SAA News Release on JFC Action
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 28, 2021
The SAA has issued this news release on yesterday’s Joint Finance Committee K-12 budget action.
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Budget Committee Approves $128 Million In State Tax Dollars for K-12
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 27, 2021
From WisPolitics.com…
Wisconsin schools would get $128 million in general purpose revenue over the next two years, a fraction of what Dem Gov. Tony Evers originally proposed, under a motion the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee approved today.
The GOP motion, approved 11-4 along party lines, also would transfer $350 million to the state’s budget stabilization fund that could be tapped later for K-12 education as well as other purposes.
Republicans argued the state funds couldn’t be viewed in a vacuum, pointing to the $2.4 billion in federal funds set to flow into Wisconsin schools over three federal COVID-19 packages approved over the past year.
Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, R-Oak Creek, noted when Evers built his budget, the guv wasn’t aware of the third round of federal funding that was approved weeks later. That package includes $1.5 billion of the $2.4 billion
“It is hard to talk about how we’re going to fund our schools and ignore the fact that we have so much federal funding coming into the state. It is part of the conversation,” Rodriguez said.
But Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, argued the GOP package threatened $2.2 billion of the federal money Wisconsin schools are slated to receive.
That money was included in the last two federal stimulus packages, which require states to maintain the same proportion of spending allocated to K-12 and higher education in 2021-22 and 2022-23 as their average allocation for 2016-17 through 2018-19.
According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state would have to spend almost 35.3 percent of all GPR on K-12 in each year of the 2021-23 budget to meet the requirement.
That amounts to $387 million more for K-12 education compared to current spending, though that price tag would go up if the Legislature decided to spend additional GPR in other areas of the budget. The cost would go down if lawmakers cut spending compared to current levels.
“The 1.5 billion for K-12 education you’re counting on will not happen,” Erpenbach said.
But Co-chair Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said he believed that risk was “manageable.” He said guidance from the federal government on how states must use the federal money has evolved regularly, and he expected the same to happen with the maintenance of effort requirement to qualify for the education funding.
“I fully believe the folks in Washington are going to hear the cries from every corner of this country regarding the challenges that are coming up. I think it was an unintended consequence quite honestly,” he said.
The GOP package includes $128.3 million in GPR for K-12 education, along with $10.8 million in program revenue and $12.9 million in segregated funds.
Evers’ budget originally called for $1.5 billion in additional GPR with another $41.7 million in program revenue and segregated funds.
The GOP plan includes:
*$89.3 million in GPR for special education, including money for high cost special ed;
*$19 in GPR million for school mental health services;
*$12.7 million in GPR for high-cost transportation aid. It also would lower the threshold for districts to qualify for the money. Under the provision, districts at 140 percent of the statewide average for transportation costs would qualify rather than the current 145 percent;
*$6.3 million in GPR for sparsity aid that goes to small, rural districts. The motion also would make additional districts eligible for the aid;
*plus $6.4 million in segregated funds for school libraries and $6.5 million for public libraries.
The motion includes no new state money for the general school aids, the largest pot of money for districts. It accounts for $4.9 billion in state aid to schools in the current school year.
Tapping the $350 million Republicans want to transfer to the state’s rainy day fund would require agreement between the GOP-controlled Legislature and Evers.
Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, argued the move was prudent considering education is “flush” with cash because of the federal funding.
“That’s just smart budgeting,” Stroebel said. “You set money aside when you have it.”
Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, said Stroebel’s argument that the money would be “safe” in the budget stabilization fund was laughable because Republicans would never agree to spend it on education.
She also knocked her GOP colleagues for relying on federal money to fund schools over the next two years considering many of them signed onto a letter urging the state’s congressional delegation not to approve it.
“The next time that you send a letter asking your colleagues to not accept federal funding, I suggest you not find ways to spend it,” Johnson said.
The first round of federal COVID relief for schools has to be disbursed by Sept. 30, 2022. The second round must be used by one year later and the latest pot of funds Sept. 30, 2024.
Read the motion.
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GOP – DPI Omnibus State Budget Motion
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 27, 2021
See the GOP – DPI Omnibus State Budget Motion here.
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Joint Finance Reworks Fed Money to Reward Schools That Offered In-Person Instruction
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 27, 2021
From WisPolitics.com…
The GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee today reworked a $154 million pot of federal money to reward districts that provided in-person instruction for at least half of the 2020-21 school year.
The motion, approved 11-4 along party lines, also would give priority to small, rural schools for a portion of the money.
The bulk of the federal money — $114.6 million — would create a grant program for districts that provided in-person instruction for at least 50 percent of the 2020-21 school year. It would amount to a minimum grant of $781 per student.
Districts such as Madison and Milwaukee, the state’s two largest, wouldn’t qualify for the funds after spending most of the school year largely providing only virtual instruction.
Dems knocked that move. But Republicans argued it was simply about leveling the playing field because large, urban districts are gaining more from the overall program than others.
The money is part of $1.5 billion from a third round of funding under federal COVID-19 packages. Of that, nearly $1.4 billion is being divided among districts according to a formula based on the number of students they have in poverty.
Milwaukee Public Schools will qualify for $505 million of that money from this round of federal money alone.
“MPS is going to be just fine getting over $7,000 per pupil just in this one act,” said Joint Finance Co-chair Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green.
But Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, balked at the comparison. She slammed her GOP counterparts for failing to grasp that MPS is only in line for so much federal money because of the level of poverty.
“I have never seen people that were so envious of the poor when it comes to Title 1 funding,” Johnson said. “Really? Because I guarantee you those poor families would trade with you in a heartbeat for your home, your district, for your school systems.”
The Department of Public Instruction originally proposed $39.4 million of the federal money to create minimum grants of $600,000 for the districts that received less than that through the federal formula. The agency plan also included another $6.8 million for administrative costs.
The agency also proposed following federal earmarks of $77 million for learning loss,
$15.4 million for summer learning and $15.4 million for after school programming.
The JFC motion nixed DPI’s plans for the minimum grants and administrative costs. It used those two pots of money and the $77 million for learning loss to create the money for in-person instruction.
Meanwhile, the GOP motion gave districts that qualify for sparsity aid — typically, small rural schools — the priority to qualify for the after school and summer school funds.
The motion also would create a $5 million reading program.
Gov. Tony Evers has the option to veto the committee reworking of DPI’s plan. But the committee, controlled 12-4 by Republicans, would have the numbers to override a veto.
Guidance from the federal government included a requirement that the money for learning loss, after school programs and summer schools address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student groups such as those who are homeless or are in foster care.
Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, questioned the Legislative Fiscal Bureau whether the GOP plan meets those requirements. The agency said it was unclear, though federal guidance on COVID money has been constantly evolving. If the federal government decided the state plan was inadequate, it would be up to DPI to try amending the plan until it was approved. If a deal couldn’t be worked out, the money would go unused.
The money is part of a reimbursement program in which districts that spend money on an allowable expense can then apply to DPI for reimbursement.
“The only certainty of this motion is the amount of uncertainty that Republicans are creating,” Erpenbach said.
The motion also includes an earmark for the Lincoln Academy, a new independent charter school in Beloit. The school, which won’t open until this fall, would receive $781 per student.
The public charter school has ties to Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, a GOP megadonor.
Rep. Amy Loudebenck, R-Clinton, defended the earmark, saying there is no mechanism for the money being sent to districts through the federal stimulus package to follow children to the districts they attend next year. For example, she said the Beloit School District will receive $3,277 per student from the federal formula with some 300 of those students leaving the district to attend Lincoln Academy this fall.
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JFC ESSER III Plan
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 27, 2021
Check out the JFC ESSER III Plan slated for adoption today.
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