Recap of Assembly Education Committee Hearing
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 24, 2017
The Assembly Committee on Education held a public hearing on Thursday, August 24thon the bills listed below. The SAA supported two of the bills, testifying on one of them, as noted below.
Assembly Bill 423. Relating to: an initial teaching license based on completion of a Montessori teacher education program. SAA took no position on the bill.
Assembly Bill 382. Relating to: screening school district employees for tuberculosis. SAA registered in support of the bill.
Assembly Bill 471. 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. SAA testified in support of the bill. The SAA testimony included some comments about the importance of districts having adequate cash reserves.
If you should have any comments/questions regarding the SAA’s positioning on any of these bills, please do not hesitate to call the SAA office.
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Evers Formally Launches Gubernatorial Bid
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 24, 2017
From WisPolitics.com …
State Superintendent Tony Evers, formally launching his bid for governor, tells WisPolitics.com he’d be open to raising the gas tax to address Wisconsin’s long-term transportation needs while pulling back on some credits for businesses to ensure the state can invest in priorities like education.
Evers said unlike Scott Walker, who has rejected an increase in the gas tax or registration fees as part of budget negotiations, he would not be the kind of chief executive to pull any solutions off the table. Instead, he would seek bipartisan solutions to issues like transportation.
He also rejected the notion that makes him a tax-and-spend liberal, especially if it’s coming from those now pushing a $3 billion deal for electronics manufacturer Foxconn to locate in Wisconsin.
“Tax and spend, that’s just baloney, quite frankly,” Evers said in an interview ahead of this morning’s formal announcement. “Who’s just passing a $3 billion bill and not consider themselves a tax and spend person? I mean, clearly, we’re spending money.”
Evers has been critical of the Foxconn bill, particularly the projection from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau that Wisconsin would not break even for 25 years on the increased tax revenue it may see from the project compared to the incentives it would provide the Taiwanese manufacturer.
Evers said if elected, he would look to renegotiate with the company, including on family-supporting wages and how much of its workforce is comprised of Wisconsin workers vs. those from out of state.
Walker has suggested he needs to be re-elected in 2018 to ensure the company completes the deal with Wisconsin. But Evers said the company “won’t be thrown out of the state by anyone” elected next year and he believes Wisconsin can “balance the books as far as taxes and credits and making sure we have tax fairness.”
“I see the Walker administration talking about, well, some details are going to be worked out after the budget. Well, some of these details can be worked out after the next election,” Evers said.
Walker answered Evers via Twitter today, “Pushing to renegotiate Foxconn deal will please 49 other Governors w/ a renewed chance to land thousands of family-supporting jobs from WI.”
State GOP spokesman Alec Zimmerman said Wednesday Evers has failed to lead when children needed him.
The party is already going after Evers with a digital ad that knocks him over the DPI’s decision to allow a Middleton teacher to keep his license after he was fired for looking at sexually explicit images at school. Arbitrators ruled the district wrongly fired the teacher, and DPI found while his conduct was highly inappropriate, it did not meet the legal definition of immoral conduct as the law was then written.
“While Governor Walker has fought for hard-working Wisconsin families and delivered results, Tony Evers has repeatedly failed to stand up — even allowing a teacher to remain in the classroom while spreading pornographic material in school.”
Evers rejected the accusation and turned it around on Walker, saying that case is not hurting kids “as much as Gov. Walker has done with Lincoln Hills,” referencing the state’s troubled youth prison in northern Wisconsin.
Evers said the agency followed the law in determining the teacher should keep his license. But it then worked with the Legislature to have the law changed with bipartisan support.
Lincoln Hills, has been under criminal investigation over allegations of inmate abuse.
“It’s hurting kids. It’s hurting a significant number of kids,” Evers said.
Zimmerman also knocked Evers for DPI being unable to accurately report the graduation rate for 2015-16 after a data-reporting error.
At his campaign kick off today in Fitchburg, Evers said it’s a “foolish comment” for the guv or anyone else to suggest he has not competently run DPI or doesn’t know the graduation rate.
He acknowledged errors in the reporting this year, but said DPI has a “close approximation” of the rate, which he said continues to be high.
“If he wants to dispute high graduation rates, he has a problem there,” Evers said.
See Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Coverage here.
See Appleton Post Crescent Coverage here.
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Legislative Leaders Say No Deal Yet on Budget
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 23, 2017
More on the progress being made on the state budget. Check out the news story from the Wisconsin State Journal here.
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Walker: Republicans Have Budget Deal in Principle; JFC Co-Chairs Say Details Remain
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 22, 2017
From WisPolitics.com …
Gov. Scott Walker said today Republicans have reached a deal “in principle” on the state budget that would include a partial repeal of the personal property tax, saying he expects to sign the budget by Sept. 22, when summer ends.
But he also said there are “a few little details” that need to be worked out.
WisPolitics.com reported Friday lawmakers were looking at exempting one category of the personal property tax, with a price tag of $75 million, and putting aside as much cash as possible in case collections softened in the upcoming biennium. Lawmakers also have been discussing combined transportation bonding between the Foxconn bill and the budget of less than $500 million.
JFC Co-chairs Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and John Nygren, R-Marinette, confirmed today that is part of the framework they’ve been discussing. But they cautioned it was not a done deal and details remained to be finalized.
Darling also noted some members of her caucus were continuing to push for a full repeal of the personal property tax. Senate Republicans have proposed doing that and creating a new appropriation to backfill the lost property tax revenue for local governments at a cost of $239 million in the second year of the biennium.
“I’m glad the governor is enthusiastic. But I wouldn’t say there’s a deal cut,” Darling said.
Walker told reporters today at UW Health the budget wouldn’t increase the gas tax or vehicle registration fees, though lawmakers are discussing fees for electric and hybrid vehicle owners. Darling confirmed that was also being discussed.
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Evers to Announce for Governor on Wednesday
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 21, 2017
State schools superintendent Tony Evers will formally announce his gubernatorial run Wednesday, making him the third Democrat to commit to a bid and the first statewide office holder to challenge GOP Gov Scott Walker.
Check out the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news story here.
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