WI Joint Committee on Finance Keeps Repeal of QEO/Arbitration Changes

QEO/Arbitration Factors Remain in State Budget Proposal

The co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Finance, Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison), announced that they intend to remove 45 of the 80 items in the governor's 2009-11 state budget that have been identified by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau as non-fiscal policy items. Among the list of items to be removed and drafted as separate legislation includes the governor's proposal to require three credits of math and science for high school graduation.

The co-chairs intend to retain the non-fiscal policy items that would:

• repeal the qualified economic offer (QEO);
• eliminate the greatest and greater weight given to revenue limits and local economic conditions in arbitration decisions;
• allow teacher contracts of up to four years;
• make it easier to combine school district collective bargaining units;
• ease retirement eligibility for educational support personnel; and
• impose greater accountability measures on the Milwaukee voucher program.

In previous budgets, proposals to repeal the QEO were identified as non-fiscal policy and removed by the co-chairs.

Here is the MMSD's Legislative Agenda for 2009-2011. Feel free to share this information with your legislators and Rep. Pocan and Sen. Miller.

Wisconsin Stimulus Spending on Education

States Eye Education Stimulus to Fill Budget Gaps

Local Officials Crying Foul As Governors Grab for Aid By Michele McNeil

Desperate for cash to fill growing budget deficits, state governments are starting to tangle with federal and local officials over a $39.8 billion pot of economic-stimulus money that was designed to prop up the budgets of local school districts, but is increasingly being eyed as a patch for states’ own financial woes.

Vague language and loopholes in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—the stimulus package signed into law in February by President Barack Obama—are sparking questions about how much discretion states have over education stimulus funding. Mayors and school boards in a number of states fear being shortchanged by revenue-hungry governors and legislatures.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is putting state-level officials on notice that spending the first chunk of stimulus money unwisely could jeopardize aid that his office will distribute later.

Is Wisconsin the only state plugging holes in their budget with education funds?

Apparently not.

A few weeks ago I submitted an opinion piece online about the state's dismal response to citizen throughout the state asking for reform in how we fund schools.

If you want to read more about what U.S. Education Sec. Arnie Duncan is saying and the latest national coverage go to the Schools and Stimulus section of Education Week.

Maya P. Cole: Will school finances end in tragedy?

Tomorrow is the Legislative Day for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. Here's a little something to get you in the mood:


Opinion: Maya P. Cole: Will school finances end in tragedy?