More Bills Clear Assembly Education Committee
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 17, 2022
Several education bills were recommended for passage this morning by the Assembly Education Committee. The results of the committee’s executive session (voting) appears below. The SAA’s position on each bill was added at the end of each bill entry in bold italics. If you should have any questions or comments on any of the SAA positions on these bills, please contact the SAA.
From The Wheeler Report . . .
EXECUTIVE ACTION BY ASSEMBLY EDUCATION
AB-966 Reorganizing Milwaukee Schools (Wittke, Robert) Reorganizing the Milwaukee Public School System into four to eight school districts and creating a Milwaukee Public Schools Redistricting and Implementation Commission. Passage recommended, 7-6. SAA opposed.
AB-967 Charter Schools (Wittke, Robert) High-performing charter schools authorized by school boards. Passage recommended, 7-5. SAA opposed.
AB-968 Charter School Board (Wittke, Robert) Creating a Charter School Authorizing Board and allowing the board to authorize independent charter schools. Passage recommended, 8-5. SAA opposed.
AB-970 Choice Income Limits (Wittke, Robert) Eliminating income limits for parental choice programs; eliminating pupil participation limits for the statewide parental choice program; private school tuition charged to a pupil participating in a parental choice program; and creating an education expense reimbursement program for the 2022-23 school year and the summer of 2023. Passage recommended, 7-6. SAA opposed.
AB-971 Pupil Promotion (Wittke, Robert) Promotion of pupils from the third grade to the fourth grade based on passage of the standardized reading test; reading readiness assessments in public schools; grants to increase licensure of reading teachers; sunsetting the Achievement Gap Reduction program; programs to identify and address pupils with dyslexia; parental opt-out of pupils in grades kindergarten to three from statewide examinations; and making an appropriation. Am. 1 adopted, 9-4. Passage as amended recommended, 8-5. SAA opposed.
AB-975 Substitute Teachers (Thiesfeldt, Jeremy) Substitute teacher permits issued by the Department of Public Instruction. Am. 1 adopted, 9-4. Passage as amended recommended, 13-0. SAA supports.
AB-995 Face Covering Opt-Out (Vos, Robin) A parental opt-out from face covering requirements in school buildings and on school grounds and requiring school boards to offer pupils a full-time, in-person option. Passage recommended, 8-5. SAA opposed.
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More Education Bills Clear Assembly Education Committee
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 17, 2022
Several education bills were recommended for yesterday by the Assembly Education Committee. The results of the committee’s executive session (voting) appears below. The SAA’s position on each bill was added at the end of each bill entry in bold italics. If you should have any questions or comments on any of the SAA positions on these bills, please contact the SAA.
From The Wheeler Report . . .
AB-428 Higher Ed Aids Board (Legislative Council) The membership of the Higher Educational Aids Board. Am. 1 adopted, 14-0. Passage as amended recommended, 14-0. SAA no position.
AB-969 School Crimes (Duchow, Cindi) Reporting to law enforcement certain crimes and other incidents that occur in or on public school buildings and grounds, requiring certain schools to employ armed school resource officers, and allocating federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding to reimburse schools for costs of employing armed school resource officers. Passage recommended, 9-5. SAA opposed.
AB-963 Parent Rights (Gundrum, Rick) Rights reserved to a parent or guardian of a child. Passage recommended, 9-5. SAA opposed.
AB-964 Property Tax Credit (Thiesfeldt, Jeremy) Increasing the school property tax credit due to virtual instruction during the 2021-22 school year. Passage recommended, 9-5. SAA opposed.
AB-965 DPI Reports (Wittke, Robert) The components, methods, and formulas the Department of Public Instruction uses to publish school and school district accountability reports and granting rule-making authority. Passage recommended, 9-5. SAA opposed.
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Evers Signs Special Session Executive Order
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 17, 2022
From WisPolitics.com …
Gov. Tony Evers yesterday signed the executive order calling a special session of the Legislature for March 8 to take up his $1.7 billion plan to give Wisconsinites tax rebates and pump more money into education.While Evers can call the Legislature into special session, he can’t force lawmakers to act. GOP legislative leaders have quickly dispatched of Evers’ past special session calls, gaveling them in and out in a matter of seconds.The offices of Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on how they plan to respond to the special session call.While Evers had three stops around the state today following last night’s State of the State, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes hit two UW campuses. During his Madison stop, he told reporters Evers called the special session because the “Legislature has unfortunately acted irresponsibly and not answered the calls of working people.”“We can’t just sit behind while Republicans choose to do nothing in the legislature while people in Wisconsin continue to suffer,” he said.See the release here.
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Evers Hits the Road to Support Budget Surplus Plan
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 16, 2022
From WisPolitics.com …Gov. Tony Evers is hitting the road today to pressure lawmakers to approve his $1.7 billion plan to provide tax rebates, boost existing tax credits and pump more money into education.The guv will start in West Bend before heading to Green Bay and La Crosse for a series of news conferences.Republicans have indicated they want to use the state’s projected surplus for a tax package next session, when they hope to be working with a GOP guv.But Evers last night in his State of the State address urged lawmakers to act now. He said allowing the money to sit in Madison won’t help Wisconsinites who need help buying groceries or gas and paying for child care and necessities.“Indifference in this building is getting expensive, folks,” Evers said in the Assembly chamber of the Capitol. “And let me be frank: the people who will bear the burden of inaction are almost certainly not the people sitting in this chamber tonight.”In the GOP response to the guv’s address, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, accused Evers of weak leadership and sought to tie him to President Biden. He argued Republican lawmakers have saved Wisconsin from Evers’ failures time and again and accused the guv of using his veto pen to hold back the state.“Ask yourself: have Joe Biden or Tony Evers done anything to make your life better? Or has just about everything they’ve touched gotten worse?” LeMahieu said from the Assembly parlor.While Evers is hitting three spots, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes will be on the Stevens Point and Madison campuses of the UW System today. Evers last night said he’ll put $30 million into the System, most of it to fund a tuition freeze through the end of the 2021-23 biennium.See more coverage of last night’s speech here.
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Assembly Bill 495 Clears the Senate
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 15, 2022
In Senate floor action today, Assembly Bill 495, relating to possession of a firearm in a vehicle on school grounds by a person with a license to carry a concealed weapon, was concurred in on a 20-12 vote. The SAA opposes this bill. Having now passed both houses, the bill heads to the Governor’s desk. Stay tuned.
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