The Redistricting Maps Before the Wisconsin Supreme Court
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 21, 2021
In the past several months, SAA members have raised many questions about redistricting and the impact that new legislative/congressional district maps will have on Wisconsin’s political landscape. I have grown to appreciate the informative work of Craig Gilbert (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) on redistricting and the geographic distribution of the vote in Wisconsin. Yesterday, he posted a new piece that analyzes the plans before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It’s instructive. Check it out here.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Vos: Session May Run Longer Waiting on Election Review
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 15, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …Speaker Robin Vos told WisPolitics.com today the Assembly could be in later than usual this session to give former Justice Michael Gableman more time to wrap up a 2020 election review so lawmakers can incorporate his findings when writing new bills.The Rochester Republican, in a year-end interview, sought to blame Dems for a delay in Gableman’s timeline. The effort originally targeted October for an end date, Vos said Dems have put up a series of roadblocks to hamper the efforts.And Minority Leader Gordon Hintz charged Assembly Republicans are looking to extend the probe as long as they can and may take it past the 2022 election. The Oshkosh Dem said doing so would imply there was something wrong with how the 2020 election played out and avoid having to finally admit to some in the GOP base that the review’s results will be disappointing.“For some of them, if Trump isn’t reinstated, they didn’t get to the bottom of it,” Hintz told WisPolitics.com.The pair spoke with WisPolitics.com in separate interviews today with Gableman’s investigation facing court hearings that will likely push any conclusion into the early part of 2022. A Dane County judge has a hearing set for Dec. 23 on Dem AG Josh Kaul’s effort to quash the subpoena Gableman issued to Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe, arguing the statute gives the former justice the power to compel testimony in public before a legislative hearing, not in private at his Brookfield office.Meanwhile, a Waukesha County judge has set a Jan. 21 hearing just to lay out a briefing schedule on Gableman’s request to jail the mayors of Green Bay and Madison if they don’t comply with the subpoenas his office issued to them.Vos said he didn’t imagine in his “wildest dreams” at the outset of the Gableman probe that Dems would try to throw up so many roadblocks. He was particularly critical of Dems for knocking the Legislature Audit Bureau’s review of the 2020 election, though his appointee to the Elections Commission, former GOP state Rep. Dean Knudson, is among those who questioned the quality of the non-partisan agency’s work.“It’s just all a game to these people,” Vos said.The Assembly met Feb. 20, 2020, for its final regular floor period before COVID-19 brought the chamber back in April for a special session to take up legislation related to the pandemic. In 2018, the chamber wrapped up most of its work by late February before returning in late March for an extraordinary session.Vos said he wasn’t sure how late the chamber may be in session this spring.“I try to be on time, and I try to put a plan together, and this is one where people have thrown up so many roadblocks that it might take longer than I want,” Vos said.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Wisconsin Under 18 Population Declines Over the Past Decade
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 15, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …
Wisconsin’s population of those under 18 fell by 4.3 percent over the past decade, more than double the decline over the previous 10-year period, according to a new study.The nonpartisan Forward Analytics concluded in its new report that the trend will exacerbate some issues, including the state’s struggle to find an adequate workforce.Census numbers show Wisconsin’s population growth of 3.6 percent between 2010 and 2020 was the slowest on record. Forward Analytics found that trend is being driven by the drop in the youth population.The number of births dropped in every year but one from 2010 to 2020 for Wisconsin. That resulted in about 44,000 fewer babies born than during 2000 to 2010.See the report here.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Thiesfeldt Not Seeking Reelection
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 9, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …GOP state Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt announced he will not seek reelection in 2022.Thiesfeldt was first elected to the 52nd AD in 2010 and serves as chair of the Assembly Education Committee.In a statement, the Fond du Lac Republican said he plans to serve out the remainder of his term and then move on to more education-related work.“I have always publicly stated that I did not believe elected office was a long-term appointment, and it was my intention to return to the classroom some day when the time was right,” he said.See the release here.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Post-secondary CRT Ban Clears Assembly Committee
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 9, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …
Dems say a Republican-backed bill to ban race and sex stereotyping in instruction or training provided to students or employees in UW System schools and Wisconsin technical colleges would limit free speech and academic freedom.Republicans in an Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee hearing today in a 10-4 party line vote approved AB 413, which would ban teaching students and employees that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex. It would also ban teaching that an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for acts committed in the past by other individuals of the same race or sex.The bill is now ready to be scheduled for a floor vote.Committee Chair Rep. David Murphy, R-Greenville, argued the bill doesn’t prohibit teaching about past racism, but it does say to students “I’m not guilty just because I’m white for past transgressions.”“I’d like to think that those kids, those young people and those kids, can grow up not feeling like they are to blame for every problem just because of their skin color,” he said.But Rep. Katrina Shankland, D-Madison, said Republicans who support the bill have a list of terms they want to ban from schools. She was referring to GOP Rep. Chuck Wichgers’ list from earlier this year detailing terms he believed similar legislation would ban. Gov. Tony Evers vetoed that bill.“If we’re going to speak an oath to the constitution when we are inaugurated every year, then we should at least vote according to that oath,” Shankland said.See more on the bill here.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »