DPI Announces New Dual Enrollment Initiative
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | June 12, 2012
High school students in Wisconsin will be able to earn college credits while still in high school under a new dual enrollment program announced today by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the University of Wisconsin Colleges.
For additional information please see the DPI press release.
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Who Stands Up For Children?
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 31, 2012
The stakes in the 2012 elections are enormous. Given the state’s slow economic recovery, prospects for significant new investments in public education look uncertain at best. The well-heeled advocates for school privatization will be back attempting to purchase the remainder of their extreme legislative agenda. After the elections, the battle for limited budget funds will be fierce.
To meet these challenges, we must help reelect “friends of public education.” If we don’t, the proponents of private school vouchers and independent charter schools are more than willing to write the big checks.
We have just lived through the most extraordinary legislative session I have ever seen in my 25 years in and around Wisconsin state government. We won some great victories, and we suffered some gut-wrenching defeats. Through it all, we discovered who was willing to stand up for Wisconsin school children when the going got tough.
Who Stood Up For Children When:
- Lawmakers cut resources for Wisconsin schools by $1.6 billion? The SAA did!
- Telecommunications companies jeopardized our schools affordable Internet services through WiscNet? The SAA did!
- Lawmakers balked at honoring their promise to “slam the door” on unbridled expansion of private school vouchers? The SAA did!
- School voucher advocates attempted to expand school privatization by preying on disabled school children and siphoning vital resources away from public special education programs? The SAA did!
- Lawmakers and school voucher advocates wanted to reduce the wide array of educational opportunities and experiences offered by Wisconsin schools to a simple letter grade on an accountability report card; and let choice and charter schools off the hook on accountability? The SAA did!
- Lawmakers forwarded “double-dipping” legislation that threatened to remove experienced, high quality educators from our classrooms and raise costs for school districts? The SAA did!
And it didn’t always make us very popular inside the State Capitol.
Thank You . . . But We Must Do More
I want to thank you all for using your relationships with your legislators to lobby on behalf of the children in your schools. Once again, the SAA has proven that it is one of the most effective grassroots lobbying organizations in the state.
But that’s not enough anymore. Increasingly, we are in jeopardy of losing the influence game to the advocates of private school vouchers and independent charter schools. They are stronger, better organized, more numerous and equipped with bigger checkbooks than ever before. Vital resources for Wisconsin school children and – in my estimation – the very survival of public education as we know it hangs in the balance.
The Stakes Are Too High
We have a lot of work to do. And our first job is to help reelect our “friends” in the 2012 elections. Shortly thereafter we anticipate that privatization advocates will back a strong challenger in the April 2013 election for State Superintendent. As you can see, the stakes are simply too high to sit on the sidelines.
Your support for SAA PAC/SAADirect is critical to our continued success in the State Capitol. If you are interested in supporting SAA PAC and/or SAADirect, simply fill out the contribution form and send it, along with your check(s), to SAA PAC/SAADirect, 4797 Hayes Road, Madison, WI 53704. For more information see SAA PAC/SAADirect FAQ.
Thank you for your support and for your continued efforts on behalf of Wisconsin school children. If you have any questions, please contact me at (608)242-1370 or at john.forester@wsaa.org
Paid for by School Administrators Alliance, Beth Holznagel, Treasurer. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s agent or committee.
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GAB Predicts 60-65% Turnout For Recall
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 30, 2012
The Government Accountability Board is predicting between 60 and 65% of Wisconsin voters will turn out for the June 5 recall elections. That represents between 2.6 and 2.8 million people. The estimate is higher than the 2010 General Election for Governor (49.7%) but lower than the 2008 General Election for President of the United States (69.2%.) Currently 130,391 absentee ballots have been issued for the recall election, up from 113,558 at noon on Friday, May 25.
The SAA encourages all SAA members to get out and vote on Tuesday, June 5th.
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WISTAX: Teacher Numbers Fall for 3rd Consecutive Year
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 21, 2012
In a pair of reports released yesterday, WISTAX provides an examination of school jobs and benefits that makes for interesting reading. WISTAX summarizes the reports as follows:
“The number of teachers in Wisconsin public schools fell 2.4% in 2011-12. But individual district experience varied, from relatively large gains to double-digit losses. Three factors explain much of this year’s changes: a 5.5% cut in per student revenue limits; enrollment changes; and benefit cost savings. Growing districts with large benefit cost savings fared best, while declining enrollment districts with little or no benefit savings fared worst.”
For more information, please see the WISTAX news release and yesterday’s Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story.
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Confusion Over Technical Diploma
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 14, 2012
It has come to our attention that there is some confusion over the provisions of 2011 Wisconsin Act 156, which permits a school board to grant a technical education high school diploma to pupils. The Wisconsin Legislative Council has produced a fine summary memo of Act 156 for your information.
In reviewing the memo, please note that the school board may grant a technical diploma to a student who “satisfies the credit requirements and earns the number of credits for high school graduation as established by statute and the school board” (emphasis added). Therefore the pupil must meet the requirements under state law plus the requirements established for graduation by the local school board. Simply meeting the state requirements will not suffice.
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