LeMahieu Appoints Marklein Senate JFC Chair
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 11, 2020
From WisPolitics.com …
Senate Majority Leader-elect Devin LeMahieu today appointed Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.
Marklein replaces Sen. Alberta Darling, a River Hills Republican who had chaired the committee a record six sessions.
Marklein was first appointed to the committee shortly after his 2014 win of his southwestern Wisconsin seat. Senate GOP sources told WisPolitics.com last week that Marklein nominated LeMahieu for majority leader during last week’s caucus.
See the release here.
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11/10/2020 Legislative Leadership Elections
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 11, 2020
From The Wheeler Report . . .
Assembly Republicans
- Speaker – Robin Vos
- Speaker Pro Tempore – Tyler August
- Majority Leader – Jim Steineke
- Assistant Majority Leader – Kevin Petersen
- Caucus Chair – Tyler Vorpagel
- Assistant Caucus Chair – Cindi Duchow
- Caucus Secretary – Jessie Rodriguez
- Caucus Sergeant at Arms – Sam Kerkman
Assembly Democrats
- Minority Leader – Gordon Hintz
- Assistant Minority Leader – Dianne Hesselbein
- Caucus Chair – Mark Spreitzer
- Assistant Caucus Chair – Lisa Subeck
- Caucus Secretary – Beth Meyers
- Caucus Sergeant at Arms – Kaylan Haywood
Senate Democrats
- Minority Leader – Janet Bewley
- Assistant Minority Leader – Janis Ringhand
- Caucus Chair – Jeff Smith
- Assistant Caucus Chair – Melissa Sargent
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DPI Seeks $1.4 Billion Increase in Budget Request
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 10, 2020
From WisPolitics.com …
The Department of Public Instruction wants more than $1.4 billion in new GPR in the 2021-23 budget to boost school aids, special education funding and support for mental health.
The budget proposal the agency submitted to the Evers administration in September left out its requests for school aids. In a follow-up submission late yesterday, DPI added those key components, along with a series of changes state Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor said were needed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stanford Taylor said the proposed boost in funding would restore the state covering two-thirds of public school costs. The state is covering less than 66 percent of public school costs in the 2020-21 school year.
“It magnified many existing inequities in our state and highlighted essential areas where our students and educators need further support,” Stanford Taylor said of the pandemic.
Citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on state finances, Gov. Tony Evers this summer directed most state agencies not to request additional GPR-funded expenditures in the 2021-23 budget. At the same time, he vowed to continue investing in priorities, including education, health care and infrastructure.
The bulk of the new money is an additional $844 million for equalization aids, which are distributed according to a formula based on the property values in a district. The proposal represents a 7.3 percent increase in the first year of the budget and a 2.5 percent increase in the second year.
DPI is also seeking $108.4 million more for per-pupil aids, which are distributed evenly to school districts, regardless of property values. The proposal, though, would add $150 for each student in poverty.
DPI is also seeking a $371 million boost for special education and another $46.5 million in mental health and wellness aid.
DPI last month reported public school enrollment had dropped 3 percent between September 2019 and September 2020, compared to a 0.4 percent decrease in the previous 12-month period. The COVID-19 pandemic has been one factor cited for the larger drop.
The new proposals include several provisions to address impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
- allowing districts to use their 2020 or 2019 enrollments — whichever is greater — in their calculations for state aid;
- allowing districts to count their students in 4K as full-time equivalents for their enrollment counts. Now, they’re counted as 0.5 or 0.6 FTEs depending on the hours of instruction they receive.
- limiting how much state aid a district can lose due to declining enrollments.
The DPI budget also calls for annual increases to the per-pupil revenue limit to account for inflation going forward. The limit serves as a cap on how much a district can spend per student between state aid and property taxes. The DPI budget calls for increasing that by $150 per student in fiscal year 2022. Beginning in 2023, the revenue limit would go up each year based on the consumer price index, and the agency estimates it would amount to a per-pupil adjustment of $15.25 in fiscal year 2023.
See the DPI news release here.
See DPI full budget request here.
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LeMahieu Elected Senate Majority Leader, Kapenga Senate President
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 5, 2020
From WisPolitics.com …
Senate Republicans today selected Sen. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, to be the next majority leader and tapped Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, for Senate president.
LeMahieu beat out Sen. Roger Roth, R-Appleton, to succeed Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, who won the 5th CD this week.
Kapenga beat Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, for the No. 2 spot.
In other races:
- Dan Feyen, R-Fond du Lac, was reelected assistant majority leader
- Pat Testin, R-Stevens Point, was elected president tempore
- Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, was reelected caucus chair
- Sen. Kathy Bernier, R-Lake Hallie, was elected caucus vice-chair
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SAA Submits Questions to State Superintendent Candidates
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 5, 2020
Today, the SAA asked the candidates for State Superintendent to respond in writing to a number of questions on current education issues impacting Wisconsin public schools and public school children. Our intention is to forward the candidate responses to the entire SAA membership as soon as they are received. The responses will also be accessible to the public on the SAA’s website.
This process for engaging the candidates was supported by the SAA Board of Directors and is consistent with SAA historical practice.
We have asked the candidates to provide their written responses by Monday, November 23, 2020. The primary election will be held on February 16, 2021, with the general election to follow on April 6, 2021. Stay tuned.
SAA State Superintendent Candidate Questions
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