Announcements
ALERT! Dane County Judge Protects $50M in Literacy Funding
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 27, 2024 ALERT! Dane County Judge Protects $50M in Literacy Funding Wisconsin has a chance to get reading right for kids DELAFIELD, WI: Following a Dane County judge's ruling related to $50 million in literacy funding, IRG’s CEO CJ Szafir...
NEW POLL: Wisconsin voters seek less government and more opportunities to succeed
NEW POLL: Wisconsin voters seek less government and more opportunities to succeed Harris not being penalized for Biden's failure. August 8, 2024 New polling commissioned by the Institute for Reforming Government reconfirms this election is about families' abilities to...
NEW POLL: In Election Year, Wisconsinites Focused on Kitchen Table Issues
July 11, 2024 NEW POLL: In Election Year, Wisconsinites Focused on Kitchen Table Issues Policy Solutions Top of Mind for Wisconsin Voters ahead of RNC Convention THE NEWS: In polling commissioned by the Institute for Reforming Government ahead of next week’s...
Breaking: Secretary of State Agrees to Change Public Records Policy After Legal Action
July 10, 2024 The News: Today, the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG), represented by attorneys at the Wisconsin Institute for Law& Liberty (WILL), announced it has reached a settlement in a public records lawsuit against Wisconsin Secretary of State, Sarah...
IRG’s CIO Investigates Immigration Crisis in the City of Whitewater
June 24, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Courtney Gustafson [email protected] IRG’s CIO Investigates Immigration Crisis in the City of Whitewater Over 400 obtained records suggest significant strain on local resources for the City of Whitewater after...
IRG Announces Nelson Ritthaler as Director of Donor and Stakeholder Relations
IRG Announces Nelson Ritthaler as Director of Donor and Stakeholder Relations IRG expands to eight full-time employees Delafield, WI—Today the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) announced the hiring of Nelson Ritthaler as Director of Donor & Stakeholder...
BREAKING: IRG on Milwaukee Public Schools Scandal and Resignation
WHAT HAPPENED? Last night, an auditorium and overflow crowd vented 4 decades of frustration with Milwaukee Public Schools. From low academic performance and financial scandal to unprofessional staff and lack of safety, a fed-up city felt able to say what they really...
Removing Barriers to Innovation
May 22, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Courtney Gustafson [email protected] Removing Barriers to Innovation IRG report shows how to make Wisconsin a national leader in innovation and technology Delafield, WI - The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG)...
Grassroots Support Grows for Eliminating the Wisconsin Income Tax
May 13, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Courtney Gustafson [email protected] Grassroots Support Grows for Eliminating the Wisconsin Income Tax Republican Party of Wisconsin delegates will vote on resolution calling for the elimination of the income tax at...
NEWS: IRG Grows Digital Community to over 11,500 People
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 30, 2024 NEWS: IRG Grows Digital Community to over 11,500 People List increasing by 117% gives IRG a massive capability to better understand Wisconsinites and drive policy discussions Delafield, WI – The Institute for Reforming...
IRG’s CIO UNCOVERED INAPPROPRIATE USE OF FEDERAL COVID FUNDS BY CITY OF MADISON; SENATOR STROEBEL SEEKS ANSWERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 4, 2024 IRG’s CIO UNCOVERED INAPPROPRIATE USE OF FEDERAL COVID FUNDS BY CITY OF MADISON; SENATOR STROEBEL SEEKS ANSWERS The City of Madison is sending COVID dollars to serve illegal immigrants Delafield, WI - The Institute for Reforming...
IRG Names Courtney Mullen to Director of External Affairs Role
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, March 7, 2024 For questions, contact Courtney Mullen at: [email protected] IRG Names Courtney Mullen to Director of External Affairs Role Delafield, WI – The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) continues to expand...
IRG New Hire: Jake Curtis as General Counsel and Director of CIO
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 IRG New Hire: Jake Curtis as General Counsel and Director of CIO IRG is thrilled to announce that Attorney Jake Curtis has been named General Counsel and Director of the award-winning Center for Investigative Oversight (CIO). Jake is a...
NEW: IRG’s K-12 COVID Relief Audit Update Shows Hundreds of Millions Unallocated with Nine Months Remaining
NEW: IRG’s K-12 COVID Relief Audit Update Shows Hundreds of Millions Unallocated with Nine Months Remaining Incoming Fiscal Cliff Threatens Districts WHAT HAPPENED Since its January 2023 release, the Institute for Reforming Government’s (IRG) K-12 COVID Relief ESSER...
Increasing Access to Mental Health Care in Wisconsin: IRG’s Latest Report
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 11, 2024 Increasing Access to Mental Health Care in Wisconsin: IRG’s Latest Report “Knocking Down Barriers for Mental Health Access” shows how Wisconsin can immediately end the shortage of mental health providers DELAFIELD, WI -...
NEW: Deep Dive into WOW College-Educated Women
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 5, 2023 NEW: Deep Dive into WOW College-Educated Women IRG and SPN conduct focus groups and surveys to better understand policy concerns and priorities of women DELAFIELD, WI - No group of voters has changed more in Wisconsin than...
Opportunities for Tax Reform: IRG Announces New Plan to Reduce Tax Burden on Workers and Families
Eliminating income tax on overtime wages will let hardworking Wisconsinites keep more of their hard earned money. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 1, 2023 Delafield, WI - Today, the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released a new tax reform opportunity as...
Pandemic Recovery Slow for Low-Performing Students
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, 2023 Pandemic Recovery Slow for Low-Performing Students Green Bay, Janesville Not Recovering, Choice Working in Milwaukee Delafield, WI – Today, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released test score data from...
IRG Promises Oversight on $50 Million in Literacy Efforts as DPI Announces Literacy Council
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 28, 2023 IRG Promises Oversight on $50 Million in Literacy Efforts as DPI Announces Literacy Council Nine members of Literacy Council announced - will choose new curricula by December 1st DELAFIELD, WI - Today, the Department of...
As MPS Closes Due to Heat, IRG Offers Expertise on ESSER School COVID Relief Funding, HVAC
August 23, 2023 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Quinton Klabon, [email protected] As MPS Closes Due to Heat, IRG Offers Expertise on ESSER School COVID Relief Funding, HVAC Delafield, Wis. — As Milwaukee Public Schools closed today from dangerously high...
IRG and WILL Sue to Obtain Public Records
Nobody is above the law, not even Wisconsin’s Secretary of State The News: Today, the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG), represented by lawyers at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), filed a lawsuit in Waukesha County Circuit Court. WILL and...
How the Public Can Conduct Oversight: IRG CIO’S Open Meetings Primer Released to the Public
Delafield, WI - Coming on the heels of several groundbreaking reports from IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight - including discovering United Nations Foundation funding of Governor Evers’ climate change agenda and unconstitutional hiring practices by UW-Madison -...
IRG Releases State of Wisconsin Public Debt Overview
2023-25 State Budget reduces borrowing and results in significant cash reserves Delafield, WI – Today the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released Wisconsin's Finances: Debt and Borrowing. In the 2023-2025 budget, the Legislature chose to pay down existing...
IRG’s CIO Exposes UW-Madison’s Unconstitutional Faculty Hiring Program
IRG’s CIO Exposes UW-Madison's Unconstitutional Faculty Hiring Program Report Highlighted in Wall Street Journal Exposes TOP Program and demands answers and full transparency from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. WHAT IS IT: IRG’s Center of Investigative...
First Analysis: Historic Middle-Class Tax Relief Vetoed
WHAT HAPPENED:Governor Evers signed the 2023-2025 state budget, but not before issuing 51 partial vetoes, including vetoes that remove 95% of the income tax relief that was included in the legislature’s budget. Because of his veto, taxpayers will only see a $175...
IRG’s K-12 COVID Relief Audit Update: Hundreds of Millions Unallocated with One Year Remaining
WHAT HAPPENED Since its January release, the Institute for Reforming Government’s (IRG) K-12 COVID Relief ESSER III Audit has driven statewide momentum for financial transparency and made swifter action for students front-page news. IRG was the first Wisconsin entity...
United Nations Foundation Funneling Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to Evers Administration to Fund Radical Climate Agenda
Private grant money supports staff in the Office of Sustainability & Clean Energy Delafield, WI – Today, IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight released a new report, “Shadow Agency: How the United Nations Foundation and Evers Administration Are Colluding to...
Lost Revenue. New Analysis Details Lost Revenue From Wisconsinites Moving to No-Income or Low-Income Tax States
WHAT IT IS: A new report by IRG, Lost Revenue, details how over 92,000 income tax filers left Wisconsin in 2021, with almost 60% of them moving to states with either a flat income tax or no income tax at all. Using recently released data from the IRS to compile this...
IRG Releases Playbook for Income Tax Relief in Divided Government
IRG Releases Playbook for Income Tax Relief in Divided Government Historic Tax Relief for Middle Class, Small Businesses Within Reach Delafield, WI – Today the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released a new policy playbook on income tax relief. It includes...
IRG Turns to the People to Solve Kitchen Table Issues
IRG Turns to the People to Solve Kitchen Table Issues Releases lessons, insights and stories from a year of building bridges into communities across Wisconsin Delafield, WI – After visiting 25 cities, convening 42 listening sessions, and driving 5,367 miles across...
Policy Solution: Teacher Apprenticeships – Tackling the Teacher Shortage
Click here to find a print-ready version of the "Tackling the Teacher Shortage" policy solution. We have a teacher shortage, but we did it to ourselves. College’s costs and complications encumber teachers with debt, don’t prepare them for actual classrooms, and...
Increasing the Bandwidth: IRG’s New Plan to Increase Access to High Speed Internet
Increasing the Bandwidth: IRG’s New Plan to Increase Access to High Speed Internet What IRG Did: Today IRG released a report outlining common sense reforms to Wisconsin’s Broadband Grant Program aimed at increasing internet availability across the state. Underscoring...
How to Save Walker-Era Reforms
New memo explains how to enshrine and protect conservative reforms in the Wisconsin Constitution What IRG Did: On the heels of Tuesday’s election results that shifted the balance of power on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to a new liberal majority, IRG released a memo...
IRG Digital ‘Encyclopedia’ Tool Details Wisconsin’s State Agencies
What IRG Did: The IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight released a new digital encyclopedia tool that starts the process of cataloging the twenty largest state agencies. The unprecedented digital encyclopedia details the mission, personnel, programs and functions...
IRG Calls for Greater Oversight of DNR Wolf Management Decisions
IRG CALLS FOR GREATER OVERSIGHT OF DNR WOLF MANAGEMENT DECISIONS NEW Investigatory Report follows unilateral DNR decision to eliminate numeric wolf population goal in Wisconsin. Delafield, WI – The Institute for Reforming Government's Center for Investigative...
IRG’s K-12 COVID Relief Audit Massive Update Shows Construction Now Largest Category at 28%
IRG’s K-12 COVID Relief Audit Massive Update Shows Construction Now Largest Category at 28% Just 7% to Mental Health, Major Questions about Milwaukee WHAT HAPPENED Since its January release, the Institute for Reforming Government’s (IRG) K-12 COVID Relief ESSER III...
IRG Releases Memo on Future of Wisconsin Supreme Court
IRG Releases Memo on Future of Wisconsin Supreme Court Breaks down potential impact of a new court composition Delafield, WI – For years, Wisconsin conservatives have held a majority in the state Supreme Court, issuing a number of landmark decisions. In a memo...
IRG’s K-12 COVID Relief Audit Forces Public DPI Response
IRG’s K-12 COVID Relief Audit Forces Public DPI Response IRG Responds to State Supt. Jill Underly on Continued Opacity: “The Only Thing that Matters Is Kids” Delafield, WI - The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) today issued a letter to State Superintendent...
IRG Releases Groundbreaking Report on Common Sense, Patient-Centered Healthcare Solutions for Wisconsin
IRG Releases Groundbreaking Report on Common Sense, Patient-Centered Healthcare Solutions for Wisconsin Focused on driving down costs and improving outcomes Delafield, WI – Today, the Institute for Reforming Government released an unprecedented playbook for...
IRG Releases Report on Modernizing and Decentralizing State Government
Delafield, WI - Today the Institute for Reforming Government released a brand new report – Reimagining Wisconsin Government for the 21st Century – that presents a clear roadmap for modernizing and strengthening state government, removing its inefficiencies, and...