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…)
by Chris Kulow | Mar 4, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
As has been the case in recent election years, a significant number of state legislators are announcing their intention not to return next session. Some are running for other offices but many are closing the books on public life, at least for the time being. It is important to keep track of
these announcements in case the legislators who represent your school districts (in whole or in part) leave office. In some cases, you may be losing a legislator with whom you have a good working relationship and you will be looking to duplicate that with a new face. In other cases, if the relationship wasn’t the best it could be, you have the opportunity to begin anew. With legislative district maps
changing as well, you could be in a situation where you are getting new legislators even if they are incumbents. We plan to do more posts on the impact of redistricting on current legislators to help you navigate these changes.
This weekend, Rep. Tod Ohnstad (D-Kenosha)
announced his decision to not seek re-election after the conclusion of this session. With that announcement,
Wispolitics is reporting that more than a third of the Assembly Democrat caucus will be turning over next year. Democrats in the Assembly currently hold 35 seats with eleven who have publicly announced plans to not return. Two more Assembly Democrats, Reps. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) and Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska) had their districts redrawn to be more favorable to Republicans. More announcements are expected and we will update
that post as they are released.
by Chris Kulow | Feb 29, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
Rep. Kristina Shelton (D) has
announced that she will not seek re-election to the 90th Assembly District, which primarily represents the City of Green Bay, to spend more time with family and pursue professional opportunities outside of the state Legislature. Prior to her election to the Assembly in 2020, Shelton was a school board member for the Green Bay Area School District and a former physical education teacher. The WASB appreciated Rep. Shelton’s leadership and perspective as a former school board member. We thank her for her service as a state and local elected official.
This is noteworthy to school leaders because, as ranking member of the Assembly Committee on Education, she was the leading voice on K-12 education issues for the Assembly Democratic Caucus. It is unclear who might step into that role for the Assembly Dems as education committee members Rep. Dave Considine (D-Baraboo) is likewise
not running for reelection and Rep.
LaKeshia Myers (D-Milwaukee) is running in a special election for the 4th state Senate seat. Reps.
Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) and
Francesca Hong (D-Madison) also served as committee members this session. Committee memberships for next session won’t be announced until after the November election and likely not until early 2025.
by David Martin | Feb 26, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
From an OSS Release: “As many of you are aware, recent progress has been made to ensure the WI Office of School Safety is able to continue critical operations to keep our schools safe.
2023 Assembly Bill 1050, which supports the continued operations of OSS through September 2025, recently passed the Assembly. This funding extension would allow us to continue our work to proactively protect schools, prevent violence from occurring, mitigate trauma, and respond effectively if a crisis event does occur to promote recovery. The continued funding would also provide predictable school safety services to all Wisconsin schools. While it will still be critical for the legislature to provide stable, ongoing funding for the Office of School Safety as part of the 2025-2027 biennial budget, 2023 Assembly Bill 1050 offers an important bridge to enable continued services until deliberations on the state budget begin in 2025.
We are grateful to the authors and cosponsors of the bill for their support.
However, there is still important work to be done.
In order to become law, this bill still must pass the Senate prior to its adjournment in mid-March. If you are interested in supporting our continued ability to do this important work, please contact your state senator and voice your support for
Senate Bill 955.”
(more…)
by David Martin | Feb 23, 2024 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue
After a long day that continued well into the night, the Assembly convened for what is expected to be the last time this session. It was a day filled with emotion, with lawmakers receiving the State of the Tribes Address prior to the start of proceedings, and several representatives giving farewell speeches on the floor. That did not get in the way of a busy calendar day however. The chamber took action on several bills impacting school boards.
The Assembly voted on a number of proposals ranging from school safety measures, to teacher licensing and preparatory programs, to local campaign finance changes, to a bill amending certain aspects of Act 20’s timeline. In our previous post we reported that AB 1069/SB 990, which as amended makes the first administration of the new statewide reading screener in the 2024-25 school year optional, had stalled in the Assembly. SB 990 had previously passed the state Senate with the screener amendment. It was subsequently added to the Assembly calendar for yesterday (2/22) as a special order of business. The Assembly late last night added a new amendment (Assembly Amendment 1) that made changes to the training providers portion of the bill. SB 990 was approved as amended (with the screener language intact) and sent back to the Senate for concurrence in the new amendment. The Senate is expected to meet again in mid March. (more…)
