LFB Releases General School Aids Memo
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 6, 2021
From The Wheeler Report . . .
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has released a memo 2021-22 General School Aids Amounts for All School Districts. According to the memo, “The general school aids appropriation funds equalization, integration (Chapter 220), and special adjustment aids. In 2021-22, $5,013.6 million from the general fund is provided in the general school aids appropriation. Of the total amount of funding provided, 398 of the state’s 421 school districts are eligible for $4,945.2 million in equalization aid, 25 districts are eligible for $40.3 million in integration aid, and 62 districts are eligible for $28.1 million in special adjustment aid.”
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Evers Vetoes Senate Bill 463
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 3, 2021
Governor Evers today vetoed Senate Bill 463, which requires school boards to make information about learning materials and educational activities used for pupil instruction available to the public. The bill also allows a district resident to bring legal action against the district in order to compel compliance. The SAA opposed SB 463 and applauds the Governor’s veto.
See the Governor’s veto message here.
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Evers: School Districts to Get Additional $134 Per Student in ARPA Funds
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 2, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …Gov. Tony Evers today announced Wisconsin school districts will get an additional $134 per child through the $110 million in ARPA funds he is directing their way.Evers said districts will be able to invest the money in “whatever they need, and most importantly, whatever our kids need.”The federal government has approved three different COVID-19 packages that include funding for schools. Some of that money, though, comes with restrictions on how and when it can be used.The guv’s office said there are also no time restrictions on when districts must use the $110 million.“I’ve always said what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state, and these funds will go a long way toward helping ensure our kids get the services and resources they need to rebound and recover,” Evers said.When Evers signed the budget in July, he criticized GOP lawmakers for not putting more state money into K-12 education and said he planned to supplement the funding with more than $100 million in federal COVID-19 funds at his disposal. Republicans countered that the state money had to be considered in the context of the $2.4 billion in COVID funds flowing to districts through the three different federal relief packages. That money is divided up through formulas set by the federal government.Today’s announcement lays out the distribution of the money at Evers’ disposal. Using a per-pupil approach, districts will get the same amount of funding for each student.A breakdown from the guv’s office shows Milwaukee Public Schools — the state’s largest district at nearly 72,000 students — will get $9.6 million. Norris School District in Mukwonago — the state’s smallest at 16 students — will receive $2,139.The aid also will benefit independent charter schools with payments ranging from $669 for one with five students to $181,322 to one with 1,356 students.Evers announced the funding during a stop in Milwaukee, where he was joined by state Superintendent Jill Underly. They also had stops today planned in Chilton, Stevens Point and Holmen.See the release here.
See the distribution by district here.
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Supreme Court Will Make Minimum Changes in Redistricting
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 1, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …In a win for GOP lawmakers, the conservative majority on the state Supreme Court said today it will make the “minimum changes necessary” to the current maps as it sets new boundaries for Wisconsin’s legislative and congressional districts.The 4-3 majority also rejected calls from Dems and other groups involved in the redistricting suit to consider the partisan makeup of districts in drawing new lines.Dems have decried the current lines as a partisan gerrymander, arguing the 2020 election reinforced that as Joe Biden won the state by less than a percentage point a year ago, but won more votes than Donald Trump in just 37 of the state’s 99 Assembly districts and 11 of the 33 Senate seats.Writing for the majority, conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley noted the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled there is no legal standard for federal judges to rule if a map is politically “fair.” She wrote that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is taking the same position.“Claims of political unfairness in the maps present political questions, not legal ones,” Bradley wrote. “Such claims have no basis in the constitution or any other law and therefore must be resolved through the political process and not by the judiciary.”In her dissent, liberal Justice Rebecca Dallet wrote the majority opinion had all but guaranteed that the court can’t remain neutral and nonpartisan in the redistricting process and “effectively insulates future maps from being challenged as extreme partisan gerrymanders.”A federal three-judge panel had ruled the 2011 maps Republicans drew constituted a partisan gerrymander. But that ruling was undercut when the U.S. Supreme Court set the standard in another case barring federal judges from weighing in on whether a map is a partisan gerrymander.Dallet added the upshot of today’s state ruling is “to elevate outdated partisan choices over neutral redistricting criteria. That outcome has potentially devastating consequences for representative government in Wisconsin.”Fellow liberals Ann Walsh Bradley and Jill Karofsky joined in the dissent.Today’s ruling puts in place parameters for the parties to follow as they submit proposed maps to the justices to consider.The justices had earlier asked the parties to weigh in on several questions, including whether the court should consider the partisan leaning of districts in picking a map and if it should make as few changes as possible to the current lines, which Republicans drew when they had full control of the Capitol a decade ago. One of those questions includes the relevant state and federal laws the court should consider.Ahead of today’s ruling, the court had set out a briefing schedule over the next month with a possible trial in January to set lines. Today’s decision will influence the arguments the parties will make going forward.Though it was a 4-3 ruling in most regards, conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote his own concurring opinion. He took issue with the majority’s assertion that only legal requirements may be considered in setting the new lines. Hagedorn argued that wasn’t correct, citing the redistricting criteria of communities of interest. Though not a legal requirement, “it may nonetheless be an appropriate, useful, and neutral factor to weigh.” He also backed the “least-change” approach in his concurring opinion.Conservatives Pat Roggensack and Annette Ziegler joined all parts of Bradley’s majority opinion.Read the ruling here.
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Loudenbeck Won’t Seek Reelection to Assembly
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 1, 2021
GOP state Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, who filed earlier this month to run for secretary of state, formally announced today that she won’t seek reelection to the Assembly next fall.Today’s announcement includes no mention of her future plans. The Clinton Republican was first elected to the Assembly in 2010 and is currently Assembly vice-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.See the release here.
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