Notes From Joint Finance Committee Hearing
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 4, 2017
Yesterday, the Joint Finance Committee held it’s first of six public hearings on the 2017-19 state budget bill in Platteville. The SAA was well-represented with the following school superintendents providing testimony: Rick Waski (Adams-Friendship), Connie Valenza (Platteville), Jamie Nutter (Fennimore), Rob Wagner (Lancaster), Ron Saari (Potosi). Many thanks to these SAA members for their leadership.
Connie Valenza Testimony 040317
For those of you planning to testify at one of the remaining 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 1:00 p.m. get there by 7:30 a.m.
- You will only have 2 minutes to testify. There will likely be no questions from legislators.
- Bring 1 hard copy of your testimony with your full contact information on it for the committee members. (This is a change from previous years when I suggested 20 hard copies. JFC staff has changed their process.)
- Use the information in the SAA’s recent Budget 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.
Here are the upcoming hearing locations and times:
- 10 am – 6 pm: Wednesday, April 5, State Fair Park – Exposition Center, West Allis
- 10 am – 5 pm: Friday, April 7, Berlin High School Auditorium, Berlin.
- 10 am – 6 pm: Tuesday, April 18, Spooner High School Auditorium, Spooner.
- 10 am – 5 pm: Wednesday, April 19, Ellsworth High School Gymnasium, Ellsworth
- 10 am – 5 pm: Friday, April 21, Marinette High School Auditorium, Marinette
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Walker Urges JFC to Support His K-12 Funding Plan
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 4, 2017
Gov. Scott Walker is urging his Republican colleagues in the state Legislature to use his funding plan for K-12 schools, and not consider a zero-increase proposal being floated by some critics.
Check out the coverage by Wisconsin Public Radio here.
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Walker Open to Tweaking Act 10 Compliance Provision
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 4, 2017
From WisPolitics.com . . .
Walker, making a stop at Waukesha South High School to tout his education plan, said working off a base budget for schools could mean they’d see substantially less than he’s proposed.
Walker wants to give districts an additional $200 per-pupil in the first year of the budget and another $204 in the second.
“My argument would be, we need, if anything, to build off of the foundation we put in this budget,” Walker told reporters following a tour of an engineering lab at the school.
He said with his Act 10 reforms school districts have been empowered to put more money in the classroom and his proposed K-12 spending increases “will overwhelmingly go to student success.”
Walker said it’s likely if his K-12 budget is approved, the growing number of school referendums for continuing operations will decrease.
“If this budget’s approved as we proposed, that number probably goes down dramatically,” Walker said.
Walker said he was open to tweaking his proposed requirement that districts be Act 10 compliant in order to receive the additional per-pupil aid.
“Our original intention was just to say, we’re going to put more money into our schools, let’s make sure they’re actually using the reforms that we’ve given our school districts over the years,” Walker said.
Walker said he want to ensure that schools put the overwhelming amount of the new money into the classroom, rather than into overhead.
On the issue of tweaking the Act 10 compliance provision, see also the news story from Molly Beck of the Wisconsin State Journal last Saturday.
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Public School Advocates Dominate JFC Hearing
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 4, 2017
Public school advocates dominated testimony Monday during the first of six public hearings on Gov. Scott Walker’s $76 billion biennial budget.
In calling for more funding for the state’s public schools, the advocates echoed Walker, who separately Monday called on increasingly skeptical lawmakers to back his roughly $650 million increase for K-12 education in their own writing of a spending plan for the two years starting July 1.
See the Wisconsin State Journal Coverage here.
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Evers: Funding Tied to Act 10 Compliance Could Unfairly Affect Districts
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | March 31, 2017
State Superintendent Tony Evers said Thursday he is concerned a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker to tie more than half a billion dollars in new school funding to how much school districts’ staff are paying toward their health care costs could be misapplied to districts that have cut costs.
See the news story from Molly Beck of the Wisconsin State Journal.
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