School Law Update: Wisconsin School District Nondiscrimination Obligations
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 30, 2019
From the Legal Side…
In its most recent School Law FYI, BoardmanClark reminds Wisconsin School Districts of their nondiscrimination obligations.
The SAA regularly receives these updates and we believe this is valuable information for SAA members. We are distributing this update to SAA members with the permission of BoardmanClark.
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GOP Won’t Take Up Gun Legislation
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 23, 2019
From WisPolitics.com …
The GOP’s top two Republicans yesterday continued to pour cold water on the guv’s call for a special session on guns.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald told reporters the Senate likely will adjourn the special session shortly after gaveling it in and said the chamber won’t vote on the two bills the guv is urging them to take up.
But Gov. Tony Evers fired back that the Juneau Republican’s response to his call for a special session was “abysmal.”
“He’s telling 80 percent of the people of Wisconsin he’s gonna be in charge and frankly walk out the door,” Evers told reporters in Green Bay today. “To stand up and say, ‘We’re going to gavel in and gavel out,’ that is not what the people of Wisconsin expect out of their legislative leaders.”
Still, Fitzgerald said there’s no point to even convening committee hearings on the universal background check and “red-flag” law bills the guv wants passed because they lack support in his caucus.
“The support is not there to tackle those two issues right now,” Fitzgerald said.
The guv called the special session for Nov. 7, though he can’t force the Legislature to vote on the bills. They do have to convene, however. But they can do that through a skeletal session, which involves just a handful of members.
The Senate plans to be on the floor in regular session Nov. 5, while the Assembly will be in Nov. 7.
Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said on 1130 AM that Evers has chosen to play politics by focusing on an issue that won’t pass the chamber instead of working with Republicans on issues such as suicide prevention.
He also dismissed results in the Marquette University Law School Poll that found overwhelming support for a red-flag law. He likened it to a wife thinking her husband was going to possibly get drunk that night and being able to go to a judge to have his car taken away before even being allowed a hearing.
Vos argued once the process was explained like that, the “vast majority” wouldn’t support it.
“We’re not going to sacrifice people’s constitutional rights because one politician in Madison listening to his very liberal constituents wants us to do that,” Vos said.
The wording of the August Marquette poll question was, “Would you support or oppose a law allowing the police to take guns away from people who have been found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others?” Eighty-one percent of registered voters said they supported such a proposal.
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SAA Testifies on Energy Efficiency Bill
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 23, 2019
SAA Executive Director John Forester testified yesterday in support of Senate Bill 494, relating to the school district revenue limit adjustment for energy efficiency projects. The testimony was delivered at a public hearing before the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy. Hats off to those members that provided valuable input for the testimony.
Hats off as well to Bryce Bird, district administrator at Prairie du Chien, who also delivered outstanding testimony before the Committee.
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Tobacco 21 Bill to Receive Public Hearing
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 23, 2019
The Assembly Committee on Substance Abuse and Prevention will hold a public hearing on Assembly Bill 422 (see below), the so-called Tobacco 21 legislation, at 10:00am on Wednesday, November 6th in the North Hearing Room, State Capitol. The SAA strongly supports this legislation. If you are interested in testifying, or if you have comments or questions about this bill, please contact the SAA.
AB-422 Raising Tobacco Age (Spiros, John) Raising the legal age for sale, purchase, and possession of cigarettes and nicotine and tobacco products, providing a legal age for sale, purchase, and possession of vapor products, and providing a penalty.
See the SAA, WASB, WiRSA news release here.
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Evers Calls Special Session on Gun Violence
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 21, 2019
From WisPolitics.com …
Gov. Tony Evers today issued an executive order calling a special session of the Legislature starting Nov. 7 to deal with guv violence.
Evers’ order calls on lawmakers to take up “red-flag” law legislation and a bill to create universal background checks.
While Evers can call the special session, he doesn’t have the power to force lawmakers to vote on the bills. GOP legislative leaders have indicated they don’t plan to take up the legislation.
“Since taking office in January, I have called on the Legislature to take action and pass commonsense gun safety reform time and time again,giving Republican leadership the opportunity to hear the people of our state and to do the right thing,” Evers said. “Today I am delivering on my promise to call a special session to address gun violence across our state and I’m calling on Republicans to work with Democrats to get this done.”
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