Action on Legislation Complete
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 18, 2022
From The Wheeler Report . . .
The Governor’s action on Friday completed action on all remaining bills which were passed by both houses this session.
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Kooyenga Running for State Senate; Legislators Not Seeking Reelection
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 18, 2022
From The Wheeler Report . . .
With the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision on redistricting maps on Friday, Sen. Dale Kooyenga will seek reelection.
CURRENT LISTING OF LEGISLATORS NOT SEEKING REELECTION (29)
Congress (1)
- District 3 – Ron Kind – Not Seeking Re-election
Senate: (6)
- District 15 – Janis Ringhand – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 25 – Janet Bewley – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 27 – Jon Erpenbach – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 23 – Kathy Bernier – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 19 – Roger Roth – Running for Lt. Governor
- District 29 – Jerry Petrowski – Not Seeking Reelection
Assembly: (22)
- District 5 – Jim Steineke – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 6 – Gary Tauchen – Not Seeking Re-election
- District 10 – David Bowen – Running for Lt. Governor
- District 13 – Sara Rodriguez – Running for Lt. Governor
- District 15 – Joe Sanfelippo – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 27 – Tyler Vorpagel – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 31 – Amy Loudenbeck – Running for Sec. of State
- District 33 – Cody Horlacher – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 45 – Mark Spreitzer – Running for Senate
- District 46 – Gary Hebl – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 52 – Jeremy Thiesfeldt – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 54 – Gordon Hintz – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 55 – Rachel Cabral-Guevara – Running for Senate
- District 59 – Tim Ramthun – Running for Governor
- District 61 – Sam Kerkman – Won Kenosha County Executive Race
- District 68 – Jesse James – Running for Senate
- District 73 – Nick Milroy – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 74 – Beth Meyers – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 79 – Dianne Hesselbein – Running for Senate
- District 80 – Sondy Pope – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 82 – Ken Skowronski – Not Seeking Reelection
- District 84 – Mike Kuglitsch – Not Seeking Reelection
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Legislative Council Study Committees Approved
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 18, 2022
The Joint Legislative Committee has approved the interim study committees listed below. The two highlighted committees are of interest to the SAA. We have already contacted the staffs of the respective chairs for these two committees regarding the committee scope of work, recommendations for public members, and how the SAA can be a resource for these committees.
The SAA is definitely interested in recommending 2-3 SAA members to be public members on the Shared School District Services committee. The State-Tribal Relations committee is unique in that it is essentially a “standing” study committee with a fixed membership. This committee will likely again seek additional Act 31 instructional requirements and we would like to be involved in that discussion. We will forward additional information on these committees as it becomes available.
- Study Committee on the Commercial Building Permitting Process (Senator Duey Stroebel, Chair, and Representative Rob Summerfield, Vice Chair)
- Study Committee on Increasing Offender Employment Opportunities (Senator Mary Felzkowski, Chair, and Representative Michael Schraa, Vice Chair)
- Study Committee on Occupational Licenses (Senator Rob Stafsholt, Chair, and Representative Shae Sortwell, Vice Chair)
- Study Committee on Shared School District Services (Representative Robert Brooks, Chair, and Senator Dan Feyen, Vice Chair)
- Study Committee on Uniform Death Reporting Standards (Senator Joan Ballweg, Chair, and Representative Jesse James, Vice Chair)
- Study Committee on Wisconsin National Guard Sexual Misconduct Procedures (Representative Tony Kurtz, Chair, and Senator Eric Wimberger, Vice Chair)
- Special Committee on State-Tribal Relations appointment of Representative Jeffrey Mursau, Chair, and Senator Janet Bewley, Vice Chair
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Evers Vetoes Education Bills
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 18, 2022
Last Friday, Governor Evers vetoed the following education bills. The SAA opposed all of the bills listed.
From The Wheeler Report . . .
AB-963 Parent Rights (Gundrum, Rick) Rights reserved to a parent or guardian of a child. Vetoed (Link)
AB-966 Reorganizing Milwaukee Schools (Wittke, Robert) Reorganizing the Milwaukee Public School System into four to eight school districts and creating a Milwaukee Public Schools Redistricting and Implementation Commission. Vetoed (Link)
AB-970 Choice Income Limits (Wittke, Robert) Eliminating income limits for parental choice programs; eliminating pupil participation limits for the statewide parental choice program; private school tuition charged to a pupil participating in a parental choice program; and creating an education expense reimbursement program for the 2022-23 school year and the summer of 2023. Vetoed (Link)
SB-585 Crime Reporting (Jagler, John) Reporting certain crimes and other incidents that occur on school property or school transportation and granting rule-making authority Vetoed (Link)
SB-695 Charter Schools (Kooyenga, Dale) The number of independent charter schools authorized by the College of Menominee Nation or the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College. Vetoed (Link)
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State Supreme Court Approves GOP Maps
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 18, 2022
ICYMI – The Court announced this ruling last Friday, April 15th.
From WisPolitics.com …
The Wisconsin Supreme Court in a 4-3 ruling today implemented the maps GOP lawmakers had proposed, finding they are race neutral and stick to the least-change approach the justices had previously set as a foundation for the lines.
The maps — barring a further legal challenge — could put Republicans on the verge of two-thirds majorities in both houses of the Legislature after the upcoming elections.
Republicans currently have a 61-38 majority in the Assembly and 21-12 in the Senate.
Under the current maps in place since 2011, Joe Biden won 37 Assembly districts as he took the statewide contest by more than 20,000 votes. If the GOP map had been in place two years ago, he would’ve won 35.
Both the existing Senate map and the one Republicans proposed have 11 Biden districts.
Justice Brian Hagedorn joined fellow conservatives in the majority after originally backing maps Gov. Tony Evers drew. But the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision, finding the Wisconsin justices had failed to do the required analysis needed to justify the seven majority Black Assembly districts that Evers had proposed, up from the current six.
Hagedorn wrote in a concurring opinion that he understood the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling as directing the state justices to start with a race neutral map, writing he sees “the Legislature’s proposal constituting our only feasible option.”
The GOP map drops the number of majority Black Assembly districts to five. That could draw a legal challenge, though the majority in today’s ruling argued the lines complied with the Voting Rights Act.
Read the decision here.
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