Latest St. Norbert College Poll
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 19, 2016
From WisPolitics.com . . .
The latest St. Norbert College poll has Hillary Clinton up 8 points on Donald Trump and Feingold with a 12-point lead on Johnson.
In the presidential race, 47 percent of registered voters backed Clinton, while 39 percent supported Trump. Green Party candidate Jill Stein was at 3 percent, while Libertarian Gary Johnson was at 1 percent.
In the Senate race, 52 percent of registered voters favored Feingold, while 40 percent backed Johnson.
The survey of 664 registered likely voters was conducted Thursday through Sunday using landlines and cell phones. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
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Wisconsin Statewide Assessment Results Published
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 18, 2016
“I remain troubled by the achievement gaps that persist in Wisconsin,” said State Superintendent Tony Evers in announcing results from Spring 2016 testing of 382,836 public and private choice students on the new Forward Exam and 64,668 11th-grade students statewide on the ACT Plus Writing.
“As a state and within our local communities, we must work together to raise awareness of this problem and implement policy-driven solutions. It is not an issue of one student or one district, it is an issue that impacts us all,” he said.
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State Aid Boost Helps Taxpayers, Not Classrooms
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 17, 2016
I found this article by Erin Richards of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel interesting because it distinguishes between the various types of “school funding”. General aid increases (without corresponding increases in revenue caps) and school levy credits is property tax relief. Increases in revenue cap and categorical aid provide dollars that can be spent on the educational needs of children.
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General State Aid Certified to School Districts
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 14, 2016
As required by state statute on or by Oct. 15 of each year, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is providing the certified amount each public school district will receive from the $4.584 billion appropriated for general state aid for the 2016-17 school year.
Additional information is available in the DPI news release.
Tables that show the 2016-17 General Aid Certification for the state’s public school districts can be found here.
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Senator Rick Gudex Dies
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 13, 2016
From WisPolitics.com . . .
GOP state Sen. Rick Gudex died yesterday of a single gunshot wound to the chest that appears to be self-inflicted, according to the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office. He was 48.
The sheriff’s office said Gudex was found at 1:34 a.m. in the Town of Eden, which is southeast of Fond du Lac. A follow-up investigation and toxicology reports were pending.
Gudex, R-Fond du Lac, won his state Senate seat in a hotly contested 2012 race, but announced in November he wouldn’t seek re-election to the 18th SD. Prior to his announcement, Gudex was expected to be a top target for 2016 after his vote for GOP-authored right-to-work legislation.
At the time of his announcement, Gudex, who had a background in manufacturing, said he planned to return to the private sector.
His death prompted a bipartisan outpouring.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he was “deeply saddened.”
“Rick will be deeply missed by his Senate colleagues; our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time,” Fitzgerald said.
Gov. Scott Walker, meanwhile, said “Rick was a good man who served his community and state well, and he will be missed. Our hearts and our prayers go out to his wife Kim and their two children during this difficult time.”
Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, said she was shocked and saddened by Gudex’s death.
“I enjoyed serving with Rick in the Senate and will keep his family in my thoughts and prayers,” she said.
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