Speaking from the White House, President Biden yesterday announced a set of sweeping mandates he intends to impose as part of an “action plan” to combat the resurgent COVID pandemic triggered by a surge in the delta variant. Those mandates would require millions of Americans to be vaccinated against COVID.
The President also called on states to voluntarily adopt COVID vaccine requirements for all school employees. (more…)
The state Assembly Committee on Education, chaired by Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac) will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, September 14 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 412 East of the State Capitol. The committee will receive public testimony on the following bills:
Assembly Bill 446 (Rep. Kitchens) Relating to: reading readiness assessments.
Citing Wisconsin’s falling ranks in reading proficiency compared to other states, a number of state legislative Republicans have proposed a massive overhaul of the reading readiness program including a laundry list of stringent new state mandates relating to screening, assessments, interventions, parental notifications and reporting requirements. The new mandates are very specific, even dictating what companies and products must be approved for use. See this post for a comparison of current law and what is required by the bill. (more…)
A bill authored by Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) that proposes raising the legal age for sale, purchase, and possession of cigarettes, nicotine and tobacco products and vapor products to 21 will have a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety on Thursday, September 9, 2021 at 11:00 AM in Room 411 South in the State Capitol.
The WASB supports the aims of the bill, from the standpoint that raising the age would help keep these products out of K-12 schools. WASB Resolution 6.02 states: (more…)
Wisconsin Association of School Boards Executive Director John Ashley released the following statement:
We’ve become increasingly alarmed at the recent reports of personal threats of violence and harassment directed at school board members across the state.
Civil disagreement and protest are cornerstones of our democracy but attempts to intimidate school board members and physically disrupt school board proceedings are not acceptable. (more…)
According to a memo by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, tax collections for the 2020-21 fiscal year have come in $319 million, or 1.7%, higher than previously estimated in early June.
From the Wisconsin State Journal: “The new state Department of Revenue data indicate that actual tax collections for the previous fiscal year, which ended June 30, were 11.6% higher than the previous year, according to preliminary estimates.