to mention these invisible students who aren't taking up valuable space and resources in their classrooms. They frequently complain that the school choice program diverts scarce resources away from public schools, but they neglect to mention that if those invisible students became public students, it would cost school districts millions of dollars and substantially drive up property taxes.
I will overlook the eerily similarities of bad math and economic gobbeldygook that the spokesperson for the Walmart funded, poorly named American Federation for Children also published at nearly the same time. 
The debate between plagiarism and subservience can wait for another day.   There are too many factual errors to correct to figure out who actually came up with them.
If these dopelganger articles are anything, they are timely!  As has been reported throughout the state, the voucher schools have taken us for a very big and costly ride. 
MADISON — Wisconsin taxpayers have paid about $139 million to private schools that ended up being barred from the state's voucher system for failing to meet requirements since 2004, according to a newspaper report.
State Department of Public Instruction data shows more than two-thirds of the 50 schools terminated from the state's voucher system in the last 10 years had stayed open for five years or less, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. They were all in Milwaukee.
Eleven schools, paid a total of $4.1 million, were terminated from the voucher program after just one year.
For those of you scoring at home, that is $139,000,000 of Wisconsin taxpayer dollars.
Nothing tells this story better than Lifeskills Academy from Milwaukee!
A husband and wife running a private Milwaukee voucher school that abruptly closed last month — after accepting a total of more than $2.3 million in taxpayer money — now live in a gated community in Florida by the beach, records show.
Records show Taron and Rodney Monroe started a new private Christian school this year in Daytona Beach. While the school in Milwaukee was running on fumes, they were telling Florida friends they had experience getting government grants for religious schools......
The K-8 voucher school in Milwaukee, LifeSkills Academy, 3434 N. 38th St., served only about 400 low-income students since joining the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program in 2008-'09. Its closing around Dec. 13 forced 66 students to find other schools with little notice.
The school's rise and fall illustrate how unstable operations are still a feature of Milwaukee's landmark voucher program as it heads into its 24th year.
While running LifeSkills Academy in Milwaukee, records show, the Monroes were living in a five-bedroom, 3.5-bath house in West Bend.
I challenge you to go ask your local school district's superintendent what they would do if they had an extra $2.3 Million(I promise the answer will not be a gated community in Florida). 
Let's take a look at the numbers Mr. Schneider did not share:
Last school year, there were 108 schools and about 25,000 students participating in the Milwaukee voucher program, and 146 voucher schools total. The state has budgeted about $210 million for all voucher schools for the current school year, compared to around $4.4 billion in general aid for public schools. 

Scott Walker and the republicans raised the amount of people who were eligible for vouchers last year and will be raising that number again.    The problem is, it has proven to be a subsidy for the wealthy and not easily attainable for those living in poverty.  
The statewide voucher program, in its first year, is at capacity, with about 500 students receiving vouchers statewide, according to the department. Of those, 79 percent did not attend a Wisconsin public school last year.
The program’s enrollment limit will rise to 1,000 next year. The statewide program exists in districts outside of Milwaukee and Racine, which have had programs for years.
Seventy-three percent of students now attending private schools using a voucher were already enrolled in a private school last year, according to the department. Twenty-one percent of students were from public schools. About 3 percent did not attend any school and 2 percent were home schooled.
"invisible children" make up 2/10 of the voucher school students added under Scott Walker's voucher school expansion plan.   To save our friends on the right the math, thats 100 students out of the voucher expansion, added to the 426 school districts in Wisconsin.  Which would actually "drive up costs" at a considerably smaller pace than the many unfunded mandates the republican legislature sends us. 
All of this for schools that routinely underperform public schools!
BUT wait!  There's more!
 In order to understand why there is a such a push to "reform" education, we need to dig deep at some more numbers. 
The main group pushing "for profit" education(ie Voucher schools**), is American Federation of Children(AFC) whose leader is disgraced former assembyman Scott Jensen,  and whose name has become so toxic that they had to change it! 
AFC is a combination of money from the DeVos family(Amway) and the Walton family(Walmart) all blended together under the ALEC umbrella.   AFC has spent MILLIONS(plural) of dollars on Wisconsin elections alone and Jensen alone makes $102,734/yr (the cost of two teachers) to just be their "senior advisor"(with a Governor & legisature so woeful at creating jobs, you cant blame him for taking what he can get).
The question many would ask is why would DeVos and Walton families(who do not even live here) spend millions to increase voucher schools in WI?
Do they truly care about the children of the inner cities and poor?
The answer is simply no!  They do not!
The real answer is it is all part of the "Shock Doctrine".  The money is flowing in, to try and make a massive push to privatize all education!
Or to steal a phrase from our past -
"There's Gold In Them Thar Classrooms!" 
Luckily for us, the people trying to steal it are very very visible!

Income Inequality That Your Kids Suffer From

 

By Jeff Simpson

The average teacher salary in Wisconsin is $46,000/yr.  Governor Scott Walker's signature piece of legislation ACT10 cut public workers take home pay by up to 12%.    Which for the average public teacher salary in WI comes to approximately $5520. Act 10 has been in effect for four years now which would be $22,080 in lost income(or demand in Wisconsin).


What was the motivating factor behind that?

Scott Walker in that time has received over $2,400,000 in support of privatizing schools, increasing vouchers and ending teachers unions.  This is money given by the ruling class earmarked as just donations for the politicians they own(for those of you scoring at home, that is equivalent to over 52 teachers complete salaries).     

It doesn't stop there.  

The Democracy Campaign report showed that spending by voucher supporters skyrocketed in the last election cycle, with more than half of the $9.8 million spent over the past decade coming in 2011 and 2012.

Of the spending, $7 million was for activity like independent campaign ads or mailings. The remaining $2.8 million was given in individual campaign contributions to mostly Republican and conservative candidates for office. Nearly two-thirds of that $2.8 million came from donors outside of Wisconsin.

The most donations came from billionaire voucher advocates Richard and Betsy DeVos of Michigan, who gave $337,330 to Wisconsin candidates between 2003 and the first six months of 2012.
Walker received $2.35 million from voucher supporters since 2006, but most of that came during his recall campaign. He got $1.1 million from individual school choice supporters — including $252,600 from Richard and Betsy DeVos. He got another $1.1 million from the Washington-based American Federation for Children, the report showed.

That group is the main driver of outside spending from voucher supporters in Wisconsin, accounting for $4.4 million of the $7 million over the past decade. The group’s Wisconsin lobbyist is former Republican Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen.

Two other former Republican speakers, John Gard and Jeff Fitzgerald*, work for School Choice Wisconsin.

*  total spending does NOT include salaries to the many many lobbyists they employ.  All of which make more than the average teacher does in salary for a year.

So ask yourself why billionaires, who have spent their life increasing their salary and worrying about ROI would be investing millions in privatizing our schools. 

Do you think it is because they worry about YOUR child's education or is it because they see massive return on investments by privatizing our schools?