Hi Folks,
If you don't read any more of this email, read this one sentence:
In many parts of Wisconsin, voucher schools are funded BETTER with your property taxes than public schools, which is completely backwards and must be fixed in order to save public education in Wisconsin.
Last week, I announced that the Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC was launching a critical new project: We are going to sue the Republican Legislature in Wisconsin to stop them from using school vouchers to bleed our public school system dry.
Now I know what many of you are thinking – Kirk, what is a brewery in northern Wisconsin doing mucking around in education policy and suing the Legislature? Don't worry, I'm not doing this on my own. I'm talking to the wonderful folks at the Wisconsin Public Education Network, which is a statewide group focused on saving Wisconsin's public education system, and many other groups/activists in this space who will ultimately lead this charge.
But as a businessman with no board to answer to, I can move a lot faster than many of these non-profits and know that the time to act is now. We are only assured of a fair and balanced Wisconsin Supreme Court for two years until the next election, and Janet Protasiewicz assumes office in August. Any large lawsuit like this will take at least 18 months to wind its way through the justice system, so there's no time to wait.
In this decisive moment, we cannot stand by, expecting "someone else" to act. We are that "someone else." We are the voice of Wisconsin, standing against a gerrymandered Republican legislature. We are stepping up to fight back on behalf of our public schools.
To understand the magnitude of the problem in Wisconsin, take a look at the graph at the top of this email, generously provided by one of our weekly readers, Charles.
The numbers in red highlight the stark difference between State Aid for K-8 private voucher school students and public school students.
Did ANY of you know that in many parts of the state, vouchers systems get MORE MONEY than public schools? I certainly didn't before I saw this graph. How is that possibly good or at all JUST? And why are our tax dollars being used to build up a second private education system that in many areas is better than the public one?
And to make sure that this disparity will continue to be locked in place, the Republicans in the Legislature have put in place the most gerrymandered maps of any state in the country. The yellow highlighted Assembly districts had no Democratic candidate in 2022 because the lines are so skewed no Democrat can possibly win.
Our corrupt Republican Legislature has used its gerrymandered majority to leverage school vouchers in a way that has decimated our public schools. By reallocating crucial public resources towards religious and private schools, they're leaving our public schools and the children they serve in an increasingly impossible position.
If we can successfully argue that these school vouchers are unconstitutional, the Supreme Court will intervene, preserving your tax dollars for the public education that the majority of Wisconsin's children continue to rely on every day.
This won’t be easy.
This is a colossal undertaking. To achieve this monumental win, we need to navigate a complex legal landscape.
Last week we asked you to help us raise $15,000 to start this fight. This crucial seed funding will enable us to prepare the legal strategy. Despite it being a holiday weekend, you all stepped up to the challenge and helped us raise a little over half of our initial funding, but we need to keep going to raise the full amount.
Please, consider donating today to help us fund this critical project. We must act now to protect our children's future.
Join us as we stand up against special interests seeking to exploit our tax dollars at the expense of our children's education.
Thank you for being a crucial part of this journey. Together, we can ensure ALL our kids can go to great public schools.
Kirk Bangstad
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC