Reading Time: 4 minutes Less than a week after voters narrowly approved a $252 million referendum for Milwaukee Public Schools, the district decided to eliminate full-time trauma support specialists from the schools in the 53206 ZIP code. Before the April 2 election, MPS Superintendent Keith Posley said the money was needed to maintain services including “art, music, physical education classes, smaller class sizes, psychologists and social workers.” But on April 8, four full-time trauma informed coaches working in 53206 schools were told their positions are being eliminated.&nbs ..read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes President Joe Biden said Monday that more than 30 million borrowers would see “life-changing” relief from his new plan to ease their student loan debt burdens, a fresh attempt by the Democratic president to follow through on a campaign pledge that could buoy his standing with younger voters. He detailed the initiative, which has been in the works for months, during a trip to Wisconsin, one of a handful of battleground states that could decide the outcome of Biden’s likely November rematch with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. Biden said h ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes As the April 2 election draws near, debate continues over whether voters should support Milwaukee Public Schools’ $252 million referendum, which would raise property taxes. School district officials said the funding increase would allow them to sustain and improve educational programming, attract and retain teachers and avoid budget cuts due to cost increases. “We have to continue to ensure that our students have art teachers, music teachers, smaller class sizes,” said Keith Posley, superintendent of  Milwaukee Public Schools, or MPS, during a recent  ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Over the last two weeks, parents of Butler Middle School students in Waukesha have received multiple notices from district administrators about bomb threats at the school.  School district officials and the Waukesha Police Department have determined the threats are not credible.  But a grassroots advocacy group in the city believes they are connected to political battles over LGBTQ issues in the district and a social media post on the controversial Libs of TikTok targeting an openly gay staff member at the school. “Beyond board policies, the hyper-politicizati ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here. As the director of Pathways High in Milwaukee, Franz Meyer has students asking him about driver’s education opportunities almost daily. He said students want to learn to drive, but options are limited and often unaffordable. “I’d tell them you can ..read more

Reading Time: 9 minutes News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here. Click here to read highlights from the story Studies have long ranked the Milwaukee metropolitan area the worst place to live if you’re Black, citing dramatic racial disparities in incarceration, income and educational achievement and a legacy of redl ..read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press. In a surprising about-face, the Universities of Wisconsin regents approved a deal Wednesday evening with Republican legislators to limit diversity positions at the system’s two dozen campuses in exchange for money to cover staff raises and construction projects. Assembly Republican Speaker Robin Vos, who brokered the deal with Universities ..read more

Reading Time: 8 minutes Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup. Click here to read highlights from the story Gerard Randall, first vice chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin and secretary of the host committee for the 2024 Republican National Convention, is the sole staff member of the Milwaukee Education Partnership, which aims to boost student achievement.  Milwaukee Public Schools has paid Randall’s nonprofit nearly $1.3 million over the past decade in no-b ..read more

Reading Time: 9 minutes News414 is a service journalism collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service that addresses the specific issues, interests, perspectives and information needs identified by residents of central city Milwaukee neighborhoods. Learn more at our website or sign up for our texting service here. Story highlights About half of public schools in Milwaukee lack full or partial indoor air conditioning, according to Milwaukee Public Schools officials.  Students and teachers say some classrooms can be uncomfortably hot for months of each schoo ..read more

Reading Time: 10 minutes This story was produced as part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab, a consortium of six news outlets covering northeastern Wisconsin. Wisconsin Watch is a member of the network. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. Stephanie Springer can’t help but tear up when she tells the story of the 6-year-old girl who came under her care last year.  Although the girl is not yet in first grade, she’s already experienced trauma from varying origin points. She expresses her painful past in big, ag ..read more