Madison’s public schools are progressive

expensive and disappointing.

Everything progressives believe about K-12 education is wrong. It’s minority students who suffer most. So says The Atlantic magazine — hardly a MAGA outlet. 

“America is Sliding Toward Illiteracy,” its headline warns. “Declining standards and low expectations are destroying American education.”

Bad enough State schools superintendent Jill Underly cooked the books to paper over Wisconsin’s declining test scores. The Republican legislature forced her to return to the gold standard National Assessment of Educational Progress, which found a 6% decline in fourth-grade reading proficiency.

Now Supt. Underly is “under fire” over her department’s handling of sexual grooming and teacher misconduct claims.”

For the record: Jill Underly was endorsed for re-election this spring by the teachers unions, the Democratic parties of Wisconsin and of Dane County, and The Capital Times, which once billed itself as “Dane County’s Progressive Voice.”

What did public education get wrong nationally, in Wisconsin, and here in Madison?

Participation trophies

Smart phones and social media probably account for some of the drop. But there’s another explanation, albeit one that progressives in particular seem reluctant to countenance: a pervasive refusal to hold children to high standards. Schools have demanded less and less from students — who have responded, predictably, by giving less and less. … One in four students today is chronically absent. — The Atlantic

In Madison, the chronically absent rate is one in three (32.1%).

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The past decade also marked a shift in concern among educators, toward equity and away from excellence. Elements of so-called equitable grading, which is supposed to be more resistant to bias than traditional grading, have taken off in American schools. Roughly 40 percent of middle-school teachers work in schools where there are no late penalties for coursework, no zeroes for missing coursework, and unlimited redos of tests. — The Atlantic

Wisconsin is the worst in the nation for racial disparity. In the Madison for school years 2023-24, 75.8% of White students were proficient readers & writers, Asian 46.7%, Hispanic 23.8%, Black 14.1%.

Opposition to charter schools

Notoriously, Madison Metro School District spurned Kaleem Caire’s bid for a charter school in 2011, forcing him to go outside the district to found his One City Schools. 

Progressive Democrats … still regard charter schools with suspicion and tend to fight to cap their number. But in a lot of places, that only hinders the equity these people profess to care about: High-performing charter networks in American cities have registered serious improvements in learning for some of the most disadvantaged children in the country.

The ‘more money’ scam

A seemingly plausible culprit, and a familiar boogeyman for progressives, is insufficient spending. … School spending did not decline … it increased significantly, even after adjusting for inflation.

Madison’s public schools are raising the property tax levy by an astounding 20.4% — “the largest in at least a generation.” (Quote sourced.) For the owner of an average home, $683. In just five years, the property tax bill for the average home increased by $3,819 — thanks in part to the two spending referenda approved last November. 

Teachers unions

If you’re an underprivileged kid in America, you will, on average, get the best education not in rich Massachusetts but in poor Mississippi, where per-pupil spending is half as high.…  Not only are the southern states that are registering the greatest improvements in learning run by Republicans, but also their teachers are among the least unionized in the country.

Pandemic Lockdown

The Atlantic missed that one so we add it here. The teachers union demanded the lockout despite evidence that children were less susceptible to Covid than the elderly and medically compromised.

“The pandemic school closure and lockdown [had] adverse effects on child health and well-being in the short and probably long term,” the National Institutes of Health concludes.  

Blaska’s Bottom Line: It’s right there on its website: The Democratic Party of Dane County is “dedicated to supporting progressive candidates and policies … throughout the county.” They have succeeded. Democrats endorsed all seven on Madison’s Board of Education — as did Madison Teachers Inc. and The Capital Times. Two of the seven are up for election this April: Nicki Vander Meulen and Blair Mosner Feltham. The latter is on record saying, “Our schools are products of white supremacy.” Now THAT is progressive!

Why can’t Madison schools ban smart phones?