So this is how Republicans will attempt to dismantle Wisconsin’s public education system.
Poorly performing public schools would not be forced to become charter schools, under a bill by Senate Republicans that would create a new state panel to work with school boards on turn-around plans.
The new bill outlines less stringent steps to improve chronically low-performing schools compared to an Assembly Republican proposalthat calls forconverting failing public schools to independent charter schools if they don’t improve after several years.
Both bills aim to ensure that all K-12 schools receiving taxpayer money in Wisconsin are teaching their students effectively. But the details of how to do that have become mired in politics — even within the Republican Party — as well as competing ideas about how to define and improve a “failing” institution.
Key GOP senators, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, Luther Olsen of Ripon and Paul Farrow of Pewaukee jointly released their version of the accountability bill Tuesday after meeting with other members of their party.
Other GOP senators have also signaled they would support the bill — something that didn’t happen last legislative session.
“The goal of this bill is to improve education in the state of Wisconsin,” said Olsen, a former public school board president. “It’s not to punish anyone. It’s not to take anyone’s power away.”
The bill, symbolically made the first of this new session, would create a state board to oversee improvement plans for traditional public and public charter schools that earn the lowest-rating on school report cards for three consecutive years. It would allow that board, with approval of state schools superintendent Tony Evers, to direct a local school board to implement other interventions, such as a new instructional design, personnel changes or professional development programs for staff.
This attempt to replace or infringe upon the Public School system and its elected leadership is coming very close to a violation of the State Constitution if not already a fact as I see it. Earlier this week I called the office of the State Superintendent to express my support for him and his staff, to applaud their educational agenda, efforts, successes., and to express my concern at a “foreign” invasion of the DPS by the uneducated, unqualified, and unauthorized..
It’s about time for some legal action to curb Walker and his goose-stepping GOP legislator’s invasion into our public schools and/or its privatization.
In fact, testimony at today’s hearing indicates the proposed Academic Review Board is likely unconstitutional. But if the GOPs want to change the state’s constitution and have the people vote on it, go right ahead. It’ll be the first time the people have ever had a chance to actually hear a GOP candidate run on supporting these education sell-offs and vouchers (notice that the voucher lobby ran ads on everything BUT voucher expansion? Funny how that works).
There was so much at stake in the November election and it’s just a shame so many stayed home. So now this…
An interesting post regarding the yearly testing of students from Diane Ravitch’s blog: http://dianeravitch.net/2015/01/14/doug-garnett-the-absurdity-of-testing-every-child-every-year/
A Texas School Board member and engineer by profession told Ms. Ravitch that “If we tested every product, we would spend most of our time testing the product, and we wouldn’t have time left to manufacture or to improve the product.”