K-12 Education
Request#1 – School Year Start Date
Please allow
for local autonomy concerning the start of the school year. The legislature has discussed allowing more local
autonomy. HON K-12 would like the ability to start
school a few days before Labor Day. We envision a state where the legislature
allows each school district to make that determination. We understand tourism
generates tremendous revenue, which is very important to HON communities.
Allowing school districts this change would not impact tourism in
northern Wisconsin. What is good for Wisconsin Dells is not necessarily good
for northwest Wisconsin. At a minimum, we would like to see outreach
done to determine if the Labor Day cutoff is still truly an issue and to whom.
Request #2 - ASSEMBLY BILL 110—115.28 (56) AND 118.015 (4) d of the
statutes
This bill relates to the
development of a guidebook for parents, teachers, and providers related to
dyslexia and related conditions. Only 7 states have NO dyslexia laws, and
Wisconsin is one of them.
If this bill has not passed by
the time you see/hear this, we ask for support for this bill, and that DPI be
required to develop a dyslexia guidebook.
Request #3 - School Funding/School Funding Formula
Please support at least a $200 per pupil
revenue limit increase in each year of the biennium. With the cost of inflation
and the increasing challenges facing our school districts, it is critical that
school districts in our state are able to at least maintain programming.
Especially in northwest Wisconsin, where competition for employing quality
educators is fierce with our neighbors across the border, additional funding is
needed. Our schools have made some terrific gains and improvements in recent
years, but additional funding is critical for allowing us to continue moving
our systems forward.
Additionally, school funding must be spendable.
While the complexity of the school funding formula has made it difficult for
some constituents to fully understand Wisconsin school finance, people are
catching on to the clever tactics of using the public’s support for funding
schools to provide property tax reductions. School levy credits and increases
to general aid without a corresponding revenue limit increase do not provide
any additional funding to schools for supporting the educational needs of
children. We appreciate the desire to hold the line on taxes, but the funds
that the public thinks are intended for schools should be provided to schools
in a spendable manner. Wisconsin taxpayers deserve the truth, and schools need
sustainable funding from the state that can be spent on providing services for
our children. While some recent efforts have been made to provide funding
through new state grants, the competitive grant process often promotes more red
tape, greater inequity between school districts, and a less efficient use of
our state’s limited resources. New funding should be made available through the
revenue limit formula and/or per pupil aid adjustments, so Wisconsin taxpayers
can realize the greatest return on our state’s investment.
The Blue Ribbon Committee that studied the Formula did not
publish the recommendations or findings.
Key questions we have are:
1.
What has changed in Northern
Wisconsin regarding the funding formula?
2.
Will there be further study?
Request #4 - Mental Health Supports
School districts across our great state need a
substantial increase in funding for school age mental health services. Society
is not prepared for the mental health challenges facing our children. Our
communities are expecting all school districts to play an increasingly involved
role in helping to address these complicated issues. In the Barron and Rice
Lake school districts, trauma sensitive teams have been created to give
universal supports to our students and families in order to better serve
student mental health needs. The current model for trying to provide these
services in most Wisconsin communities is not sustainable. A significant
investment by our state in the schools and county agencies expected to provide
these services is sorely needed.
Request #5 - Special Education Funding
Our school districts need a substantial
increase in funding for special education. Due to inadequate funding for very
important special education services, the annual general fund transfer for
special education services in the Barron Area School District is approaching $2
million. The Rice Lake Area School District transfers $2.75 million annually
from the general education fund to cover unfunded special education costs. We
are proud of the great and necessary services that our school districts
provide, but it is frustrating to think about how funding has not kept up with
the needs of our children, and the expensive services mandated by law.
Transferring millions of dollars from general operations each year to provide
required special education services is not a viable and sustainable solution.