MacIver News Minute: Failing Our School Kids

"Just give us more money," the public education establishment says. "That will solve all the problems in our schools." We've known for a long time: this isn’t true. Per-pupil spending keeps going up, while test scores are flat or falling. We released a report last week with the American Experiment. We found that lack of knowledge and skills is partly to blame for Wisconsin's economy falling behind the rest of the country. Then there is the scandal of the Department of Public Instruction leadership failing to address child groomers in classrooms across the state. Don’t forget the news that broke last week about DPI spending nearly $400,000 on a four-day conference in the Dells. It's not working, and the Legislature was right to freeze a million dollars in additional DPI spending. Last year was the Year of the Kid, and leadership from DPI and our "education governor" is failing. Wisconsin's education problems aren't about money. It's about priority.