My notes on state gov't plans to close 5% of WI public schools every year A.K.A. Hearing on #AB379 #SB286 : blue cheddar

My notes on state gov't plans to close 5% of WI public schools every year A.K.A. Hearing on #AB379 #SB286 : blue cheddar:

My notes on state gov’t plans to close 5% of WI public schools every year A.K.A. Hearing on #AB379 #SB286

by blue cheddar • February 13, 2014

WI Senate Education Committee meets today 10AM to take up the “accountability bill”. Then at 10:05AM it will conduct public hearings.
Room 411 South, Wisconsin Capitol Building

I went to the latter half of AB379 – - what’s being called the “accountabiity bill” in the Assembly Education committee* – a hearing for a bill which, in theory, imposes requirements for all private school pupils to be tested in a manner consistent with public schools and makes the results public in some fashion.

In reality this bill is designed to close 5% of Wisconsin’s public schools every year and send their students to charter schools at taxpayer expense. To help get this accomplished in a stealthy manner (well, that’s how I look at it), legislators have put it through at least 6 drafts.**

A surprisingly low number of people came to the hearing on Wednesday. It could have been due to the fact that there were 12 Assembly hearings and some number of Senate hearings – -what one friend called a “legislative dump” and what another speculated was timed to distract us all from developments in the John Doe II investigation.

Before I go into my notes from the hearing, I should note some info that came to me through an AP story:

* Nobody supported this latest version of the legislation on the senate side at a public hearing on Wednesday.

* It may not have enough votes to clear the Assembly Education committee. (A sentiment shared by a legislator I spoke with after the hearing.)

And according to AP “a Senate committee” will take up a more narrowly tailored version of this bill on Thursday in the executive session at 10AM in Rm. 411S.

AP: “Support does seem to be coalescing around a much narrower proposal, up for a Senate committee vote on Thursday, that has no sanctions for schools. It would also not assign letter grades to schools and instead would focus on ensuring that data from private schools in the voucher program is included on the current report cards for public schools.”

Wisconsin Soapbox has followed this initiative for months and Andy “gets” all the educational jargon – oh – and he’s a teacher. So he has a fuller report on this than I do. Rebecca Kemble of The Progressive should be providing a report any moment now as well.

You may also want to dig into the testimony provided by Dan Rossmiller of Wisconsin Association of School Boards. [A PDF document]

For what it’s worth, here are a few of my own notes and observations from the hearing: