JFC Hearings to be In-Person and Virtual
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 10, 2021
From The Wheeler Report . . .
JFC TO BE IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL
The Joint Finance Committee will be holding in-person public hearings on the 2021-23 state budget as well as one virtual hearing. The hearing schedule includes:
- Friday, April 9, 2021 UW-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI
- Wednesday, April 21, 2021 The Hodag Dome, Rhinelander, WI
- Thursday, April 22, 2021 UW-Stout, Menomonie, WI
- Wednesday, April 28, 2021 Virtual
The public hearings will begin at 10 am and conclude at 5 pm. The format will be similar to past hearings. Management at each of the venues will monitor capacity. Those wishing to testify at the virtual hearing will be required to register in advance, details to come on the registration process. A portal is available for individuals to provide input: www.legis.wisconsin.gov/topics/budgetcomments as well as an email address budget.comments@legis.wisconsin.gov .
Prior to today’s announcement on the public hearings, JFC co-chairs met with The Wheeler Report to discuss the 2021-23 budget.
JFC co-chairs Rep. Mark Born and Sen. Howard Marklein were asked to comment on the good and bad in the Governor’s budget, but both said they did not want to comment until the Legislative Fiscal Bureau was done with the budget summary. They said they felt the best course of action was to ensure they knew more about the budget items before commenting. They are waiting for Fiscal Bureau to identify the policy items, which they intend to remove from the budget.
When asked to comment on the Governor’s Capital Budget Born said the budget was too high, highlighting that he believed the Joint Finance members were interested in ‘repairing, updating, and maintaining” what the state already owned over large expenditures on new projects. He said it was clear the Governor did not make a priority of any items in the adult corrections system and the state needed to invest in maintaining what was already in place.
One continuous theme throughout the interview with the two co-chairs was the uncertainty created by the federal stimulus proposal. Both Marklein and Born said they can start working on the budget once the public hearings are over, but the new state revenue numbers will not be available until May and the amount of funds or direction of those funds by any federal stimulus proposal made preliminary discussions difficult. While both were clear they did not want to use one-time federal funds for long-term expenditures in the budget, they did say one-time funds could be used for other items in the budget. They highlighted the one-time local road project funds that were made available in the last budget.
Born and Marklein said they expect to have a similar timeline as the previous budget and are aiming to have the budget to the Governor by July 1, but refused to comment on the possibility of the Governor vetoing a bill saying, “That’s a hypothetical and we won’t comment on a hypothetical.”
Born and Marklein ended the interview by saying that while they are both new to being co-chairs they believe the transition has been going well. They emphasized they were working hard to keep their caucuses informed on the budget process and working with membership to have the opportunities to provide input. They credited their smooth transition to their staff saying the staff is continually working hard to keep lines of communication open.
Topics: Legislative Action, SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Governor to Hold Virtual Listening Sessions
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 8, 2021
From The Wheeler Report . . .
Governor Evers plans to hold six virtual listening sessions on Badger Bounceback. Each live session will have a subject matter. (Please note, the listening session covering the Governor’s K-12 education budget initiatives will be held on April 8).
- 6 pm: Thursday, March 18. Economic Recovery & Opportunity. Register.
- 6 pm: Thursday, March 25. Accessible & Affordable Healthcare. Register.
- 6 pm: Tuesday, March 30. Transportation & Infrastructure. Register.
- 6 pm: Thursday, April 8. What’s Best for Our Kids. Register.
- 6 pm: Wednesday, April 14. Justice Reform & Marijuana Legalization. Register.
- 6 pm: Wednesday, April 21. Climate Change & Our Environment. Register.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
DPI Candidates Discuss Issues at Forum
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 5, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …
Both state superintendent candidates said they want to reopen schools to in-person instruction as soon as possible now that teachers are getting vaccinated.
Pecatonica School District Superintendent Jill Underly and former Brown Deer School District Superintendent Deborah Kerr told a Disability Vote Coalition virtual forum last night the addition of teachers to the vaccination lists and increased availability of vaccines means schools can safely reopen soon.
Kerr said she wants to reopen schools across the state immediately because parents are fatigued and frustrated with having to juggle childcare and their jobs.
“And so, with vaccinations coming through with teachers, we can make sure this can happen, especially for all of our children with disabilities, because our parents need this support,” Kerr said.
Underly added that she is more concerned about kids’ social and emotional health, but those kids will also need to catch up on learning opportunities they might have missed out on during the pandemic.
“Everyone wants their schools open, the kids do especially,” Underly said.
The election is April 6.
They also both endorsed a 90 percent state reimbursement rate for special education classes.
The state is currently at 30 percent, and Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposes increasing that to 45 percent in the first year and 50 percent in the second.
Kerr and Underly said special education classes have suffered in school districts across the state as Wisconsin has offered to fund too little of those costly classes. They said that funding is needed to ensure students with disabilities can get jobs after graduation and receive the same high-quality education as their peers.
Kerr said she would strive for 90 percent reimbursement for special education classes to help schools provide robust special education programs alongside strong standard curriculums.
“Their needs are more unique and complex than ever due to the pandemic [and] due to the situation that’s going on in society,” Kerr said.
She added the funding increase would ensure schools could provide resources for students to deal with trauma and ensure they have food, housing and their living requirements are “adequate.”
Underly agreed, saying a 90 percent reimbursement would be ideal because it would also allow districts to save money for other priorities such as reducing class sizes, adding extracurricular activities and improving buildings.
“I would certainly advocate and continue to work with our Legislature and our families to fully understand the cost of special education,” she said.
Underly added that funding lag has been around for at least 20 years and her school district transfers at least half a million dollars per year to fund their special education classes.
They also called for reducing the use of seclusion and limiting the use of restraints in schools to address behavioral issues.
The two said using data to make decisions on how to limit those practices is the end goal because they are not as productive towards educating students with special needs compared to less damaging ones. However, they said those practices are necessary in certain circumstances.
“I do not believe in seclusion and restraint unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Kerr said.
However, she said schools need to work toward helping those students make better decisions and “handle themselves” better so seclusion and restraint don’t need to be used as often.
Underly said restraint and seclusion should only be used when “absolutely most needed and when a child is in danger of harming themselves or others.”
“Every effort should be made to prevent the need for use of restraint and for the use of seclusions,” Underly said.
She said understanding the needs of students with disabilities, improving early childhood intervention programs and implementing better coping mechanisms in schools will help reach that goal.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
LFB Memo on Evers’ Special Education Aid Proposal
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 4, 2021
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) has produced a memo estimating the special education aid each district could receive under the Governor’s proposal to increase special education funding in his State Budget plan. In crafting this memo, the LFB utilized assumptions consistent with their practice. Actual aid will differ based on each district’s actual costs.
This information is extremely important to our ongoing advocacy efforts on the 2021-23 State Budget.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Evers Continues Push for Two-Thirds Funding, Comments on Opening Schools
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 2, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …
Gov. Tony Evers said today he will continue to push for two-thirds funding for public schools despite GOP opposition and that he’ll work to close down some adult state prisons in the future.
Evers in a WisPolitics.com virtual luncheon today said he wants the state to return to funding two-thirds of public K-12 school budgets. He also said he wants to continue to decrease state prison populations while improving mental health resources and programs to reduce recidivism.
“All of those things together will dramatically decrease the number of people in our system and close prisons,” said Evers. Asked whether he envisions a day when an adult prison is closed, he said: “Absolutely, yes.”
Evers’ budget doesn’t call for closing any state prisons. Meanwhile, he’s proposing an increase in state funding to the Department of Public Instruction of $1.6 billion in general purpose revenue. That proposed investment is part of a plan that would restore the state’s commitment to funding two-thirds of public education.
The guv said his proposal to increase school funding has received bipartisan support in the past from Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding, adding “apparently he doesn’t know that.”
According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state is picking up 65.2 percent of K-12 costs in the 2020-21 school year. The state repealed the requirement that it pick up two-thirds of costs in the 2003-05 budget.
Evers also said the state could save some money by improving educational programs to decrease the number of prison inmates who are released and end up back in prison.
“This is something that’s costly to the state of Wisconsin and more importantly it’s unfair,” Evers said, adding “we have to ensure that people that are in prison are there for a very serious reason.”
He said educational programs inside and outside prisons would help reduce the number of people who end up in prison in the first place while decreasing the number of inmates who end up back in prison, reducing the financial burden on taxpayers from the state’s prison system.
Also on education, Evers said Republicans’ proposals to incentivize schools to reopen by offering them more funding is “out of the question.”
The guv said CARES Act money Republicans are saying should be used to incentivize those schools has already been allocated to help increase testing and vaccination efforts at UW System schools. He said using that money for other things just won’t happen and schools need money regardless of where their students are taught.
“No. I mean it costs money to do it virtually, it costs money to do it in person,” adding “It’s out of the question.”
Joint Finance Committee Co-chair Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, tweeted during today’s luncheon that Evers was mischaracterizing what GOP lawmakers are asking.
“We asked the Governor to direct additional federal funds to schools that are already open. Parents want their kids in the classroom. They want a Governor who does too,” Born tweeted.
Evers said he’s willing to “look at all options” to reopen those public schools safely as soon as possible, even if it means changing laws.
The former state schools superintendent said he would be willing to change a state law that prohibits K-12 schools from starting fall classes earlier than Sept. 1 in order to get kids into classrooms and back up to speed as quickly as possible. He also said schools should be looking at creating “robust” summer school programs.
He added that he is hopeful about the future, but students who weather the pandemic will need more attention to make up for their loss of classroom time.
“It will mean that we’re going to have some real obligations to catch kids up, and whether that’s summer school or making sure that next year we maybe even start early, we have to look at all options, and I know school districts are already considering some of those ideas,” Evers said.
Evers added K-12 teachers in many of those schools don’t necessarily need to be vaccinated in order to safely reopen.
As long as those schools are following social distancing precautions, have adequate ventilation systems, have PPE for students and staff and everyone is wearing masks, Evers said K-12 schools can reopen for in-person classes.
“I know my teacher friends may disagree with me, but CDC says it’s not imperative,” Evers said of vaccinating teachers.
He said even if he could force those schools to open, the decision should be left to local schools rather than the state government because those schools know their districts and resources best.
“I cannot order schools to open; it’s not part of my ability as governor.”
Evers added he will work to help those schools reopen by improving the vaccination effort and getting more PPE for schools. “That’s my job,” he said.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »