LFB Memo on Vouchers
By John Forester | April 16, 2013
The nine districts targeted by Gov. Scott Walker for expansion of the school choice program could take a significant financial hit depending on how many of their students participated, according to a new LFB memo.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo also lays out a scenario in which $7.9 million in state aid would be redistributed to other districts in the state with the nine losing money.
Among the other districts, 324 would receive more aid and 91 would be largely unchanged under that scenario.
The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee has its final official public hearing Thursday, while Dems are having alternative hearings.
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Study: Campaign Money Drives Voucher Agenda
By John Forester | April 15, 2013
Wealthy campaign contributors and shadowy electioneering groups that back school voucher programs have spent nearly $10 million in 10 years in Wisconsin – much of it to help twice elect a governor who is trying to sharply expand the program, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.
See Wisconsin Democracy Campaign study.
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Notes From JFC Committee Hearings Green Bay/WI Dells
By John Forester | April 12, 2013
On Monday and Wednesday of this week, the Joint Finance Committee held it’s second and third of four public hearings on the state budget bill (Assembly Bill 40) in Green Bay and Wisconsin Dells respectively. The SAA was well-represented at both hearings. The following school administrators provided testimony at the Green Bay hearing: Tony Klaubauf, Superintendent, Denmark; Pete Ross, Superintendent, Seymour; Dave Polashek, Superintendent, Oconto Falls; Michelle Langenfeld, Superintendent, Green Bay; Joe Stutting, Superintendent, Sturgeon Bay; Ron Welch, Superintendent, Algoma; Alan Wagner, Business Manager, Green Bay; Claudia Hendrickson, Special Education Director, Green Bay; and Edward Dorf, Principal, Green Bay East High School.
Tony Klaubauf Testimony 040813
Dave Polashek Testimony 040813
The following school administrators delivered testimony at the Wisconsin Dells hearing: Jim Sebert, Superintendent, Fond du Lac; Steve McNeal, Superintendent, Beloit; Wally Leipart, Superintendent, Phillips; Cindy Zahrte, Superintendent, Tomah; Jeff Holmes, Superintendent, Montello; Curt Bisarek, Superintendent, Hillsboro; Tim Schell, Director of Curriculum/Instruction, Waunakee; Margaret Rudolf, Business Manager, Portage; Brent Richter, Business Manager, Lodi; Mindy Lankey, Business Manager, Hillsboro; Julie Smallwood Lankey, Business Manager, Mauston; Greg Nyen, Special Education Director, Stevens Point; and Tammy Nyen, Special Education Director, Wausau. Many thanks to these SAA members for their leadership.
The pro-voucher forces were well-represented at the hearings with several speakers, students and parents in attendance at each hearing. This heavy presence illustrates how important it is for SAA members to make a strong showing at the final JFC hearing.
For those of you planning to testify at Baldwin-Woodville High School on Thursday, April 18th here are my suggestions:
- Get there early. I know the hearings don’t start until 10:00 a.m., but if you wish to speak before noon get there by 7:30 a.m.
- You will only have 2 minutes to testify. There will be no questions from legislators.
- Bring 20 hard copies of your testimony with your full contact information on it for the committee members.
- Use the information in the SAA’s recent Legislative Alert to stay on message. It is very important for us to stay focused.
We need to finish strong at the final JFC budget hearing in Baldwin. I haven’t been able to verify it, but sources I respect have heard the pro-voucher forces are planning a big showing in Baldwin. If you have questions about testifying please call me. Thank you.
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Notes From Joint Finance Committee Hearing
By John Forester | April 5, 2013
Yesterday, the Joint Finance Committee held it’s first of four public hearings on the state budget bill (Assembly Bill 40) at Greendale High School. The SAA was well-represented with the following school administrators providing testimony: Pat Deklotz, Superintendent, Kettle Moraine; Ted Nietzke, Superintendent, West Bend; Nissan Bar-Lev, Director of Special Education, CESA 7; Erin Green, Business Manager, Greendale; Keith Brightman, Business Manager, Elmbrook; and Blaise Paul, Business Manager, South Milwaukee. Many thanks to these SAA members for their leadership.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Article
Nissan Bar Lev Testimony 040413
Keith Brightman Testimony 040413
The pro-voucher forces were extremely well-represented at the hearing with several speakers and 200+ students and parents in attendance. This heavy presence illustrates how important it is for SAA members to make a strong showing at the next three hearings.
For those of you planning to testify at the Green Bay, Wisconsin Dells or Baldwin hearings, here are my suggestions:
- Get there early. I know the hearings don’t start until 10:00 a.m., but if you wish to speak before noon get there by 7:30 a.m.
- You will only have 2 minutes to testify. There will be no questions from legislators.
- Bring 20 hard copies of your testimony with your full contact information on it for the committee members.
- Use the information in the SAA’s recent Legislative Alert to stay on message. It is very important for us to stay focused.
We need a strong showing at the remaining JFC budget hearings. If you have questions about testifying please call me. Thank you.
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Diane Ravitch: Vouchers Don’t Work
By John Forester | April 2, 2013
In a recent post on her blog, Diane Ravitch uses evidence from Milwaukee to conclude: Vouchers Don’t Work!!
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VOTE Today
By John Forester | April 2, 2013
Make sure you get out to vote today in the Spring General Election for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
As you know, State Representative Don Pridemore is challenging current State Superintendent Tony Evers. The SAA has endorsed Tony Evers for re-election.
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Keep Budget Issues in Front of Legislators, Public
By John Forester | April 1, 2013
Many SAA members have asked for suggestions on how to keep the private school voucher and school funding issues in front of their legislators and their constituents for the next 10-12 weeks of the budget battle. There are many ways to do it, but I wanted to share just two ideas with the SAA membership today.
First of all, district administrators and board presidents should agree to place “State Budget Update” on every board meeting agenda from now until the end of June. This will provide you with an opportunity to keep the board up-to-date on budget developments and provide the local press with an opportunity to report on the discussion and keep your community updated as well.
Secondly, every time you see a newspaper article supporting our positions on school funding, vouchers or other budget issues, simply copy and send to your legislators. You could simply say something like, “This article speaks to the issues we discussed earlier. I thought you would like to see it. Thanks for your continued efforts on behalf of all of us in your district.”
If you haven’t already used it, here is a great editorial from the Appleton Post Crescent from about a week ago.
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Joint Finance Schedules Budget Hearings
By John Forester | March 25, 2013
The Joint Finance Committee has scheduled the following hearings on Governor’s Walker’s 2013-15 state budget. All start times are 10:00 am.
The hearing on Wednesday April 10th has been moved from the Crystal Grand Theatre in Lake Delton to the Kalahari Resort, 1305 Kalahari Drive, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965
- Thursday, April 4 – Greendale – Greendale High School
- Monday, April 8 – Green Bay – Lambeau Field
- Wednesday, April 10 – Suites 2 & 7 Main Level – Kalahari Resort
- Thursday, April 18 – St. Croix County – Baldwin-Woodville High School
More information to follow. Those SAA members interested in testifying at one of these four hearings should let me know so I can help to coordinate the arrangements for your testimony. Thanks.
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Legislative Alert: Contact Joint Finance on the Budget
By John Forester | March 20, 2013
I want to thank each and every one of the SAA members that have contacted their legislators in support of the SAA’s positions on the Governor’s education budget proposals. Your efforts are paying dividends. Increasing numbers of Republican legislators continue to voice their concerns about the Governor’s revenue cap freeze as well as his private school voucher and charter school proposals.
But, the battle is far from over. It’s a very long budget process (lasting in to June) and many legislators believe they can simply wait us out and we won’t be able to sustain the fight.
So, again, I want to thank all of you for contacting your legislators. For those of you that have yet to lobby your legislators, please do so ASAP. To be successful in this fight, all SAA members must contact their legislators repeatedly throughout the budget process.
Now, it is time for you to turn your attention to the Joint Finance Committee (JFC). Yesterday, the JFC began its formal work on the state budget with the start of state agency budget briefings.
I’m calling on each and every SAA member to collaborate with your district’s administrative team on a strategy to contact the 16 members of the Joint Finance Committee.
This budget contains many proposals that impact every school district in the state. But, for now, it is vitally important that we focus on the following:
- Support the Ellis/Olsen plan to increase the revenue cap per pupil increase by $150 in each year of the biennium.
- Support removing all private school voucher expansion proposals (including special needs vouchers) from the budget. Share with legislators that such a fundamental change in education policy really must stand as separate legislation – away from the budget – to allow the public’s voice to be heard. The voucher proposals need the public scrutiny that only a separate public hearing before the standing education committees can provide.
- Support removing all charter school proposals (for both school district and independent charter schools) from the budget. The public’s voice also must be heard – away from the budget – on these charter school proposals.
For SAA Talking Points on Private School Voucher Expansion, Special Needs Vouchers and Charter School Budget Proposals see here.
Please send a letter (phone calls work too) using the information discussed above and the talking points to the members of the Joint Finance Committee as soon as possible. Please share your communication with your legislators and with the SAA. We have provided contact information for each of the 16 members of the Joint Finance Committee below. For your convenience, I have also provided links to the Senate Directory, the Assembly Directory and Who Are My Legislators.
Senator Alberta Darling (608) 266-5830
Senator Luther Olsen (608) 266-0751
Senator Sheila Harsdorf (608) 266-7745
Senator Joe Leibham (608) 266-2056
Senator Mary Lazich (608) 266-5400
Senator Glenn Grothman (608) 266-7513
Senator Jennifer Shilling (608) 266-5490
Senator Robert Wirch (608) 267-8979
Representative John Nygren (608) 266-2343
Representative Pat Strachota (608) 264-8486
Representative Dale Kooyenga (608) 266-9180
Representative Dean Knudson (608) 266-1526
Representative Dan LeMahieu (608) 266-9175
Representative John Klenke (608) 266-0485
Representative Cory Mason (608) 266-0634
Representative Jon Richards (608) 266-0650
It is vitally important that we continue to communicate with our legislators on the major budget issues. The pushback from the pro-voucher groups and pro-charter groups will be enormous. We must match their intensity, not only today but tomorrow as well. This is a long fight and we must sustain our intensity for the next 4-5 months of the budget process. A lot of lawmakers believe they can simply wait us out and we won’t be able to sustain our intensity.
We need to prove them wrong. This is for all the marbles. Let’s fight for everything that is good in public education, let’s fight for all the reasons we made education our life’s work, and most importantly, let’s fight for our children’s future.
Thanks for listening, and thanks for all your efforts on behalf of Wisconsin school children.
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LFB Budget Summary; Act 10 Update; and More
By John Forester | March 15, 2013
LFB Releases Budget Summary
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau released its budget summary yesterday. You can access it here. It is an invaluable source of information on the state budget.
Appeals Court Denies Act 10 Stay
The Boardman & Clark law firm recently posted a legal update regarding the appeal of the Act 10 decision. The SAA believes this is valuable information for SAA members. We regularly receive these updates and have chosen to distribute this information to the SAA membership with the permission of the Boardman & Clark law firm.
Van Hollen Won’t Ask Supreme Court for Act 10 Stay
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced this morning he will not ask the state Supreme Court to stay a Dane County judge’s ruling that found pieces of the guv’s collective bargaining changes were unconstitutional. An appeals court earlier this week refused to put the ruling on hold while the Department of Justice appeals the merits.
Van Hollen said this morning he sought the stay from the 4th District Court of Appeals out of fear municipalities would misconstrue Judge Juan Colas’ decision and believe it prevented them from following Act 10. While the court denied the request for a stay, Van Hollen also believed it also was “very clear that Judge Colas’s order does not have statewide application and does not apply to any non-parties.”
“Under the circumstances, we’re content to focus on the merits and we look forward to a decision upholding Act 10 in its entirety, consistent with the prior ruling of United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Judicial Circuit,” Van Hollen said.
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