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SAA Position on JFC K-12 Education Budget

By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 29, 2015

I am writing to follow up on the Joint Finance Committee’s (JFC) adoption of their K-12 education package, to provide you all with some factual information about that package and to clearly articulate the SAA’s unwavering position on the budget.

First, let me update you on the budget process.  JFC is nearing completion of their work on the budget.  Leadership had hoped to wrap up their work today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday), but they acknowledged earlier today that they will come back early next week to finish up.  The SAA continues to monitor the JFC deliberations.  We posted earlier that a charter school expansion provision has found its way into the budget in the UW System motion.  Of course, other “surprises” could show up in the final “wrap-up” motion next week.

Once JFC completes its work, the two houses of the legislature will likely take up the budget bill at the end of the week of June 8th at the earliest. Once it has passed both houses in identical language, it moves on to the Governor’s desk for partial vetoes and signature.

We are providing for you summary information as well as talking points on the major issues in the JFC education package here.

Please use this information in your communications to your legislators, staff, parents, community leaders and news media.  For your convenience we have provided the links to the Senate Directory, Assembly Directory as well as Who Are My Legislators.

The SAA position on the JFC education package was made quite clear in our news release issued May 20th.  But, we wanted to make it crystal clear that our position on the budget is unwavering.

Here is the SAA Position:

  1. The Joint Finance Committee’s (JFC) education budget underfunds Wisconsin public schools, forcing school districts to reduce educational opportunities for the children they serve.  We need an inflationary increase in revenues to meet the needs of students.
  2. We oppose the private school voucher expansion proposals in the budget.  Voucher expansion siphons resources away from public school children.  The current under-funding of our public schools illustrates we simply can’t afford two systems of education in Wisconsin.
  3. We oppose the special needs voucher proposal in the budget.  This proposal threatens both the students with disabilities who would use the vouchers to attend private schools and the students who remain in public schools.
  4. We oppose the independent charter school expansion proposals in the budget.  Charter school expansion will siphon additional resources away from public school children.
  5. We oppose dumping education policy provisions into the budget without a public hearing or adequate public scrutiny.  Provisions related to teacher licensure, a required civics exam, contract renewal notices, and mandating private or home school student participation in public school activities/extracurricular activities have no place in the budget bill.

I want to emphasize that it is not too late to make a difference in this budget process.  The SAA encourages members to use this information in communicating your deep concerns about the budget with your legislators.  Just as important, use it to empower your staff, parents and community.

Thank you so much for listening.  We will keep the membership informed of any further late breaking developments on the budget.

Topics: Legislative Action, SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »

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