by Chris Kulow | Mar 12, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
The Wisconsin State Senate meets today (3/12) at 11am in floor session to take up a large calendar full of appointments, legislation and constitutional amendments. This is expected to be the last legislative action of the 2023-24 state legislative session. After today, any bills that have not passed through both houses of the legislature (in identical form) are not becoming law this session. This includes the following legislation related to K-12 education the WASB has been tracking (SB=Senate Bill/AB=Assembly Bill): (more…)
by Chris Kulow | Mar 11, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
The state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) has voted along party lines to select the early literacy curricula that will comprise the recommended list of curricula under 2023 Wisconsin Act 20, the law that revamped early reading requirements. See our previous blog post for more background. Democrats on the committee moved to approve the 11 curricula proposed by the DPI but were voted down. The GOP-supported motion approves only the four curricula selected by the Council on Early Literacy Curricula: Core Knowledge Language Arts K-3, Our EL Education Language Arts, Wit and Wisdom with Pk-3 Reading Curriculum, and Bookworms Reading and Writing K-3. As we stated previously, schools are not required to use one of these four recommendations, but there is an opportunity to have some of the cost reimbursed by the state if a school decides to choose one from the list. (more…)
by Chris Kulow | Mar 11, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) recently proposed changes (Clearinghouse Rule CR 24-026) to the school start date rule that governs the issuance of start date waivers. The goal behind this is to provide clearer guidance and additional flexibility for school districts when applying for a waiver. The proposed rule provides more flexibility for school boards when seeking to adjust their school calendars to better meet the academic and local needs of their respective districts. Currently, school boards are significantly limited in requesting an exemption to the school start date.
The WASB strongly supports this proposed rule based on our WASB Resolution supporting local control of the school start date. While this does not get us all of the way back to school boards having the authority to set their own start date locally, boards would be granted greater flexibility in determining the start date for their district. PLEASE SUBMIT COMMENTS IN SUPPORT OF THIS RULE (information on how to do this is below). (more…)
by David Martin | Mar 8, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
From WisPolitics: “A Senate committee (The Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families) today voted against recommending legislation that would bar transgender athletes from playing girls sports after GOP Sen. Joan Ballweg joined two Dems in opposing it.
AB 377/SB 378 can still advance to the Senate floor next week despite the 3-2 vote, via paper ballot, against the bill. GOP committee members Jesse James, R-Altoona, and Rachel Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, both voted for it.
The legislation, which passed the Assembly along party lines in October, would require public, choice and charter schools to designate their sports teams as either male, female or co-ed. Those who were identified as male on their birth certificates would be barred from playing on a team designated for females. (more…)
by Chris Kulow | Mar 8, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
The state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) has scheduled a meeting for Monday, March 11, 11:01am on what early literacy curricula will be approved under 2023 Wisconsin Act 20, the law that revamped early reading requirements. The DPI had recommended 11 curricula that it says meet Act 20 requirements after a council on early reading curricula (set up at the DPI by Act 20) recommended four. A member of the JFC objected to DPI’s recommendations triggering the committee meeting. See the background paper from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), including the list of curricula, for the meeting here.
The DPI recommended three out of the four curricula recommended by the literacy council. The LFB paper included potential alternatives the committee could choose from including approving the 11 submitted by the DPI, the four approved by the council, the three that were approved by both, or outright deny the request. The JFC is not bound to select one of those alternatives, however. Whatever the outcome, schools are not required to use curricula from the finalized list of recommendations, but there is an opportunity to have some of the cost reimbursed by the state if a school decides to choose one from the list.
by David Martin | Mar 5, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
When voters go to the polls for the April 2 Spring Election, in addition to the federal election primaries, and school board races, they will find 93 local school district referendums on the ballot in 86 districts.
Overall, 43 of those referendums will ask for temporary (or non-recurring) authority to increase the district’s revenue limit, while 20 will ask for permanent (or recurring) authority to increase the district’s revenue limit. In addition, there will 30 borrowing referendums on the ballot across the state. Borrowing referendums ask voters for approval to issue bonds for major construction, remodeling or maintenance projects for school facilities. (more…)
