Wisconsin Near Top in ACT Test Scores
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 21, 2013
Wisconsin tied with Iowa for the No. 2 spot among states with 50 percent or more of students taking the ACT college admissions exam; and the state’s composite score held at 22.1, 1.2 points higher than the national average, which was 20.9.
For more information, see the DPI News Release.
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Wisconsin GOP Education Platform
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 20, 2013
I thought you might want to see what the Wisconsin Republican Party’s core beliefs are on education policy. Please see the Party’s education platform as adopted this past spring at the party convention. Among other things you will see the Wisconsin GOP supports:
- Private school vouchers or tax credits for all parents of school-age children regardless of their financial means;
- Elimination of funding for 4-year-old kindergarten;
- Arming trained adult staff in our schools; and
- Elimination of the Common Core Standards and International Baccalaureate curriculum in Wisconsin public schools.
I would comment but I’m afraid I’m speechless.
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Press Release: Voucher Applications Proof of Runaway Voucher Entitlement
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 19, 2013
The SAA issued the following press release today on statewide voucher expansion as a runaway taxpayer-funded entitlement.
See the release here.
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More on Voucher Applications
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 16, 2013
More than 2,400 students applied for the statewide school voucher program, most of them already in private schools, DPI said yesterday.
The number of applications now means a random lottery will help divide the 500 available seats in the program to the 25 schools that had the most applicants.
DPI released figures showing 1,566 of the 2,069 income-eligible applicants in the top 25 schools did not attend a public school last year.
The applicant total also means none of the schools participating in the Milwaukee Choice Program will be allowed to accept students applying through the statewide program expansion.
The 25 schools and districts allowed to participate include: the Green Bay Area Catholic Education system of schools, St. Francis Xavier Catholic School System in Appleton and Regis Catholic Schools in Eau Claire.
DPI will give 10 seats to each of those schools and districts, while the remaining 250 seats will be chosen by random lottery. There is a preference given for siblings in the lottery, but no preference is given to children currently attending public schools.
GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said the applicant total showed high interest and the need to expand it in the next budget. But critics assailed the high number of private school children seeking spots in the program.
Vos said while he was happy with the number of applications, he found it unfortunate that the number of children would be capped at 500 this year and 1,000 next year.
“This clearly proves the need for further expansion of statewide school choice and I look forward to accomplishing that in the next budget,” Vos said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Madison, said the true intent of the program was to subsidize parents of private school students.
“The voucher program is no longer providing the escape option from a failing public school; it has become a new state entitlement program that will cost the taxpayers and directly compete with our constitutionally required public school system,” Pope said. “Unintended’ mistakes still have very real repercussion on students across the state.”
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Schools Named for Statewide Voucher Expansion; 67% of Applicants Attended Private School Last Year
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 15, 2013
The DPI has announced the names of the 25 schools that received the most eligible applications during the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program application period. Of the 2,069 eligible students, 67 percent (1,393) attended a private school last year.
For more information see DPI News Release.
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