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	<title>The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Blog</title>
	
	<link>http://www.wpri.org/blog</link>
	<description />
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 18:50:52 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Is Wisconsin’s School Funding System Unconstitutional?</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/jSaiilyYoM8/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2464#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 18:50:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2464</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A new article in Milwaukee’s Shepherd’s Express caught my attention today.  The story, by Lisa Kaiser, is about the recent Forward Institute report: “Wisconsin Budget Policy and Poverty in Education.” In the article Kaiser writes: Scott Wittkopf, chair of Forward Institute, said the state’s commitment to funding education for all students is so weak it’s [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2464</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>The Prospects for Governance Reform in a Post-Thornton MPS</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/fC_C3qJ8GTo/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2459#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 16:03:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2459</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Alan Borsuk wrote this past weekend about the ongoing will he or won’t he saga of Milwaukee Public School (MPS) superintendent Gregory Thornton.  I call it a saga because rumors of the eventual departure of Thornton have been prevalent since pretty much day one of his tenure.  I suppose that’s a good thing, if people [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2459</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Way Off the Mark on Voucher Funding</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/M6KMvar4Nrs/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2456#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 14:57:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is another new study out from the Forward Institute that focuses on school choice.  There is a whole lot I could write about this thing but I am going to focus on the way in the authors’ describe voucher funding. On page 40 they write: “For analysis purposes, it was necessary to adopt a [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2456</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2456</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Not a War, but a Disconnect</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/2oPyYphhvzk/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2454#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2013 18:31:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Urban]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2454</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The past few months have given us the GOP war on women, my personal war with backyard rabbits, the IRS’ war on conservative non-profits, and now the Wisconsin GOP’s war on Milwaukee.  Can we cool it with the “war on” talk?  It has become a bad cliché. I wrote recently that I do not think [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2454</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2454</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Put New Money Towards Revenue Limit Increase</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/jrl-cBMt0m8/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2451#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 13:50:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2451</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You ever find a twenty-dollar bill in an old pair of jeans?  What do you do with it?  Do you run to the bank and deposit it for a rainy day?  Do you buy something you need?  Or do you throw caution to the wind and splurge on a 12-pack of Spotted Cow? The legislature [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2451</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2451</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Making Sense of Education Finance</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/SNw6v2r_jzE/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2449#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 18:48:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2449</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently, someone responded to a WPRI blog post about the Milwaukee Public School (MPS) budget situation with the dreaded “so what?” question.  The question was understandable, aren’t discussions of the details of education finance a distraction from the important work of educating kids?  To answer my own question, no.  Here is why. First, though money [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2449</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2449</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Thoughts on the Voucher Debate</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/vG8C098bJ1A/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2447#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2013 15:38:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2447</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If school choice is expanded to new municipalities in Wisconsin it will be no small miracle given the nature of the debate thus far.  Below are impressions as the next crucial step in the state budget process, Join Finance, begins. Ignoring of Best Evidence:  The past couple week has brought a debate over how exactly [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2447</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2447</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Marriage</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/g8H9pSMnPMg/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2445#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 15:18:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2445</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Did you hear Jason Collins is gay?  He also plays professional basketball making him the first openly gay athlete in one of the big four American sports.  If you have not heard you can be forgiven, after all Tim Tebow was released Monday. I am not trying to minimize the importance or difficulty of Collins’ [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2445</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2445</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Lessons from the Milwaukee Lakefront</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/QO7hjJf-Z9A/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2442#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 01:11:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Urban]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2442</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute we try to focus our research on topics that can increase the quality of life in Wisconsin.  A drive along the lakefront of Milwaukee on this gorgeous afternoon served as a reminder that there are a variety of interconnected ways to enhance the quality of life in a [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2442</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2442</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>MPS Budget Outlook A Little Brighter</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/lqJaofYvVgQ/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2440#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:13:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2440</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had my first chance to read through the new Milwaukee Public School (MPS) budget proposal yesterday, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.  Compared to trends of the last decade or so, things are definitely looking better for the district. Most important, MPS is increasing their staffing in key areas next year.  Despite [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2440</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Terrible Test Scores</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/nzjjEdD83ew/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2438#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:16:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2438</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Another year, another release of terrible test scores out of Milwaukee. As I’ve said over and over, you cannot look at these scores and conclude that the Milwaukee Public Schools have a more positive impact on student learning than schools in the MPCP or vice-versa.  But you can look at these scores and conclude that [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2438</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2438</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>I Didn’t Know that About Me</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/45p0YjtRxxE/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2430#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:22:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2430</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s always interesting when I learn things about myself and the place I work from people I’ve never met.  Just saw this quote today, from Scot Ross, in a Journal Sentinel blog about a new report from One Wisconsin Now: “Organizations like WPRI &#8212; and the others mentioned in our report &#8212; push an anti-government, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2430</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2430</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>An Incomplete Take on School Choice</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/-sjJ0lFqE4k/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2427#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:20:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elections]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2427</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Several days ago I blogged about the Wisconsin’s Democracy Campaign’s post on the amount of money spent by school choice advocates in Wisconsin.  My opinion can be summed up in a quote I gave Wisconsin Public Radio: “I don&#8217;t think you can honestly say that 25,000 students are using the Milwaukee Parental Choice program because [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2427</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2427</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Shameful Day in the U.S. Senate</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/7JnpTYWzcTM/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2425#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:18:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Legislation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2425</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I don’t say much about national policy given this blog’s focus but yesterday’s action to block a reasonable background check proposal for gun purchases was ridiculous.  The bill had bi-partisan sponsorship.  The concept is supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans.  And the bill had majority support in the U.S. Senate.  Yet it was blocked. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2425</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2425</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>School Choice Expansion: The Power of a Fiscal Note</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/zDtn_IKwPrI/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2422#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2422</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At the start my public policy career I had the good fortune to work with someone who fully understood the power of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) in influencing Wisconsin policy debates.  To paraphrase my colleague, legislators want answers, and LFB is the respected authority that provides them.  It follows that the content of LFB [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2422</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2422</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>School Choice Supporters Support School Choice</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/yWJkIXTD1HY/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2419#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:30:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Campaign Finance Reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2419</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How about that tongue twister?  It is referring to the recent posting by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign that school choice supporters spent $9.8 millions dollars to support school choice in Wisconsin.  This money came in the form of issue advertising from 3rd party groups as well as in the form of direct campaign contributions to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2419</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2419</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Bye Bye Mifflin Street</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/4D1jnrODOuU/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2416#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:41:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Urban]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2416</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why is drinking a beer outdoors so much better than drinking a beer indoors?  Maybe it is the sunshine.  Or maybe, in the case of the many summer festivals in Milwaukee and elsewhere, it is the atmosphere. Just over a week ago I was in Oakland, California visiting relatives and had the chance to attend [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2416</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2416</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Scott Walker and Milwaukee? It’s Complicated</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/WUnZoH_Y1Do/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2413#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:43:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Urban]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2413</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[John Gurda recently wrote an opinion piece strongly questioning Scott Walker on his claim to love Milwaukee.  My boss, George Lightbourn, wrote a strong rebuke.  Both are well written and thoughtful, and well worth reading. Regular readers (reader?) of this blog won’t be surprised that I come down somewhere in the middle on this one. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2413</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2413</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>All of the people can’t be all right all of the time, PolitiFact said that</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/2NfJnaE_0yI/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2411#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:39:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2411</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The mission of PolitiFact is noble and needed in many cases.  It makes sense for a newspaper to try to sort out the sometimes misleading and outright false statements of Wisconsin politicians.  However, there are some issues, like school funding, that are not black and white and hence confound PolitFact’s simple rating system. This is [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?feed=rss2&amp;p=2411</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Tuition Tax Credit and Voucher Expansion are Two Different Animals</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wpri/~3/AvGWlhtd3PQ/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2407#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:20:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mike Ford</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2407</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Some Senate Republicans are floating a private school tuition tax credit as a possible alternative to the Governor’s proposed school voucher expansion.  There is nothing necessarily wrong with a tuition tax credit, just don’t call it education reform, because it’s not. Specifically, the legislators are floating the idea of a $1,500 to $2,500 tax credit for [...]]]></description>
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