The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) will hold the first of its four scheduled public hearings on the state budget on Friday, April 9, at UW-Whitewater. It is very important for K-12 to have a strong presence at these hearings.
Lawmakers are not sold on the governor’s plan for increased school funding and school leaders cannot afford to be complacent. Their skepticism was highlighted by the line of questioning at the DPI agency briefing before the JFC this week and may be exacerbated by Jill Underly’s election win, as she was not the favored candidate of GOP legislative leaders (see: Speaker Vos’ tweet).
Hearing Details
- Location: Irvin L. Young Auditorium, 930 West Main Street, Whitewater, WI 53190 — Parking is available in Lot 1, 105 North Prince Street.
- The hearing is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. and will conclude by 5:00 p.m.
- Masking and social distancing will be required by UW-Whitewater.
- Seating will be limited and monitored for social distancing in Young Auditorium. There will also be another space near the Young Auditorium for guests to watch the public hearing if seating is at capacity.
- Testimony time limits: 2 min per person; 5 min for groups of 4 or more.
Resources for Preparing Testimony
To help you prepare to have a great experience, the WASB has the following resources available:
- Talking points
- State budget webpage
- Short video with tips for testifying and what to expect onsite. NOTE: In our video we say groups of 3 or more would get 5 minutes (as has been past practice); however, we have since learned that this threshold has been changed to require groups of 4 or more to qualify for additional time.
Please let us know if you plan to testify at Friday’s hearing and please consider sharing a copy of your testimony with us, so we can post it on our webpage for board members from other boards can use it as a guide.
Testifying at a budget hearing is a unique and rewarding way to support your students. Thank you for your advocacy!
