Fitzgerald: “We’ve Got the Votes”
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 15, 2017
From WisPolitics.com …
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald tells WisPolitics.com that he’s “got the votes” to pass the biennial budget.
The Senate is back in session after a three-hour recess, as GOP leaders negotiated with Senate hold-outs to try to get enough votes for the budget.
Fitzgerald said in a brief interview that he’s got enough votes to pass the budget but declined to share how many GOP senators will vote for it, saying he doesn’t “want to make any assumptions on a couple of the senators.” But he added it would pass without any Dem support.
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State Budget Faces Uncertainty in the Senate
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 15, 2017
From WisPolitics.com …
The state Senate is scheduled to come in this morning to vote on the biennial budget, though it’s unclear whether Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has enough GOP votes to pass it.
Fitzgerald said this week he doesn’t have 17 votes to pass the budget, with Sen. David Craig, R-Big Bend, expected to vote no and three other conservative senators demanding several changes.
Those three senators — Chris Kapenga, Steve Nass or Duey Stroebel — told WisPolitics.com yesterday they’ll only vote for the budget if it meets some of their demands.
Those include: raising the income limit to 300 percent of the federal poverty limit for the statewide choice program, moving up the repeal of the prevailing wage on state projects, and prohibiting the UW System from spending some $4 million on diversity, sensitivity and cultural fluency training.
See Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Coverage
See Wisconsin Public Radio Coverage
See Wisconsin Radio Network coverage in which Speaker Vos calls Republican holdout senators’ list of demands a “ransom list”.
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Recap of Senate Education Committee Hearing
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 14, 2017
The Senate Committee on Education held a public hearing on Thursday, September 14th on the bills listed below. The SAA testified in support of one of the bills, and registered in support of two others, as noted below.
Senate Bill 329. Relating to: professional development training in character education for teachers, principals, and school district administrators, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. The SAA registered in support of this bill. In addition, Rita Olson (Superintendent at South Milwaukee), Mark Chapin (Principal at Meyer Middle School in River Falls), and Tosha Womack (Principal at Brown Deer Middle/High School) delivered fabulous testimony in support of the bill as well.
Senate Bill 382. Relating to: screening school district employees for tuberculosis. The SAA registered in support of this bill.
Senate Bill 383. Relating to: the payment of state aid to school districts and payments to operators of independent charter schools and private schools participating in a choice program or the Special Needs Scholarship Program. The SAA testified in support of the bill.
Assembly Bill 250. Relating to: alternative education grants. The SAA took no position on the bill.
Assembly Bill 251. Relating to: modifying rules related to grant programs administered by the Department of Public Instruction. The SAA took no position on the bill.
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Walker Objects to DPI ESSA Plan
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 14, 2017
Check out the Associated Press story on Governor Walker objecting to Wisconsin’s ESSA plan. Walker’s letter to Evers is linked below.
See Walker Letter to Superintendent Evers here.
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Assembly Passes Budget Bill 57-39
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 14, 2017
From WisPolitics.com …
The Assembly last night passed the state budget on a 57-39 vote, with five Republicans joining all Dems in opposing it.
It now heads to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future as Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he doesn’t have the 17 votes he needs to pass it and three Senate Republicans circulate a list of demanded changes.
The Assembly vote came after nearly 11 hours of debate, the rejection of 19 Dem amendments and the adoption of a GOP amendment that makes what the authors call “technical” changes, including deleting a provision requiring DOT to install a railroad gate crossing in Winnebago County.
But in the end, Reps. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, Bob Gannon, R-West Bend, Adam Jarchow, R-Balsam Lake, and Joe Sanfelippo, R-New Berlin, all voted against the budget.
Speaking on the floor prior to passage, Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said the bill left “so many holes in the state,” while bemoaning the chamber’s refusal to take up any of the proposed Dem amendments.
“You have rigged the system so poorly and slanted it against the working people in the state,” Barca told his Republican colleagues.
But Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, countered the bill was a “really, really good budget for Wisconsin,” touting the investment it would make in K-12 education, the extended UW System tuition freeze and the taxes that would be eliminated, among other things. Still, he noted legislators “should have done more” in the transportation budget.
And he again emphasized the chamber won’t be back next week to take further action on the budget.
Meanwhile, the Senate is scheduled to be on the floor Friday morning to vote on the budget. But GOP state Sens. Chris Kapenga, of Delafield; Steve Nass, of Whitewater; and Duey Stroebel, of Saukville, laid out a list of demands to win their support of the budget, including raising the income limit for the statewide school choice program and banning UW from spending money on diversity, sensitivity and cultural fluency training.
See the Assembly roll call vote here.
See the adopted GOP budget amendment here.
See the list of demands from three Senate Republicans here.
See Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Coverage here.
See Wisconsin State Journal Coverage here.
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