Wisconsin Education NewsMarch 16, 2026A daily update of education news and events that are taking place around Wisconsin. Reedsville High School Baseball Project Starting to Take Shape Construction is continuing on a baseball field for the Reedsville School District. Students in an Intro to Construction class last week took advantage of the warmer weather to get side roof rails installed on each of the new dugouts and began lifting, securing, and installing roof trusses. New MHS gains sponsorships for Therapy, FACE rooms MONROE — The School District of Monroe is proud to announce a generous 10-year sponsorship agreement with the Mosher family that will support a dedicated therapy room at the new Monroe High School. Through this partnership, the therapy room will be named in honor of Jo Ellen Mosher, a retired occupational therapist who served the School District of Monroe for 36 years. Mosher’s dedication to students and colleagues helped shape the culture of the district’s therapy department and left a lasting impact on the Monroe school community. New Wisconsin laws criminalize grooming, require school districts to adopt new policies (WTAQ-WLUK) — Governor Tony Evers signed two bills into law last week that criminalize grooming and require school districts to adopt new policies on appropriate communication. According to Wisconsin Act 88, grooming is defined as “the deliberate process of building trust with a young person to manipulate, exploit or abuse them.” Gymnastics: Oregon exploring co-op with Stoughton, Edgewood The Verona Area/Madison Edgewood gymnastics team’s co-op came to an end after the WIAA Division 1 state meet on Saturday, March 7. The Big Eight Conference rejected approving the gymnastics co-op for next season. The VA/ME co-op made 14 state appearances since 2003. The Sabercatz have made seven straight state appearances and won a Division 1 state title in 2023 and finished as the state runner-up in 2022 and 2024. Several years ago, I had the honor and privilege of being appointed, along with various education experts, to serve on the 16-member Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding created by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and then-Senate Majority Leader (now Congressman) Scott Fitzgerald. For more than a year, this commission held hearings across the state and heard from school leaders, parents, community members and national experts on ways to “fix” our state’s “broken” school funding system. Milwaukee school expands diverse teacher representation to inspire and empower students MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) - A school on Milwaukee’s north side is working to change what representation in the classroom looks like by ensuring students see role models who reflect their own backgrounds. Leaders at Milwaukee Academy of Science, which educates students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, says the goal is simple: help students connect with educators who look like them and understand their experiences. Over the last few years, the school has doubled the number of educators of color on staff. In the past two years, leaders also doubled the number of male educators of color in classrooms. 'We're doing this to mentor': Milwaukee teachers offer free haircuts to students after school MILWAUKEE — A group of teachers at Rufus King High School is making a difference by giving free haircuts to students after school. Twice a week, English teachers Emmanuel Johnson and Cameron LeFlore transform their classroom into “The Shop N 310,” where they cut hair, share advice and try to build confidence in the young men they provide service to. MPS eyes relaunch of Italian immersion program in 2027 Milwaukee Public Schools is planning a reboot of its Italian language immersion program after abruptly ending it last school year.The district closed the 4-year-old kindergarten through fifth grade program at Victory K-8 School in June, citing declining enrollment. The school on Milwaukee's far south side, which opened the immersion program in 2006, instead continued offering Italian as a standalone world language class taught for an hour daily. At a Milwaukee School Board meeting March 10, the district proposed relocating the Italian immersion program to Hi-Mount Community School on the city's west side beginning in the 2027-28 school year. The district would initially open the program to 5-year-old kindergarten students only, with plans to expand to other grades in future years. Augusta School District pushing for successful referendum on April ballot AUGUSTA - Augusta School District Superintendent Reed Pecha knows there're a lot of skeptical and critical voices in the Augusta community towards a referendum on the April 7 ballot. And he understands why many citizens in the district feel this way. "For whatever reasons property valuations and taxes in the City of Augusta and Town of Bridge Creek have gone up dramatically in the past five years." Pecha said. "And yet people's wages haven't risen to help meet those costs. A lot of people around are hurting financially. And then you look at the financial situation of the district, the fact that we went to the voters just a few short years ago with a building referendum, that the district went over its 2024-25 budget which has forced us to borrow money from the state to fill a shortfall and make big cuts to staff. MADISON, WI – On March 14, led by State Representative Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire), Representative Angelina Cruz (D-Racine), and members of the Assembly Democratic Caucus, including Representative Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton), introduced a proposal to use $1.3 billion of the state’s surplus to freeze property taxes and increase state funding for public schools. State Representative Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) released the following statement: 68 out of 72 Wisconsin counties saw a decline in public school students Wisconsin’s public schools lost 14,087 students this school year, with 68 out of 72 counties experiencing a decline in student enrollment. The recently released data from the Department of Public Instruction shows Wisconsin public schools lost just under 2 percent of enrollments for the 2025-26 school year compared to the previous year. It’s part of a decades-long trend that has left districts across the state considering closing or consolidating schools.
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