Legislator?s Ask for Audit of Fund 80
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 5, 2011
Several legislators are asking the Joint Audit Committee to look into what they call “abuse” of the use of the community service fund (CSF). In a letter to the Audit co-chairs, Sen. Frank Lasee and Reps. Andre Jacque, Evan Wynn, Karl Van Roy and Don Pridemore said an exemption from revenue limits in the 2001 budget bill has allowed several school districts to become “far more ‘expansive’ in their use of CSF and ‘creative’ in defining what expenditures might be called ‘community service.’” They said the expansion has “grown increasingly abusive where CSF is now being used in ways which bear no resemblance to the intent of the law when CSF was created, and with little to no oversight from the state.”
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Senators Harkin and Enzi Introduce Comprehens?ive ESEA Bill
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | October 3, 2011
From AASA . . .
After months of negotiations and missed deadlines, Senate Education Committee Chairman Tom Harkin is holding a mark-up of a comprehensive bill to re-authorize ESEA on October 18th. Harkin has been working with Senate Education Committee Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY) on this draft for approximately ten months. Details of the bill are not available yet, but AASA will post them on the Leading Edge blog as soon as we have them.
The Harkin/Enzi bill is the only bi-partisan approach to re-authorizing ESEA introduced this year. It is also the only attempt to draft a comprehensive bill to address the problems of ESEA. Republicans on the House Education Committee have decided to take a piecemeal approach to ESEA re-authorization. Last month, a group of four Republican Senators led by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-KY) on the Senate Education Committee introduced their own package of legislation to fix the most problematic aspects of ESEA, but their bills did not make changes to all the titles and programs in ESEA.
There is a growing divide among Republicans in the Senate about who is leading their chamber when it comes to education policy. Some believe that while Enzi is the Ranking Member of the committee, the caucus trusts the opinion and policies presented by former U.S. Education Secretary Alexander over Enzi. Alexander said he could not overcome philosophical differences in trying to create a new accountability system and teacher evaluations, so he stopped negotiating with Harkin and Enzi earlier this year. It will be interesting to see how the Republicans on the committee, particularly those involved in the package of ESEA bills introduced a few weeks ago, respond to the bi-partisan ESEA legislation put forth by Harkin and Enzi.
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Legislative Alert: School Choice Trailer Bill
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 30, 2011
The SAA has issued a priority legislative alert in support of Senate Bill 174 (School Choice Trailer Bill). Please contact your Assembly Representative and State Senator as soon as possible. Urge him/her to support SB 174.
Senate Bill 174 would prohibit any school district which has not already qualified for the program from qualifying after the effective date of the bill. So far, only Racine has qualified and opened its Choice Program earlier this month.
The bill is scheduled to receive a public hearing before the Senate Committee on Education on Wednesday, October 5th.
Background
The 2011-13 state budget, which was signed into law as 2011 Wisconsin Act 32, contains language that could easily pave the way for the expansion of private school voucher program to other communities beyond Milwaukee and Racine.
- That budget language, unless limited by the new legislation, could readily expand the state’s private school voucher program to school districts located in 16 second class cities in Wisconsin meeting certain criteria.
- Second class cities include: Appleton, Brookfield, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Janesville, Kenosha, La Crosse, Madison, Oshkosh, Racine, Sheboygan, Superior, Waukesha, Wauwatosa and West Allis.
- Pupils who reside in these districts would be eligible to participate in a private school voucher program if the district meets certain criteria regarding equalized value, shared cost and the percentage of their district’s enrollment that is eligible for the free or reduced-price lunch program.
- Undeterred expansion of taxpayer-financed private and religious voucher schools will drain resources from all of the state’s public schools, as the appropriation for voucher schools is sum sufficient. This means the state pays whatever costs the voucher programs incur, leaving diminished resources for public schools.
- No school district should be subjected to a voucher program simply because it falls within a set of criteria. Lawmakers should be required to vote on any specific expansion proposal. This bill would close the expansion “loophole” and ensure that no additional districts are added to the voucher program without a specific vote.
Please email or call your legislators as soon as possible using the information discussed above. I have provided links to contact information for the Assembly (Assembly Directory) and the Senate (Senate Directory). You can identify your legislators by referring to Who Are My Legislators.
Thanks for listening. And, thanks for all you do on behalf of Wisconsin school children.
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What Is The SAA?
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 29, 2011
At the SAA Legislative Committee meeting held on Monday, September 26th, several members suggested we post information on the history, mission, and operation of the SAA. This information could help serve as orientation for new members and as a reminder for veteran members.
Well, here it is: What Is The SAA?
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SAA Opposes AB-219
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 28, 2011
The SAA registered its opposition to Assembly Bill 219 at a public hearing held before the Assembly Committee on Urban and Local Affairs yesterday.
AB-219 would prohibit a local government (including a school district) from providing health care benefits to any employee hired on or after the bill’s effective date for use upon the employee’s retirement unless the cost of the benefit is fully funded on an actuarial basis.
The SAA and other organizations raised several areas of concern including:
- This is a complicated issue with the potential for unintended consequences;
- The impact on local budgeting as well as the ability of employers to recruit and retain qualified staff;
- Additional cost for extra actuarial work required under the bill; and
- The bill would impose restrictions before we even see how the new flexibility gained from Act 10 and Act 32 will change local government HR practices, benefit plan design and funding of OPEB liabilities.
The SAA will closely monitor the bill and inform members of any significant developments.
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