Each year, the WASB Board of Directors adopts a legislative agenda outlining the top priorities for the Government Relations (GR) team to focus on. Every other year, the agenda focuses on either budgetary/fiscal issues (in odd-numbered years) or policy-centered issues (in even-numbered years) to reflect the nature of the state budget process and legislative calendar.The agenda is developed with input from the WASB staff considering factors such as feedback from member school districts about the most important issues you are facing in the field, the makeup of the legislature and governor’s office and their stated priorities, and the likelihood that the WASB can partner with other organizations to form a coalition to advocate for certain items.
The WASB’s Legislative Agenda changes somewhat from legislative session to legislative session. What remains constant, however, is that the Legislative Agenda is guided and informed by the resolutions adopted by the WASB Delegate Assembly (the WASB Resolutions Book can be found on our website). Our resolutions book is comprised of hundreds of resolutions. The Legislative Agenda helps illustrate to members what issues will be prioritized in a given year.
The draft agenda is presented to the WASB Board for consideration at their September meeting. All members should receive an email from their Regional Director with the draft Legislative Agenda and an invitation to provide feedback. Furthermore, the draft Legislative Agenda is also shared at each regional meeting and posted on our website. We always strive to ensure our priorities are reflective of our membership. As such, we ask that you please take this opportunity to let WASB know if we are focusing on the issues that matter to you.
HOW TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK: Please provide any feedback directly to your Regional Director. When the WASB Board of Directors meet in November to discuss and approve the final 2027 Legislative Agenda, they will have the opportunity to propose potential changes for consideration by the full board.
DRAFT 2027 WASB Legislative Agenda
(Applicable WASB resolutions are listed in parentheses.)
The Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) will advocate for policies and funding that support student achievement, including the following 2027-29 state budget priorities:
2027-29 State Budget Priorities
- Increase special education categorical aid, with the long-term goal of reimbursing school districts for 90% of eligible special education costs from the prior year in a sum sufficient appropriation. (2.31)
- Provide school districts with at least inflationary increases in spendable resources, helping districts manage rising costs, minimize property tax impacts, and maintain local flexibility in allocating funds based on community needs. (2.19)
- Implement regular annual increases to the low revenue ceiling to provide additional support for historically low-spending school districts. (2.44, 2.45)
- Support proposals to lessen the budgetary impact for school districts experiencing declining enrollment. (2.17)
The WASB will also advocate for:
- Preserving local school board authority, including opposing new or expanded unfunded state mandates that place additional burdens on limited district resources. (3.20)
- Investments and initiatives that support educator and staff recruitment and retention. (4.70)
- Support legislation to remove any impediments to rehiring retired teachers and staff. (4.37)
- Proposals relating to private schools subsidized by taxpayer dollars (vouchers), including:
- Equal accountability and transparency standards for voucher schools, requiring private voucher schools to meet the same reporting, accountability, and transparency requirements as public schools, including disclosure of impacts on local property taxes and compliance with public records law. (2.70)
- Delink increases for voucher amounts tied to public school increases in revenue limits, categorical aids and the low revenue ceiling. (2.70)
- Maintain enrollment and income caps on participation in the statewide voucher program. (2.72)
- Assistance with open record requests, including the authority to charge a requester for all actual, necessary and direct costs associated with complying with requests under the Public Records Law. (5.56)
- Adjustments to transportation aid to ensure that state aid is sufficiently supporting statewide average transportation costs, while ensuring rural sparsely populated areas receive additional supports that recognize their unique transportation challenges. (2.33)