Reminder Budget Hearings
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 28, 2025
Reminder: The first two public hearings on the Governor’s 2025-27 state budget proposal begin next week. If you plan to testify, please reach out in advance, if possible.
All hearings run from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It’s best to arrive early, as lines often form before the doors open. Speakers are allotted two minutes to speak, while groups of three or more receive five minutes. Each person must submit a separate hearing slip. If testifying as a group, inform the Sergeant at Arms staff so they can staple your slips together when you submit them.
April 2, 2025
Kaukauna High School Auxiliary Gymnasium (Door AA4)
1701 County Road CE
Kaukauna, WI 54130
April 4, 2025
Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center (Parking at Gate 4)
640 South 84th Street
West Allis, WI 53214
Two more public hearings are scheduled for April 28 in Hayward and April 29 in Wausau. The SAA website features updated documents outlining SAA’s budget priorities. Advocacy efforts should center on the “three big buckets,” with a strong focus on Special Education Aid. This year, the reimbursement rate is estimated at 29.16%. Be sure to share your district’s story, including student demographics, available opportunities, and areas of growth.
An additional resource is now available from Anne Chapman, Research Director at WASBO. The State of School Finance resource for budget hearings is available on the WSAA website to aid in drafting your testimony. If you have questions or need support developing testimony, please reach out: dee.pettack@wsaa.org
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State Budget Public Hearings Start Next Week
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 25, 2025
Reminder: The first two public hearings on the Governor’s 2025-27 state budget proposal begin next week. If you plan to testify, please reach out in advance.
All hearings run from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It’s best to arrive early, as lines often form before the doors open. Speakers are allotted two minutes to speak, while groups of three or more receive five minutes. Each person must submit a separate hearing slip. If testifying as a group, inform the Sergeant at Arms staff so they can staple your slips together when you submit them.
April 2, 2025
Kaukauna High School Auxiliary Gymnasium (Door AA4)
1701 County Road CE
Kaukauna, WI 54130
April 4, 2025
Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center (Parking at Gate 4)
640 South 84th Street
West Allis, WI 53214
Two more public hearings are scheduled for April 28 in Hayward and April 29 in Wausau. The SAA website features updated documents outlining SAA’s budget priorities. Advocacy efforts should center on the “three big buckets,” with a strong focus on Special Education Aid. This year, the reimbursement rate is estimated at 29.16%. Be sure to share your district’s story, including student demographics, available opportunities, and areas of growth.
If you have questions or need support developing testimony, please reach out: dee.pettack@wsaa.org
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Statewide Joint Finance Budget Hearings Announced
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 18, 2025
The Joint Finance Committee has announced the dates for the statewide budget hearings. Additional details and resources will be shared soon.
Here are the scheduled hearings and locations:
- Wednesday, April 2 – Kaukauna High School
- Friday, April 4 – State Fair Park, West Allis
- Monday, April 28 – Hayward High School
- Tuesday, April 29 – Northcentral Technical College, Wausau
Please reserve time on your calendar to attend and provide testimony at a public hearing.
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Legislative Update
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 7, 2025
Assembly Committee on Education, 10:00 am, Thu, Mar 6
- AB 101 School District Reports (Special Committee on State-Tribal Relations) Requiring school districts to report information related to American Indian children attending school in the school district.
- AB 103 School Policies (Dittrich, Barbara) School board policies related to changing a pupil’s legal name and pronouns. (Co-Sponsorship period ended 3/3)
- AB 100 Athletic Sports (Dittrich, Barbara) Designating athletic sports and teams operated or sponsored by public schools or private schools participating in a parental choice program based on the sex of the participants. (Co-Sponsorship period ended 2/28)
Public Hearing Summary:
At a packed Assembly Education Committee hearing on AB 103, requiring parental permission for school staff to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns, Democrats argued it could let school boards block legal name changes.
Wisconsin law allows those 14 and older to change their name without parental consent. Under AB 103, principals would set students’ names and pronouns at school, and changes would require school board review, parental input, and legal documentation.
Bill author Rep. Barbara Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, framed the bill as a “parents’ rights” measure, comparing name changes to other parental consent requirements in schools. Others who testified warned the bill could let districts reject legal name changes and create conflicts between parents.
After hours of testimony, the committee then debated AB 100, Dittrich’s proposal to ban transgender women and girls from competing in sports matching their gender identity. AB 103 and AB 100 face an uncertain fate in the Senate and ultimately, Governor Evers has already vowed to veto them if they reach his desk.
AB 101 expands the requirements of the annual school district reports, requiring each school district to report the numbers, ages, and tribal affiliation of American Indian children attending the school district beginning with the 2026-2027 school year. This bill has been recommended for several sessions by the standing Legislative Council Study Committee on Tribal Relations. It previously passed the Assembly but has failed to gain traction in the Senate.
Joint Legislative Audit Committee, 1:30 pm, Tue, Mar 4
Public Hearing & Executive Session
- Proposed Audit: School and School District Accountability Reports, Department of Public Instruction
Public Hearing Summary
The co-chairs of the Joint Audit Committee are moving forward with an effort to review how the Department of Public Instruction created new benchmarks for standardized tests. The audit was approved on party lines 6-4. (Media Coverage: Co-chairs Release, JS Online)
State Budget
A comparative summary document is available on the DPI’s Policy, Budget and Research Team webpage: 2025 Biennial Budget
Stay tuned for an announcement on statewide budget hearings which will likely begin in early April. It is anticipated there will be four hearings across the state.
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Capitol Update: Joint Audit Committee Announces Proposed Audit of Assessment Benchmarks
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 26, 2025
From Wispolitics:
The co-chairs of the Joint Audit Committee say they are moving forward with an effort to review how the Department of Public Instruction created new benchmarks for standardized tests.
It’s one of two audits Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, and Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Caledonia, said they will pursue at a Tuesday public hearing and executive session. They also want the Legislative Audit Bureau to review how grant programs are overseen at departments within the executive branch.
In announcing the effort, the co-chairs knocked state Superintendent Jill Underly, who revamped the testing benchmarks and is up for reelection April 1.
“Superintendent Underly’s unilateral standard changing to cover up DPI’s failing is absolutely unacceptable, and this audit will help us uncover exactly how and why these reporting standards were changed to stop future manipulation,” the lawmakers said.
Deputy State Superintendent Tom McCarthy knocked the move, saying the “newly announced ‘audit’ is not a desire to truly learn, but to lay a political hit on a state elected official in the middle of a campaign.”
McCarthy said the agency learned of the audit via the press release the co-chairs released late yesterday afternoon rather than directly from the legislators. He also again defended the changes to testing benchmarks, saying the effort was vetted by nearly 100 education experts.
“The Wisconsin Legislature’s request for an audit into DPI’s adjustment of cut scores is nothing more than a political stunt, based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how assessments and accountability works,” McCarthy said.
A notice for the public hearing and executive session can be found here. Information related to the proposed audits is available on the Legislative Audit Bureau’s website at www.legis.wisconsin.gov/lab. The hearing can be viewed through WisconsinEye coverage available at https://wiseye.org/.
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