Government Accountability

OUR POLICY SOLUTIONS ON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

IRG Releases Transparency Tool for $1.49B in Federal K-12 COVID Relief

IRG Releases Transparency Tool for $1.49B in Federal K-12 COVID Relief Calls on legislature to conduct oversight of spending plans Delafield, WI. – Today, the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released an interactive database for taxpayers to see how Wisconsin school districts are allocating the unprecedented $1.49 billion of ...

10 Challenges Facing Tony Evers

If the core mission of the Governor, the state’s chief executive officer, is to operationalize the functions of government and manage the bureaucracy, then government in Madison no longer works the way it was intended. Over the last four years, executive branch agencies have racked up major backlogs and failed to provide basic care for ...

20 State Agency Briefings: IRG Completes State Agency 101 Series

Today, IRG is releasing the last of its Wisconsin State Agency 101 Briefings, highlighting everything you need to know about the Department of Transportation, the Department of Children and Families, and the Wisconsin Technical College System. This concludes our Agency 101 series, explaining the basics of the 20 largest state agencies in ...

Analysis of DPI 2022 K-12 Test Scores

Last Thursday, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released test score data from 2021-2022, the best indicators we have of student learning loss from COVID and school closures. Here are some initial takeaways from Quinton Klabon, IRG’s Senior Research Director: 1. Statewide reading went down from 41% to 37% college-ready. In other ...

New K-12 Data Shows Schools Falling Further Behind

The numbers are in: our students are not rebounding from the Evers administration's school shutdowns. 14,000 fewer Wisconsin children can read well enough for college, a 4% drop. 103,000 kids across the state can't even read at grade level. 9 Milwaukee Public Schools don't have a single student proficient in math, and their best schools have ...