The central lesson in a new study examining the fortunes of Madison and Milwaukee is this: Education matters.
The study by the non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance found Madison had dramatically widened the gap in median family income over Milwaukee – a difference that stood at less than 10% in 1990 but had grown to nearly 80% in 2005. During that period, Milwaukee’s once-dominant manufacturing sector declined while Madison – helped in large measure by the University of Wisconsin’s flagship campus – broadened its industrial base, especially in biotechnology.