January 17, 2025

Ed Advocates 2025: Unions ask Supreme Court to Hear Act 10 Lawsuit Appeal

Ed Advocates 2025: Unions ask Supreme Court to Hear Act 10 Lawsuit Appeal Featured Image

Big News: Unions ask Supreme Court to Hear Act 10 Appeal this Spring

Unions including WEAC, representing tens of thousands of Wisconsin public service workers, have filed a petition with the Wisconsin Supreme Court for prompt review of the case challenging the constitutionality of the state’s collective bargaining provisions. Our petition urges the Court to bypass the Court of Appeals and resolve the case this spring. Read More

The Abbotsford Education Association, and the Beaver Dam Education Association and its chief negotiator Matt Ziebarth, are among the plaintiffs in the suit. Betsy Ramsdale, a Beaver Dam teacher and union leader, said, “Our students can’t wait a minute longer for educators to have a voice in our schools. Educators’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions and everyone benefits when the professionals who teach the children have a say in school decisions.”

At the State Capitol

It’s early in the session, but bills are already circulating that could absolutely affect every aspect of a student’s learning and an educator’s workday. That’s why it’s important to stay connected to WEAC through our Ed Advocacy Updates. Sign up now.

Healthy School Meals for All

The Healthy School Meals for All Bill (LRB-1300/P1) is intended to ensure that every student in Wisconsin can have a nutritious breakfast and lunch regardless of their family finances. It would reestablish the policy that was in effect during the covid-19 pandemic that ended at the start of the 2022-23 school year. “Investment in healthy school meals pays back many times over,” WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen said. “It improves students’ educational outcomes and health, saves families time and money, removes stigma for low-income families, it is equitable, and it supports Wisconsin’s local farmers.” Note: This bill was introduced last session as SB 720/AB 754.

Circulating for co-sponsorship 

We’ll be listing all the bills we’re watching this session at www.weac.org/bills

  • Cursive Writing Requirement (LRB-1377). This proposal circulating for co-sponsorship requires cursive writing be incorporated into the model academic standards for English language arts. The bill also requires all school boards, independent charter schools, and private schools participating in a parental choice program to include cursive writing in its respective curriculum for the elementary grades. Specifically, each elementary school curriculum must include the objective that pupils be able to write legibly in cursive by the end of fifth grade. Note: This bill was also introduced last session as AB 937/SB 873.

State Budget News

Reading Funding Still Not Released

The chair of the Assembly Education Committee said this week that if the $50 million allocated to fund mandated reading changes in Wisconsin schools is not released by the Legislature by June 30, the money will go into the state surplus.

The funding allocated in the last state budget has been the source of political back-and-forth for nearly a year. The Republican-led Joint Finance Committee has questioned whether the Department of Public Instruction can be trusted to spend it appropriately. Classroom educators are bearing the brunt of this, as lawmakers changed the reading law with Act 20 in summer 2023 but funding for a portion of the large costs associated with the new law – curriculum and literacy coaches – hasn’t been released to districts.

Federal Advocacy Update

Wisconsin teacher Jesse Martinez, NEA Director & President of the La Crosse Ed Assn, serves on the NEA Legislative Committee and invites all WEAC Ed Advocates to join an upcoming hearing on our federal legislative program. You’ll learn about the NEA legislative program, see our guide for federal advocacy and find out  how to add your voice. Click the date that works for you to register now:

Election Update

The February 18 spring primary ballot is set, between State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly, Sauk Prairie Schools Superintendent Jeff Wright and education consultant Brittany Kinser. WEAC has not recommended in the primary, but we’ll be sending out information to help you make an informed decision in the coming weeks. One key difference in candidates comes in the area of privatization and vouchers: Underly and Wright, who met with WEAC, are firmly opposed to vouchers — they support the phasing out of the Wisconsin voucher program. Kinser, who did not accept an invitation to meet with WEAC, has ties to Rocketship Schools, which operate non-instrumentality charters in Milwaukee. These privately run charter schools are similar to vouchers, with funding from taxpayers without a publicly elected board. Her campaign staff includes Amy Loudenbeck, former Director of Policy for School Choice Wisconsin who served as a Republican State Representative.