What you may have missed in local education during February

By Julia Smucker, Community Policy & Advocacy Fellow

Each month, we will provide updates on activity of public officials impacting Milwaukee education during the previous month.

Milwaukee Board of School Directors

The Milwaukee Board of School Directors meets monthly to make decisions that affect the school district. (Click here to learn more about the Milwaukee school board and its committees).

In addition to regular monthly matters, here were some of the topics discussed at this month’s board meeting:

• Proposal by Director Carr to look into the possibility of a four-day school week. Students would still attend school for five days, but Fridays would be devoted to providing supports for students (such as mental health, social emotional learning, and extended learning opportunities) and time for teacher professional development
• The teacher union proposed a policy to allow the Superintendent to temporarily assign or nominate individuals to fill principal vacancies for no more than one semester (or up to a full school year if a suitable applicant can’t be found)
• An update on how the third round of Covid-19 relief funding (ESSER III) is being used in schools

Opportunities for Engagement

Wondering how you can have a say in local policies affecting your child? Here are some upcoming opportunities for parent and community engagement:

• 4/5/22: Vote in local elections. The next upcoming election is April 5. Find out more information here.
• 4/7/22 and 5/5/22: District Advisory Council (DAC) virtual meeting for families and parents (first Thursday of the month from 6–7:30 p.m.)
• 5/4/22: Virtual Community Conversation from 6–7 p.m. about improving school climate and addressing concerns about school discipline. Register here. Even if you cannot attend, you can share your written comments here.

Charter School Review Committee

The Charter School Review Committee is part of the City of Milwaukee’s Common Council. The job of this committee is to recommend new charter school applications to the Common Council and to oversee the contract review process for existing charter schools.

In February, the committee met to discuss the finances and scorecard for each charter school.

Department of Public Instruction (DPI)

The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is responsible for overseeing public education in Wisconsin. DPI has regular communications with district administrators which you can find here. Below are some of the highlights from February:

• DPI announced a total of $6 million is available annually for mental health aids for schools; eligible district, private, and independent charter schools can apply through March 12.
• The Get Kids Ahead Initiative connects public and independent charter schools with funding for mental health services from the state of Wisconsin. $966,436 will go to Milwaukee Public Schools (see full list of funding for districts here).

Wisconsin Legislature

The Wisconsin Legislature is responsible for state law-making. Bills must be passed in both the Assembly and Senate and then signed by the Governor to become law.

The legislature was very active during the month of February and considered many bills that concern K-12 education.

The following high-profile bills passed the Assembly in February and moved onto the Senate:

• AB 966 — (“MPS Breakup Bill”) Under this bill, MPS would dissolve by July 2024 and be replaced by 4–8 smaller districts (Read more in this opinion piece from City Forward Collective)
• AB 970 — (“Universal Vouchers”) This bill would eliminate income limits and participation caps for all parental choice private school voucher programs, expanding vouchers for free private school tuition to all state residents
• AB 963 — (“Parents Bill of Rights”) would establish a ‘Parents Bill of Rights,’ which spells out rights already guaranteed to parents under state and federal law
• AB 965 — (“Report Card Fix”) requirement for DPI to use the same system and measures on the 2020–21 school report cards as the 2018–19 school year (Read more in this opinion piece from City Forward Collective)

The following bills also passed the Assembly and moved onto the Senate:

• AB 82 — requiring schools to post information about sudden cardiac arrest during youth athletic activities
• AB 854 — allowing homeowners whose property is adjacent to a school district boundary the ability to transfer their property from one district to another with approval only from one of the districts in question, a process that currently requires approval from both districts
• AB 903 — requiring school boards to publish an annual report on how they serve gifted and talented students
• AB 967 — expanding an existing policy granting automatic replication for high-performing charter schools to those authorized by school boards
• AB 968 — creating a statewide charter school authorization board
• AB 969 — requiring schools to employ a school resource officer if a certain number of public safety incidents occur on school grounds during a school semester (with American Rescue Plan federal funding)
• AB 971 — requiring third-graders to pass a reading proficiency test to advance to fourth grade, increasing reading assessments in early elementary school, and ending the Achievement Gap Reduction program
• AB 975 — allowing college juniors enrolled in a teacher preparation program to get credentialed as substitute teachers
• AB 995 — allows for parental opt-out from face covering requirements in school buildings and grounds and requires school boards to offer pupils full-time, in-person options

The following bills were passed by both the Assembly and the Senate in the month of February and are going to Gov. Evers for review:

• AB 420: raising per-pupil funding for independent charter schools authorized by tribal colleges to match per-pupil funding for all other independent charter schools
• SB 585: requiring public and private Choice program high schools to report on certain crimes that occur on school property, school transportation, or at school-sanctioned events
• SB 589: updating state law to allow the continued requirement of the Foundations of Reading Test (FORT) for teacher licensure
• SB 597: allowing private Choice program schools the same flexibility as public schools when it comes to early admission policies for kindergarten and first graders
• SB 608: allowing students to transfer between various parental Choice programs
• SB 695: eliminating the cap on the number of charter schools that may be authorized by tribal colleges