Senate Passes Budget by One Vote/ More on Vouchers

The State Senate passed the budget by just one vote last evening.  In addition, there seems to be some concern over language inserted into the budget regarding the newly expanded voucher program.  Specifically, there is a provision that potentially renders the cap on voucher students state-wide meaningless. Click the link for coverage from the Journal Sentinel:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/senate-digs-in-for-long-debate-razor-thin-vote-on-budget-b9938014z1-212326961.html

Assembly Drops Additional Voucher Expansion

The State Assembly Republicans have dropped the "technical" amendment regarding further voucher expansion prior to passing the budget.  Journal Sentinel coverage here:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/212146211.html

State Superintendent Evers' Response

Following is a link to a press release by State Superintendent Tony Evers regarding the "technical" amendment mentioned in my previous post:

http://news.dpi.wi.gov/files/eis/pdf/dpinr2013_78.pdf

Is a Deal a Deal?

Apparently not in the Wisconsin State Capitol.  The assembly is planning to change the budget with a "technical amendment.  See the draft memo form the Legislative Fiscal Bureau here: Memo

There is also some media coverage on the topic available here:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/states-welfare-to-work-program-might-leave-budget-hole-b9936391z1-211981971.html

State Education Budget Update

Following is a link to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's (LFB) comparative summary of the Governor's proposed budget versus that of the Joint Finance Committee.  We are still waiting on analysis from the DPI.

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/publications/budget/2013-15%20Budget/Documents/Joint%20Finance/dpi.pdf 

Speak Up Survey Results 2012

Wisconsin 2012 Speak Up Results

·         WISCONSIN ONLY RESULTS placed a large XLS spread sheet in DPI Google Shared Drive -- http://sy.pe/8AGr -- It will work best if you download the 175 page document as it breaks down the results by grade band & role (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, parents, etc…) using the tabbed XLS worksheets!

·         National Results Summary: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU12EducatorsandParents.pdf orhttp://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/SU12_DigitalConversion_EducatorsReport.html

o    Student Top 10 - http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU2012_StudentTop10.pdf 

o    Admin Top 10 - http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU2012_AdministratorTop10.pdf 

·         WISCONSIN Results (LONG URL): https://docs.google.com/a/dpi.wi.gov/file/d/0B6vqnHqWoU2VX3N3Q2ZXR1RzMDQ/edit?usp=sharing

Key Findings from this year’s NATIONAL report include:

·         Today’s teachers, administrators and parents are increasingly mobile-using, texting, tweeting social media devotees whose personal and professional lives are dependent upon Internet connectivity and online collaborative learning environments. A majority of teachers (52 percent), parents (57 percent) and district administrators (52 percent) are now regularly updating a social networking site, and many are using a personal mobile device such as a smartphone to do that.

• Four out of ten district leaders (41 percent) in 2012 pinpointed achievement measured by test scores and closing the achievement gap as top concern points for their district, a growth of 21 percent over 2011 responses.
• Teachers are increasingly interested in leveraging technology for activities with students and many are modifying their instructional plans to incorporate more digital experiences. Nearly a majority of classroom teachers (45 percent) noted in 2012 that they were creating more interactive lessons because of having access to technology, an increase of 25 percent in just the past two years.
• A continuation of the multi-year stagnation in funding for new education technology investments is finally forcing school and district leaders to scrap the plans they have on hold, and to test new ways to leverage technology to increase revenue or decrease costs even though some of these approaches challenge conventional wisdom and long held policy positions. In 2012, we see proof of this digital conversion happening right in the principal’s office. Today, over a third of principals (36 percent) say that a new Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to school policy for students is likely this school year.
• Social media and digital tools and resources have transcended the classroom and are emerging strongly as key components of 21st century school to home communications. 37 percent of parents wish that their child’s teacher or school would communicate with them via text messaging, less than one-quarter of teachers (23 percent) say that texting between parents and teachers is a common practice today.

SpeakUp Survey 2012

Year	K-12 Students	Teachers	Librarians	Parents	Dist Admin	Sch Admin	Tech Leaders	Totals
2012	13,958	2,311	129	3,558	63	127	30	20,176
2011	13,745	1,289	80	806	39	92	**	16,051
2010	6,630	760	*	783	82	*	*	8,255

NOTE:

Ø  In 2010 Teachers and Librarians were counted in a single category as Teachers and District, School and Tech Leaders were counted in a single category as “administrators”.

Ø  In 2011, Teachers and Librarians were disaggregated and the District and School administrators were disaggregated.

Ø  In 2012, School Administrators were disaggregated further into Tech Leaders.

Walker Budget Remains Largely Unchanged by the JFC

Apparently, most of the budget proposed by Governor Walker will remain unchanged at this time after examination by the Joint Finance Committee (JFC).  There is a possibility for more voting in coming weeks.

http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_23105017/scott-walker-wisconsin-budget-kept-mostly-intact

More here from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/report-identifies-policy-issues-tucked-into-scott-walker-budget-qc9n3qo-204681221.html