Education

We’re Looking for Work’ Town Meeting this Friday

Here at OWN we got the following listing for an event for folks who have unfortunately lost their jobs in these tough times. Please pass the word around to your friends and neighbors who are looking for some support! You can register for the event by calling Buzz Davis at 608-873-4886 or register online at […]

Give Brett Davis $13,000, and he’ll give you the world

Career politicians really get my goat. Even worse is a career politician who makes his bones by selling out Wisconsin’€™s students to for-profit corporations in exchange for campaign contributions. Exhibit A: Brett Davis (R-Oregon) Brett used to be the chair of the Assembly Education Committee. And during his career in the legislature, Brett’€™s been leading […]

More All Children Matter Cash for Rose Fernandez

The fine individuals financing the racist, lawbreaking All Children Matter, who want to see our public education tax dollars go to private, for-profit companies, have dumped late cash into the Rose Fernandez race. Reports filed with the state show Betsy DeVos, the Michigan wife of ACM founder Dick DeVos shipped a last-minute $1,000 check to […]

MacIver: Questionable Study, Questionable Timing

A joint study from the conservative MacIver Institute and the anti public school Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice makes the claim that high school dropouts are a burden to taxpayers of Wisconsin. Fair enough. But the source and timing of the study raise some serious eyebrows.Besides being a conservative think tank with a staff of […]

K12, Inc. Staff Supporting Fernandez Campaign

MADISON, Wis. — Rose Fernandez, described in a recent newspaper article as “a nurse by training who has never held an education job,” received $1,350 in contributions from top personnel at the Virginia-based K12, Inc., the for-profit company expected to reap $5 million in Wisconsin taxpayer funds to administer virtual schools – a number which […]

Fernandez, Koschnick join the conservative circus

There’€™s a huge rift in conservatism these days. On the one hand, you have a faction that looks back in dismay at three losing election cycles and is trying to retool their message in hope for a better outcome in the future. On the other hand, you have a faction too stubborn to abandon their […]

FernandezFiveMillion.com Details Network Involving Rose Fernandez, Private Education Advocates

MADISON, Wis. — Rose Fernandez, former head of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual Schools Families, is part of a network involving lobbyists, non-profit organizations, elected officials and even the law-breaking All Children Matter, seeking to give for-profit companies like the Virginia-based K12, Inc. Wisconsin education tax dollars. An interactive website detailing this network and its […]

Push Poll about Milw. School Board President?

Interesting item by Dan Bice today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel… Ready, fire, aim It’s still not clear who was behind a push poll against School Board President Peter Blewett. Blewett put out a statement saying the poll by the Parker Group of Birmingham, Ala., suggested that he authorized fellow board member Charlene Hardin’s infamous […]

UW-Hater-In-Chief Nass Finally Out as Chair of College & University Committee

Finally, the UW just might have an actual advocate in the State Assembly. Rep. Kim Hixon, a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater professor was appointed Tuesday to lead the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee. Who’€™s spot is Hixon taking? Former chair and enemy of intellectuals everywhere, the venerable Steve Nass.   Nass was on a permanent crusade […]

Donors to Lawbreaking All Children Matter Dole Out $74,000 in Last Minute Contributions

MADISON, Wis. — Donors to the lawbreaking All Children Matter have just made an unprecedented 146 last-minute legislative contributions totaling $79,725 to 33 Republicans and 4 Democrats over two weeks in mid-October. These individuals, who have given All Children Matter more than $10 million, made 134 maximum contributions allowed under Wisconsin law during this final […]

AllCashMatters — ACM Donors Pump $80K in Last Second Contribs

Donors to the lawbreaking All Children Matter have just made an unprecedented 146 last-minute legislative contributions totaling $79,725 to 33 Republicans and 4 Democrats over two weeks in mid-October. These individuals, who have given All Children Matter more than $10 million, made 134 maximum contributions allowed under Wisconsin law during this final barrage. The 146 […]

Shady All Children Matter Continues Support for Towns

Former State Rep. Debi Towns continues to receive the backing from All Children Matter, an organization that remains under a legal cloud in Wisconsin after the State Elections Board determined in November 2006 that they violated rules about express advocacy. Top donors to the lawbreaking pro-private vouchers group have given Towns over $8,000. They have […]

Lawbreaking All Children Matter Continues Support for Towns

MADISON, Wis. — Former State Rep. Debi Towns continues to receive the backing from an organization that supported her last-minute attempt as she left office in 2006 to help divert tax dollars from the over $100 million four-year-old kindergarten system to for-profit private school operations. Top donors to the lawbreaking pro-private vouchers All Children Matters […]

At the No More Cuts Rally

I had the opportunity to join hundreds of people at the ‘€œNo More Cuts’€ rally at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) led the event but were joined by several other unions, and by many other supportive residents that oppose Scott Walker’€™s drastic cuts. While looking over […]

All Children Matter Guilty, But Remains Unpenalized

It’s time the Government Accountability Board to act on the recommendations of the former State Elections Board and penalize All Children Matter for violating Wisconsin election laws in 2006. The Election Board ruled last year that All Children Matter broke the law, but the pro-private school vouchers group hit with a stunning $5.2 million fine in Ohio […]

Minnesota Can Keep Pawlenty

Stay home, Governor Pawlenty. That’s the plea from One Wisconsin Now (OWN), as Pawlenty travels to Stevens Point to serve as the keynote speaker at the Wisconsin Republican Convention on Friday.

McCain Fails Lesson on Education Funding

We already know that the recently announce economic plan by John McCain is going to be a boon for corporations and the most wealthy. We also know that his plan will do very little to help the average American, and in many cases will be hurtful to them and their interests. To pay for even […]

All Contributions Matter

On Monday we drew attention to All Children Matter, the pro-private school vouchers group founded by a Michigan Republican billionaire. Specifically we pointed to a recent unanimous ruling by the Ohio Elections Commission that the right wing group illegally funneled $870,000 into the state. The body also fined All Children Matter $5.2 million for their […]

All Election Laws Matter

All Children Matter, a pro-private school vouchers group founded by a Michigan Republican billionaire was fined $5.2 million for illegally funneling money into Ohio campaigns. This is the same group that is under investigation in Wisconsin after the State Elections Board determined in 2006 that it violated election rules here. In a 5-0 decision, the […]

Pedro Coln Sweeping Away the Cynics and Naysayers

What can bring together the Milwaukee mayor, the DA, and virtually the entire City legislative caucus in a divisive election season? Pedro Cola³n running for City Attorney. Reads the Shepard-Express endorsement: (Mu)ltiple conversations with Colon, and really listening to his plans for the office, have won us over. We enthusiastically support state Rep. Pedro Colon […]

The Three Trillion Dollar War

Later this afternoon, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the War in Iraq, national security and economic experts will reflect on the true cost of the war in a press conference. The event is sponsored by the Iraq Campaign 2008 Coalition and will feature Nobel prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard professor […]

Use Estate Tax Cut to Fill Budget Gap

One Wisconsin Now has launched a statewide online petition drive calling for Wisconsin legislators to fill a projected $300 million budget shortfall not by slashing critical programs to the poor, elderly and disabled, but by reinstating the estate tax for the heirs and heiresses of Wisconsin’s wealthiest which expired January 1.  This $300 million brand new […]

Real Accountability for Virtual Schools

Today the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel focused on State Senator John Lehman’s (D-Racine) plan regarding virtual schools in Wisconsin.  A major piece of his plan focuses on bringing some real accountability to virtual schools.  The proposal would require school districts that offer online instruction to make their contracts with for-profit companies public.  This is a common […]

K12, Inc. Support for Davis Paying Off

This is nothing more than school profiteering' where Wisconsin's limited public school dollars are being shipped to a for-profit company on the other side of the country.