Legislative Alert: Contact Legislators ASAP!!
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 28, 2013
This is a followup reminder to the Legislative Alert I issued on Friday. I want to thank all SAA members that have contacted their legislators in support of the SAA’s position. If you have not yet contacted your legislators, there is still time to act!
The Joint Finance Committee has scheduled executive action on K-12 issues (school funding, revenue cap, voucher expansion, special needs vouchers, charter schools, etc.) for tomorrow. We need to keep pressuring legislators right up until they vote.
Again, I urge every SAA member to act on the Legislative Alert issued on May 24th. If you have no time today, place your call or send your emails tonight. Leave a phone message if need be.
I know you are busy, but I need you to make these calls and send these emails. The pro-voucher forces are pounding legislators in key areas. Let’s match their intensity and then some.
Thank you all for your commitment and dedication.
Topics: Legislative Action, SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
We Must Resist Private School Voucher Expansion
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 28, 2013
Check out the op-ed piece penned by Plymouth Superintendent Clark Reinke for the Sheboygan Press. Great job, Clark!!
Topics: Legislative Action, SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Budget Alert: Your Response Needed ASAP!
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 24, 2013
SAA Members:
Please watch this important 5 minute video alert on late breaking state budget developments. Portions of the video alert, including legislator contact information, appear below in text form.
The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) plans to vote on K-12 budget issues (including school funding, voucher expansion, special needs vouchers, and charter school provisions) on Wednesday, May 29th.
The feedback I am receiving inside the Capitol clearly indicates that SAA pressure is having an impact on this budget process. And I implore you to act once again on behalf of the children you serve.
The Legislative Alert I am issuing today is the most important, and has the most urgency, of any alert I have issued in the 12 years I have served as your lobbyist.
I urge every single SAA member to contact the following legislators before Wednesday. Now, those of you comfortable with contacting these legislative offices via phone, I encourage you to do so. Those of you more comfortable with email, go for it.
In addition to your legislators, please contact:
(608) 266-9171
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald
(608) 266-5660
Joint Finance Co-Chair Representative John Nygren
(608) 266-2343
Joint Finance Co-Chair Alberta Darling
(608) 266-5830
(608) 266-8530
(608) 266-0751
For your convenience in contacting your own legislators, I have provided links to the Senate Directory, the Assembly Directory as well as Who Are My Legislators.
There is no need to engage in debate, simply encourage each of these legislators to:
- Support a revenue cap per pupil increase of at least $200 in each year of the biennium.
- Support removing all private school voucher expansion proposals (including special needs vouchers) from the budget.
- Support removing all charter school proposals from the budget.
I’m so proud of all of you for the battle we have waged against extremely powerful adversaries. It’s been a very long fight. Let’s put an exclamation point on it. I know you are busy, but I need you to make these contacts by day’s end on Tuesday.
This is for all the marbles. Let’s fight for everything that is good in public education. Let’s fight for all the reasons we made education our life’s work. But, most importantly, let’s fight for the futures of the children we serve.
Let’s get it done! Thank you.
Topics: Legislative Action, SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Green Bay Press Gazette Anti-Voucher Editorial
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 24, 2013
In an editorial this morning, the Green Bay Press Gazette once again opposed expanding private school vouchers in the budget. You may wish to forward this editorial to your legislators with a few of your own comments.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Dems Hammer Voucher Expansion; Support $275 Increase
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 23, 2013
Democrat lawmakers hammered the voucher school provisions of the proposed budget during a Capitol press conference yesterday afternoon, delivering 16,809 petition signatures to the governor and JFC leaders seeking their complete removal from the bill.
“The voucher expansion has to stop, and it has to stop here,” said Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Middleton.
“The budget, in the end, is one more blast to the people who serve our children every day,” said Beloit schools superintendent Steve McNeal.
He said the nine districts targeted for additional choice programs are the state’s most urban and most diverse. Speaking about choice schools, he asked, “How will they be held accountable? They haven’t been up to this point.”
See the release.
Democrats yesterday also called for increasing per pupil funding for K-12 education by $275 in the budget bill.
“After the historic cuts to education funding in the last budget, increasing per pupil spending by $275 is a modest request,” said Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, in a statement. “While an additional $275 per student at our neighborhood, public schools will not fill the $1.6 billion hole created in the last budget, it is a step in the right direction.”
Rep. Pope said that increasing the per pupil funding level, however, would not lead Dems to back some form of voucher expansion, saying that that is “not a compromise we are willing to make.”
“We’ve got to get back to where we came from before we can advance,” Pope said.
See the release.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »