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Legislative Update


Senate Committee votes against passage of SB 378, relating to transgender athletes in school athletics.

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. read more…

Joint Finance Committee schedules meeting for Monday on reading curricula

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.

91 school district referendums on the April 2 ballot

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 91 local school district referendums on the ballot in 85 districts.

Overall, 42 of those referendums will ask for temporary (or non-recurring) authority to increase the district’s revenue limit, while 19 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. read more…

Over 1/3 of Assembly Dems are likely leaving after this session

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.

Rep. Kristina Shelton, ranking member of the Assembly education committee, announces she will not seek re-election

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.

The state legislators not coming back next session (so far)

From The Wheeler Report: “The following individuals have publicly announced they will either not seek re-election, or are running for a different office:

  1. SD-16: Melissa Agard – Running for Dane County Executive
  2. AD-09: Marisabel Cabrera – Running for Circuit Court Judge
  3. AD-11: Dora Drake – Running for SD-4
  4. AD-12: Lakeshia Myers – Running for SD-4
  5. AD-18: Evan Goyke – Running for Milwaukee County Attorney
  6. AD-28: Gae Magnafici- Not seeking re-election
  7. AD-44: Sue Conley – Not seeking re-election
  8. AD-46: Melissa Ratcliff – Running for Senate
  9. AD-47: Jimmy Anderson – Running for Senate
  10. AD-48: Samba Baldeh- Running for Senate
  11. AD-65: Tod Ohnstad- Not seeking re-election
  12. AD-71: Katrina Shankland – Running for Congress
  13. AD-73: Angie Sapik – Not seeking re-election.
  14. AD-81: Dave Considine – Not seeking re-election
  15. AD-90: Kristina Shelton – Not seeking re-election

Please note, this list does not include any individuals who may have been paired in a district under the new maps.  This list only contains those individuals who have publicly stated they are not seeking re-election, or who have announced they are running for a different office. Filings of Non-Candidacy are due to the Wisconsin Elections Commission by 5 pm on May 24, 2024.”

The WASB is sharing this list to ensure members are aware of potential impacts to their relationships with their current legislators. We will continue to update this list as more announcements are made.

 

OSS: Ask your senators to support continued OSS funding, digital mapping data grants available

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.”

read more…

Assembly adjourns for the session, passing bills impacting school boards

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. read more…

Amended legislation to delay reading screener/allow CESAs to provide literacy training appears stalled in Assembly

The Senate will be holding a full chamber session today (February 20th) to vote on numerous bills, including several that directly affect K-12 education. The chamber will be mirroring much of the Assembly’s action that is planned for later in the day. While the Senate is expected to meet a few more times into mid-March, the Assembly will be meeting for the final time on Thursday (February 22nd). This means that any action taken today by the Senate, that has not previously been approved by the Assembly, will face tough odds of making it to the governor’s desk.

One of the bills that is up on the Senate floor calendar (Senate Bill 990) would allow CESAs to provide early literacy training required as part of 2023 Act 20. This bill had an amendment added that makes the first administration of the new statewide reading screener in the 2024-25 school year optional so schools have enough time to train staff, set up IT and other prep work. It had come to our attention from multiple school administrators that there is strong concern and uncertainty in the timeline for acquisition of the statewide screener and whether there will be sufficient time for schools to implement it in time for the 2024-25 school year. This amendment is needed to make the timeline more manageable and increase the likelihood for successful implementation of the new statewide reading screener. 

Since the Assembly will be wrapping up their work for the 2023-24 legislative session, it is very important that the Assembly Bill 1069 (Assembly companion to SB 990 with identical language/amendment) make it to the Assembly floor this week. It is currently not noticed for Tuesday or Thursday. It is our understanding that vendors are objecting to CESAs being allowed to compete with them to provide training to schools on early literacy. If you share these concerns and support this amended bill, it is vitally important to contact your state Assembly Rep. ASAP.

Other education bills being voted on in the Senate today are below. Read the WASB’s previous blog post for more information on the Assembly session. read more…

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