Governor Signs “Felons Bill”
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 29, 2011
On Wednesday, November 23rd, Governor Walker signed Senate Bill 86 into law as 2011 Wisconsin Act 83 . Act 83 permits an educational agency to refuse to employ or to terminate from employment an unpardoned felon, whether or not the circumstances of the felony substantially relate to the circumstances of the particular job.
The SAA has supported this controversial legislation for many years. The SAA’s position has always been, “Protect the children first.”
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PolitiFact: We Rate Walker’s Statement False
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 28, 2011
As we all know, Governor Walker and his team have taken issue with the data and analysis of the WASDA survey conducted this fall. The survey highlighted the fact that in order to balance their budgets this year Wisconsin school districts had to cut staff, eliminate vital support services, and reduce course offerings, narrowing educational opportunities for Wisconsin school children.
In partial response to the survey the Governor stated, “The overwhelming number of school districts reported their staff stayed the same or grew after the 2011-13 state budget.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — PolitiFact analyzed the Governor’s statement and concluded, “When we analyzed the survey results using the complete statistics used to calculate the staff change, we found the opposite of Walker’s conclusion: Three out of four districts reported a net loss of staff, including all four categories of staff.”
“We rate his statement False.” See Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
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SAA Opposes “Anti-Double Dipping” Bills
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 18, 2011
SAA Director of Government Relations John Forester testified in opposition to Assembly Bills 318 and 352 (so-called “anti-double dipping” bills) at a public hearing before the Assembly Committee on Insurance yesterday.
During his testimony, Forester made several points in addition to those contained in his prepared testimony, including:
- This legislation will have quite an impact on CESAs’ ability to continue providing cost-effective services to Wisconsin school districts. CESAs were designed, at least in part, to provide cost-effective services to school districts that do not have the capacity to provide these services themselves. The biggest service area for most CESAs is special education. CESAs employ many highly qualified retired educators that do a great job providing high quality, cost-effective services to school districts.
- My friends in the private sector say that in order to achieve optimum efficiency and productivity in any organization you need to have your incentives pointed in the right direction. These bills create incentives for retired teachers and administrators to take their annuity and 1) go to work in the private sector, or 2) take their experience and abilities to Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, or any other state. To lose this type of experience and expertise to another state would be a shame.
- During today’s hearing, we heard lots of assertions by proponents of this legislation that the current practice of hiring retirees is harming the Wisconsin Retirement Fund. And we are all concerned about the solvency of the system. But, I heard nothing in the Department of Employee Trust Funds’ testimony today to indicate definitively that those assertions are indeed fact. In fact, it seems the only way to determine that definitively is by conducting an actuarial study. The SAA would support the completion of such a study to inform this policy development process.
The SAA will closely monitor these bills and inform the SAA membership of any significant developments.
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WASDA Survey Shows Effects Of Cuts To Education
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 10, 2011
Survey data gathered this fall through the WASDA survey highlighted the fact that in order to balance their budgets this year Wisconsin school districts had to cut staff, eliminate vital support services, and reduce course offerings, narrowing educational opportunities for Wisconsin school children.
That is the major conclusion of an analysis of the WASDA survey data conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The data analysis was released this morning at a news conference at Monona Grove High School. In addition to State Superintendent Tony Evers, Monona Grove Superintendent Craig Gerlach and River Valley Superintendent Jamie Benson spoke at the news conference. In addition numerous other SAA members were in attendance.
For additional information please see the DPI News Release and the survey data analysis.
Wisconsin State Journal article
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article
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“Immoral Conduct” Bill Moves Forward
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 4, 2011
On Tuesday, the Assembly concurred in the Senate’s unanimous passage of Senate Bill 49, relating to revocation for immoral conduct of a license issued by the
Department of Public Instruction. The bill provides that “immoral conduct” includes the intentional use of an educational agency’s equipment to download, view, solicit, seek, display, or distribute pornographic material. The bill also requires an administrator, when reporting “immoral conduct” to DPI, to include a complete copy of the licensee’s personnel file and all investigative records.
The bill also requires DPI to post the name of the licensee under investigation on the DPI website. Finally, the bill requires DPI to maintain a record of all investigations it conducts.
The SAA worked with the bill authors, Senator Luther Olsen (R- Ripon) and Representative Steve Kestell (R- Elkhart Lake), on development of SB 49. The bill now moves on to the Governor’s desk where we anticipate it will be signed into law.
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