Hearing Held on Bill for School Consolidation Incentives

The Assembly Education Committee has held a public hearing on a series of bills (AB 649) that would give incentives for school consolidations. WEAC registered against the bill, testifying that state lawmakers should be focused on fulfilling its constitutional duty to fund public education – not provide fewer opportunities.

“Schools and school districts are central to the social and economic vitality of Wisconsin communities,” WEAC’s testimony states. “The Wisconsin Education Association Council believes school districts should consolidate or reorganize only when it is in the best academic interests of students and contributes to great public schools. The educators who teach the children in rural schools, which are most impacted by this bill, believe state lawmakers should look for ways to strengthen public schools instead of creating methods to more easily close or shrink them.

Specifically, the bill would provide:

• $2.7 million in grants to districts that enter whole grade sharing arrangements
• $3 million in grants for provide additional state aid to consolidated districts if the new district’s maximum allowable levy rate is greater than the lowest levy rate of the consolidated districts
• $250,000 to reimburse school boards for costs incurred for feasibility studies for school district consolidation or a whole grade sharing.

Other related bills WEAC registered against were: We urge you to vote no on AB 644, AB 645, AB 646, AB 647, AB 648, and AB 649.

“Instead of creating mechanisms that may provide fewer opportunities for students, we urge the members of this committee to focus on fixing Wisconsin’s broken school funding system,” WEAC testified. “With general aids frozen and 71 percent of districts receiving less state aid this year, it’s clear the focus should be on a school funding system that maintains great schools in every community supports a vibrant society and a strong economy.”

 

Bills Advance to Full Assembly

The following bills have been advanced to the full Assembly, with Republican committee members voting in favor and Democrats voting against:

Requiring WIAA to Follow Open Records, Meetings (AB 51/ SB 16). Requires the private Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association to follow government open records and meetings laws. The bill would prohibit a school district from being a member of an interscholastic athletic association unless the association elects to be governed by the state’s public records and open meetings laws. The bill includes exceptions for individual referee or pupil records.

Foregoing Voucher Requirements (AB 460). Extends eligibility for vouchers based upon participation by a sibling or a dependent child of the pupil’s parent or guardian without an application process or proof of need.

Mandating Science Professional Development (AB 592). Mandates the DPI work with nonprofit organizations on professional development for science teachers in K-12 schools, to provide opportunities and the DPI could potentially supply equipment to teachers using the professional development opportunities. The DPI would be required to report on participation and equipment to the Joint Finance Committee, as the funding for this was part of the state budget.

Other items of note include:

More about Math Mandate (AB 615). The fiscal strain to the state and districts under a bill to issue three additional standardized tests in math for young learners every year and require personal math plans is becoming clearer. The bill lacks dedicated funding or reimbursements, so implementation would rely on existing budgets in a time when state lawmakers are freezing aid so schools can’t keep up with inflation, leaving 71 percent of districts with less funding than last year. Read the Story & Take Action

Here’s what you should know:

• The bill would require students in grades K-8 who don’t meet grade level according to standardized tests to be put on a personal math plan within 30 days. That plan would include explicit instruction, parental consultation, progress monitoring and tutoring until grade-level proficiency is met.
• There is no additional state funding for this mandate, so the DPI would face recurring costs to develop, update and maintain a tutoring provider database, public reporting systems and model achievement plan, along with providing professional development and technical assistance.
• Districts would incur continuous costs tied to three times more testing, data management, tutoring and plan development. Districts with under 51 percent of students testing below grade level would face even more expenditures as the entire school would be required to follow the unfunded mandate.

Civics Graduation Requirement. The DPI has alerted school districts that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)  will implement a new naturalization and citizenship test, expanding the number of questions from 100 to 128. Because Wisconsin law (Wis. Stat. 118.33(1m)(a)) ties the state civics graduation requirement to the federal test, districts must now choose 100 questions from the new 128-question pool. Students still must answer 65 correctly. These changes apply to any students tested on or after October 20, 2025. More resources are on the DPI website.

Cell Phone Ban. The governor has signed the ban on cell phone use in schools and it will be effective July 1, 2026. Here’s what you can expect:

• School boards will be required to approve a policy prohibiting student cell phone use during instructional time if they don’t already have one.
• Policies must permit use for emergencies, health needs, IEP accommodations or teacher-authorized instructional purposes.
• Districts determine how to manage and enforce policies.

Early Literacy Coaching. State law has established a new Early Literacy Coaching Program. The DPI encourages those impacted to see what’s new and what’s next on its website. Early learning educators are also encouraged to sign up for the DPI Early Literacy Newsletter.