by David Martin | Jan 22, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue, Uncategorized
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 23), the Senate Committee on Education will meet at 10:30 to hold a
public hearing on eight different bills that range from various changes to teacher licensing, mandates for access to school grounds and curriculum, increasing open enrollment transfer payments, and changing the school start date.
Also in the Capitol tomorrow, the Senate Committees on Transportation & Local Government and Universities & Revenue will meet at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively. The Transportation & Local Government Committee will hold a
public hearing on SB 916, which would require all local governments within 100 miles of a federally resettled refugee to designate an individual to consult on a committee regarding refugee resettlement assistance and necessary community measures for accommodation. The Universities & Revenue Committee will hold an
executive session on SB 367, relating to a UW guaranteed admission program and establishing class ranking systems in high schools.
Read below for more information on these bills. (more…)
by Dan Rossmiller | Nov 23, 2022 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue, Uncategorized
Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling announced this morning that she will retire effective Dec. 1., ending a 32-year career in the state Legislature. The resignation means that Senate Republicans will not begin the January 2023 legislative with a “veto-proof” two-thirds supermajority in the State Senate and likely will not hold such a super majority until a special election is held to fill Darling’s seat, which leans heavily Republican.
A former teacher, Darling, 78, was a long-time member of the Senate Education Committee and chaired the committee for the past two years. She previously serving as the vice-chair of the committee in the 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2019-20 sessions. She also served as a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding. Her departure means a new chairperson will take over the Senate Education Committee.
(more…)
by Dan Rossmiller | Oct 24, 2022 | Election, Legislative Update Blog, State Issue, Uncategorized
There will be 39 school district referenda on the Nov. 8 ballot seeking authority to borrow money for capital projects (school facilities). That is in addition to the 35 such questions that have already gone before school district voters this year. (Twenty-five of those earlier referendums were approved for a passage rate of just over 71 percent.)
The 166 school district referendum questions of all types placed before voters in 2022 is the highest total number since calendar year 2000, when 192 school district referenda of all types took place. (That 2000 total was prior to restrictions being placed on when school district referenda cold take place and how many times a district could place referendum questions before voters in a calendar year.)
(more…)
by Dan Rossmiller | Oct 14, 2022 | Election, Legislative Update Blog, State Budget, State Issue, Uncategorized
There will be 42 school district referenda on the Nov. 8 ballot seeking authority to increase revenue limit authority. That is in addition to the 50 such questions that have already gone before school district voters this year. We believe the 92 referendums seeking additional operating revenues is the highest total ever in a single calendar year. The highest previous total in a calendar year was 82, set in 2000 and equaled in 2001.
The large number of revenue limit referenda is not surprising given the recent history of a frozen revenue limits and high inflation. There has been no per pupil increase in revenue limits in six of the past eight years and revenue limits were frozen for both the 2021-22 an 2022-23 school year.
When you add in the 74 ballot questions asking for authority to issue debt for facilities related projects, the total number of school district referendum questions is the highest it has been since calendar year 2000, when 192 school district referenda of all types took place. (That 2000 total was prior to restrictions being placed on when school district referenda cold take place and how many times a district could place referendum questions before voters in a calendar year.) (more…)
by Dan Rossmiller | Mar 13, 2022 | Uncategorized
The U.S. Department of Education (USED) recently released a new factsheet highlighting how states and local school districts can make use of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) funding to support high-quality career and technical education (CTE) programs.
In particular, the factsheet emphasizes CTE as a powerful way to reengage students to cultivate high-demand skills needed for jobs of the future.
This new guidance resource highlights several states’ efforts to use these resources to develop, expand, or otherwise implement CTE activities as part of their recovery efforts. The factsheet can be accessed here.
by Dan Rossmiller | Mar 10, 2022 | Uncategorized
On March 25, the Wisconsin Afterschool Network (WAN) will partner with the DPI to provide a 90-minute webinar focused on how the ESSER III 20% set-aside for activities to address learning loss due to COVID-19 can be met by the inclusion of comprehensive summer and after-school programs that implement evidenced-based intervention strategies via partnerships between districts and community-based organizations (CBO’s).
This webinar will also provide participants an opportunity to learn more about the ESSER III $5M dollar after-school competitive grant program to support additional school district and CBO and out-of-school time program partnerships.
Details:
March 25, 2022 – ESSER III Grant Information and Opportunities.
(11:00-12:30 pm via WebEx)
Click here to register for the webinar.
Funding to support this webinar is provided by the Wisconsin Department of Administration
