The state Senate approved the following K-12-related bills in floor session on March 16:
Senate Bill 39 (Sen. Stroebel) The bill allows a pupil who attends a virtual charter school to participate in interscholastic athletics and extracurricular activities in the pupil’s resident school district. Such pupils must be allowed to participate on the same basis and to the same extent that the district permits pupils enrolled in the school district to participate.
The bill was amended to remove provisions that would have also prohibited a school district from being a member of an interscholastic athletic association (i.e., the WIAA) in the 2021-22 school year unless, during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, for purposes of eligibility during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, the interscholastic athletic association considers the method by which educational programming was delivered (i.e., in-person vs. hybrid vs. virtual) during the 2020-21 or 2021-22 school year to be an extenuating circumstance that justifies transferring schools.
WASB Position: Oppose (Resolutions 3.97, 3.98)
Senate Bill 69 (Sen. Darling) This bill incorporates the Holocaust and other genocides into the state model social studies standards and requiring instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides.
WASB Position: Neutral
Senate Bill 109 (Sen. Ballweg) During the 2021-22 school year, this bill allows a pupil to attend a “fully virtual option” (as defined in the bill) offered by a nonresident school board or a charter school located in a nonresident school district under the full-time open enrollment program.
WASB Position: Neutral
Senate Bill 110 (Sen. Ballweg) Current law limits the number of nonresident school boards to which a pupil may apply to attend a public school in a nonresident school district under the full-time open enrollment program to three nonresident school boards in any school year.
WASB Position: Neutral
