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Capitol Update: Assembly Education Committee Meeting
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 4, 2026
The Assembly Committee on Education scheduled a hearing and executive session for Thursday, February 5 at 10:00 a.m. to consider four newly introduced bills. With two of the bills having only been released on February 3, the accelerated timeline has limited the opportunity for thorough review, yet the proposals would make extensive changes to existing law, district operations, and legal practices.
One proposal would undo the local decision-making that was only just established last year. 2025 Wisconsin Act 42 required school boards to adopt policies restricting student cell phone use during instructional time, while preserving local authority to determine appropriate exceptions and implementation. Assembly Bill 948 (AB 948) goes one step further and mandates a bell-to-bell ban. Extending the restriction to the entire school day and removing the local flexibility that the Legislature approved less than a year ago. Of course, this new restriction only applies to students in traditional public schools, not every school that receives tax dollars.
The hearing will also include two bills addressing confidentiality agreements and personnel records involving school districts and the Department of Public Instruction. Because these proposals were introduced just yesterday, only an initial review has begun. However, early concerns suggest that both bills could raise significant legal and operational issues, including potential conflicts with established due-process protections and existing public records law. These proposals are in response to the increased focus on license investigations but seem to raise more questions than provide solutions.
- Assembly Bill 1003 (AB 1003) would apply similar restrictions to DPI and create new requirements for educators who voluntarily surrender a license during an investigation. The bill also establishes new record-retention rules and response timelines for open records requests related to investigations.
- Assembly Bill 1004 (AB 1004) would prohibit education employers from entering into confidentiality agreements related to substantiated findings of immoral conduct and would grant civil immunity to employers that disclose such information to a prospective employer.
Given the speed with which these measures have moved from introduction to hearing, stakeholders have had limited opportunity to assess their full scope. Preliminary review indicates potential legal consequences, possible deviations from guidance issued by the Wisconsin Attorney General on open records, and broader implications for personnel practices and due process. Further careful analysis is ongoing.
The final bill the committee will be hearing is Assembly Bill 990 (AB 990), which provides flexibility for school boards to award a ½ credit of financial literacy to students who work in a school-based financial institution, like a credit union.
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