Dr. Aaron Engel on Fort McCoy suspension over Trump, Hegseth photos, La Crosse school funding

Dr. Aaron Engel joined La Crosse Talk on Monday to discuss the suspension of a Fort McCoy commander due to Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth photos being turned around, plus the state of La Crosse School funding, ahead of the Wisconsin budget being crafted.

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Engel is the superintendent of the La Crosse School District and a Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard, who added that he is now also the Deputy Commander of the Army Schoolhouse at Fort McCoy.

With that, we asked Engel about the suspension of Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez, Fort’s first female commander, after pictures of President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth were photographed flipped around to face a wall.

After that, Engel first practiced his pitch he’ll make to the state’s Joint Finance Committee, which is holding a budget listening session in Wausau. It’s one of only four listening sessions in the state and this one on Tuesday is the closest to La Crosse.

Engel’s pitch was mostly about school funding, which also led to a conversation about Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers 400-year per pupil funding plan that was worked into the last budget due to the veto pen — and recently upheld by the state Supreme Court. We asked Engel if that $325 a year per student was enough, if it was better than what the state Legislature would do otherwise and if it might end up hurting schools, because the state won’t do anything more to fund schools.