WASDA Sends MoE Letter to Congressional Delegation
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 25, 2015
AASA, The School Superintendents Association, has issued a special call to action on legislation amending IDEA’s maintenance of effort (MoE) requirements.
Last month, AASA successfully lobbied to have legislation introduced that would amend IDEA to grant districts additional exceptions to reduce the maintenance of effort requirements as long as the provision of special education services to students was not compromised. Rep. Walberg (R) of Michigan introduced the legislation, the Building on Local District (BOLD) Flexibility in IDEA Act (HR 2965), and they need the help of superintendents and other administrators to attract additional co-sponsors in the House and companion legislation in the Senate.
In response to AASA’s call, WASDA sent a letter to the Wisconsin Congressional Delegation urging their support for HR 2965. Please take a moment to reach out to the Congressional Delegation and ask them to support this important bill. Feel free to include AASA’s one-pager, which is available here.
For your convenience, we have provided email addresses for the appropriate staffers in Wisconsin House and Senate offices. Please note that contact information for Rep. Ribble’s office is not included because he has already signed on as a co-sponsor of HR 2965.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Introducing “From the Legal Side”
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 18, 2015
From the Legal Side . . .
The SAA is introducing a new feature on its blog site called “From the Legal Side” which will appear occasionally and include valuable legal updates and analyses from Wisconsin firms practicing school law. The SAA regularly receives useful updates from these firms and we believe this is valuable information for our members. Firms are encouraged to forward their updates to the SAA. The SAA will only distribute information in “From the Legal Side” with permission and attribution.
Our maiden voyage of “From the Legal Side” highlights a series of reports on the 2015-17 State Budget produced by Strang, Patteson, Renning, Lewis & Lacy, S.C. This series includes reports on important school issues like private school choice, special education open enrollment, teacher licensure, course options, school accountability and more. You can access this series here.
Topics: SAA Latest Update, SAA Legal Side | No Comments »
Wisconsin School Mental Health Project Gets Underway
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 18, 2015
The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) announced today that a five-year project to improve students’ emotional well-being and mental health is moving ahead with the selection of 27 participating districts and training for the first group of school and community teams that are part of the Wisconsin School Mental Health Project.
For more information including a list of participating schools, please see the DPI news release here.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
School Districts Scramble to Fill Positions
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 18, 2015
Check out the article on teacher recruitment/retention by Erin Richards and Matt Kulling of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Guidance for Unnassigned Fund Balances
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 17, 2015
Late last month, the DPI released some new options to allow school districts discretion to further define unassigned fund balances. In a recent newsletter article, WASBO Executive Director Woody Wiedenhoeft reflects on these options and offers guidance for school business officials and district administrators.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »