What is public education and how we should pay for it are questions every resident should be asking themselves. The debate on education funding rages on, fueled by the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling that the Governor’s ‘veto’, which created additional funding of $325 per student annually through property taxes or state aid until the year 2425, is lawful.
Yet support for public education in its current form is far from solid. A recent study shows that 68% of likely Wisconsin voters support school choice programs. It is a mathematical certainty that two systems will cost more to maintain than one.
It is far past time that instead of just talking about dollars, a conversation is had about the erosion of support of public education.
YDF Grant Encourages Greater Civic Engagement by Local Youth
April 7, 2025
On April 7th, the RCF Youth Development Fund awarded a grant to the Milton High School civics class. The grant assisted with the cost of transporting high school students to the WI State Capitol where they were able to learn more about their Capitol and state government; as well as, hear directly from state legislators explain the importance of civic engagement.
In the grant approval letter, the RCF board included the following:
"The objective of the RCF Youth Development Fund is to encourage and help facilitate Rock County students to actively engage in American citizenship by focusing on local civics. We achieve this objective by working and collaborating with student councils and/or Social Studies/Government education classes in K-12 schools across Rock County; along with local business leaders and local elected officials."
Why Local Leadership in K-12 Education Matters
February 2025
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) recently released “The Nation's Report Card”, which measures student performance in math and reading.
The key findings according to NAEP in the
Fewer than a third of students nationwide are working at the NAEP Proficient level in reading at both grades. Scoring at the NAEP Proficient level means consistently understanding written text and interpreting its meaning.
42% of eighth-graders report high confidence in mathematics, not significantly different from 2022, a decline from 49% in 2019
