Latest news with #Underly
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Education advocates push for adequate K-12 funding
A rally goer rolls out a scroll with the names of every school district that has gone to referendum since the last state budget. Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner. Education advocates are making a push for more investment in public schools from the state as the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee plans to take up portions of the budget related to K-12 schools during its Thursday meeting. The issue has been a top concern for Wisconsinites who came out to budget listening sessions and was one of Gov. Tony Evers' priorities in his budget proposal. Evers proposed that the state spend an additional $3.1 billion on K-12 education. Evers and Republican leaders were negotiating on the spending for education as well as taxes and other parts of the budget until last week when negotiations reached an impasse. Evers has said that Republicans were unwilling to compromise on his funding priorities, including making 'meaningful investments for K-12 schools, to continue Child Care Counts to help lower the cost of child care for working families and to prevent further campus closures and layoffs at our UW System.' He said he was willing to support their tax proposal, which Republicans have said included income and retiree tax cuts. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said on WISN 12's UpFront that Evers 'lied' about Republicans walking away from the negotiating table. 'We're willing to do it, just not as much as he wanted… When you read that statement, it makes it sound like we were at zero,' Vos said. 'We were not at zero on any of those topics. We tried to find a way to invest in child care that actually went to the parents, and to make sure that we weren't just having to go to a business. We tried to find a way to look at education so that money would actually go back to school districts across the state. It just wasn't enough for what he wanted.' Public education advocates said school districts are in dire need of a significant investment of state dollars, especially for special education. After lobbying for the last week, many are concerned that when Republicans finally announce their proposal it won't be enough. State Superintendent Jill Underly told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview Wednesday afternoon that she is anticipating that Republicans will put forth more short-term solutions, but she said schools and students can't continue functioning in that way. Underly compared the situation of education funding in Wisconsin to a road trip. 'The gas tank is nearly empty, and you're trying to coast… you're turning the air conditioning off… going at a lower speed limit, just to save a little fuel and the state budget every two years. I kind of look at them as like these exits to gas stations,' Underly said. 'We keep passing up these opportunities to refuel. Schools are running on fumes, and we see the stress that is having an our system — the number of referendums, the anxiety around whether or not we're going to have the referendum or not in our communities. Wisconsin public schools have been underfunded for decades.' The one thing lawmakers must do, Underly said, is increase the special education reimbursement rate to a minimum of 60%, back to the levels of the 1990s. 'It used to be 60% but they haven't been keeping up their promise to public schools,' Underly said. 'They need to raise the special education reimbursement rate. Anything less than 60% is once again failing to meet urgent needs.' The Wisconsin Public Education Network is encouraging advocates to show up at the committee meeting Thursday and continue pushing lawmakers and Evers to invest. Executive Director Heather DuBois Bourenane told the Examiner that she is concerned lawmakers are planning on 'low balling' special education funding, even as she said she has never seen the education community so united in its insistence on one need. 'We're familiar with the way they work in that caucus and in the Joint Finance Committee,' DuBois Bourenane said. 'The pattern of the past has been to go around the state and listen to the concerns that are raised or at least get the appearance of listening, and then reject those concerns and demands and put forward a budget that fails in almost every way to prioritize the priority needs for our communities.' While it's unclear what Republicans will ultimately do, budget papers prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau includes three options when it comes to special education reimbursement rate: the first is to raise the rate to 60% sum sufficient — as Evers has proposed; the second is to leave the rate at 31.5% sum certain by investing an additional $35.8 million and the third is to raise the rate to an estimated 35% by providing an additional $68.6 million in 2023-24 and $86.2 million in 2024-25. The paper also includes options for investing more in the high cost of special education, which provides additional aid to reimburse 90% of the cost of educating students whose special education costs exceed $30,000 in a single year. The School Administrators Alliance (SAA) sent an update to its members on Monday, pointing out what was in the budget papers and saying the committee 'appears poised to focus spending on High-Cost Special Education Aid and the School Levy Tax Credit, rather than significantly raising the primary special education categorical aid.' SAA Executive Director Dee Pettack said in the email that if that's the route lawmakers take, it would 'result in minimal new, spendable resources for classrooms and students.' Public school funding was one of the top priorities mentioned by Wisconsinites at the four budget hearings held by the budget committee across the state in March. 'I just think it's time to say enough is enough,' DuBois Bourenane said. 'We're really urging people to do whatever they can before our lawmakers vote on this budget, to say that we are really going to accept nothing less than a budget that stops this cycle of insufficient state support for priority needs and demand better.' Pettack and leaders of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, Southeast Wisconsin School Alliance and the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance also issued a joint letter Tuesday urging the committee to 'meet this moment with the urgency it requires,' adding that the budget provides the opportunity to allocate resources that will help students achieve. The letter detailed the situation that a low special education reimbursement has placed districts in as they struggle to fund the mandated services and must fill in the gaps with funds from their general budgets. 'The lack of an adequate state reimbursement for mandated special education programs and services negatively affects all other academic programs, including career and technical education, reading interventionists, teachers and counselors, STEM, dual enrollment, music, art and more,' the organizations stated. 'While small increases in special education reimbursement have been achieved in recent state budgets, costs for special education programming and services have grown much faster than those increases, leaving public schools in a stagnant situation.' 'Should we fail in this task, we are not only hurting Wisconsin's youth today but also our chances to compete in tomorrow's economy,' the leaders wrote. If the proposal from Republicans isn't adequate, Underly said Evers doesn't have to sign the budget. Republican lawmakers have expressed confidence that they will put a budget on Evers' desk that he will sign. 'There's that, and then we keep negotiating. We keep things as they are right now. We keep moving forward,' Underly said. 'But our schools and our kids, they can't continue to wait for this… These are short term fixes, I think, that they keep talking about, and we can't continue down this path. We need to fix it so that we're setting ourselves up for success. Everything else is just really short sighted.' WPEN and others want Evers to use his veto power should the proposal not be sufficient. DuBois Bourenane said dozens of organizations have signed on to a letter calling on Evers to reject any budget that doesn't meet the state's needs and priorities. 'What we want them to do is negotiate in good faith and reject any budget that doesn't meet the needs of our kids, and just keep going back to the drawing board until you reach a bipartisan agreement that actually does meet those needs,' DuBois Bourenane said. 'Gov. Evers has the power to break this cycle. He has the power of his veto pen. He has the power of his negotiating authority, and we expect him to use it right and people have got his back.' The budget deadline is June 30. If it is not completed by then, the state continues to operate under the 2023-25 budget. 'Nobody wants [the process] to be drawn out any longer than it is,' DuBois Bourenane said. 'Those are valid concerns. But the fact is we are in a really critical tension point right now, and if any people care even a little bit about this, now is the time that they should be speaking out.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wisconsin among 16 states that, so far, refuse to sign anti-DEI certification requested by U.S. Department of Education
Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction won't approve a federal anti-DEI certification request, potentially putting state school districts' federal funding at risk. Here's what we know: On Feb. 14, the education department sent a letter to school districts nationwide as notice of its interpretation of illegal discriminatory practices, such as support programs for historically marginalized communities. Then, on April 3, the U.S. Education Department announced it was requiring all state education leaders overseeing K-12 school districts to certify antidiscrimination obligations or risk losing federal funding. The department requested state education commissioners, like Wisconsin's DPI Superintendent Jill Underly, to certify their compliance with Title VI, which prevents racial discrimination, and a 2023 Supreme Court decision, SFFA v. Harvard, that outlawed race-based affirmative action programs. The department asserts that certain diversity, equity and inclusion programs violate antidiscrimination law. The DPI raised concerns over the request, saying they appear "unlawful," but received no response from the education department to its questions. The Department of Education said it could cut federal funding to any state or local education agency with DEI programs. The U.S. education department accounts for $568.2 million in education funding, which is equivalent to over 6,100 educator jobs, according to DPI. Overall federal funding to Wisconsin schools accounts for $842.9 million, which includes Department of Education funding as well as $273.6 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which goes toward student meals. Federal funding supports low-income schools, special education, free and reduced lunch and Head Start, which is already facing a major funding drop. In the Milwaukee area, federal funds account for 2%-20% of total district funding, with Milwaukee Public Schools at 20%. Around Green Bay, federal dollars make up 4%-10% of total funding, and in the Fox Valley, those funds make up 3%-11%. In Milwaukee: MPS could lose millions in funding if it doesn't abide by new federal guidelines In Green Bay: 'Nonsensical': Green Bay schools cut inclusion in job descriptions under federal funding threat In Appleton: How Fox Valley schools are changing their DEI messaging to avoid losing federal funding The DPI announced April 18 it won't submit the certification, saying the Education Department hasn't responded to its questions and that the order lacked clarity and failed to follow procedure around imposing funding conditions. But the DPI did submit certifications that every Wisconsin school district will comply with 'all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements,' such as Title VI, Title IX and FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Title IX protects students from sex discrimination, and FERPA is a student privacy law. Those district certifications are submitted at the beginning of every school year, Underly said, and they show that the state upholds antidiscrimination law. Notably absent from the list was the SFFA v. Harvard affirmative action decision. The DPI isn't collecting certifications from districts, so schools can't independently certify. Underly said she spoke to several district superintendents, who all agreed with the DPI's decision. 'They also see the perspective that they're in compliance with the law already,' Underly said. 'They want to focus on doing what's best for kids and families.' Wisconsin is one of 16 states that declined to certify the request as of April 18, according to EdWeek. Sixteen states and Puerto Rico have said they intend to certify the request, and the rest haven't said. Contact Green Bay education reporter Nadia Scharf at nscharf@ or on X at @nadiaascharf. This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Federal education funding at risk in anti-DEI certification request
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wisconsin DPI rejects Trump administration request for certification on DEI ban compliance
State Superintendent Jill Underly said "Washington, D.C. should not dictate how schools educate their kids." Underly pictured with Madison La Follette High School Principal Mathew Thompson and Madison Public School District Superintendent Joe Gothard in the hallway at La Follette in September 2024. (Photo by Ruth Conniff/Wisconsin Examiner) The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction rejected the Trump administration's request to certify compliance with a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion in K-12 public schools. State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement that Wisconsin schools are following the law. 'We've put that into writing to the USDE,' Underly said. 'We believe in local control in Wisconsin and trusting our local leaders – superintendents, principals, educators – who work together with parents and families every day to support students. They know their communities best. Washington, D.C. should not dictate how schools educate their kids.' The U.S. Department of Education sent a letter earlier this month to state agencies across the country requesting that agencies check with local school districts to ensure they don't have diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The federal administration is trying to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision, which said race-based programs in higher education violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, to K-12 education. The administration said state agencies needed to ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Supreme Court decision. Wisconsin is one of several states, mostly led by Democrats, that have pushed back on the request. The Trump administration, which has been targeting diversity efforts in K-12 schools as well as in higher education and other sectors, has threatened that it could pull funding from states that don't comply with the request. Wisconsin schools receive $841.9 million from the federal government, making up about 8% of the total funding for schools across the state. Funding from the Department of Education makes up $568.2 million of that, and according to DPI, this is equivalent to 6,106 educator jobs. According to the letter, DPI provided the Department of Education with copies of previous certifications of compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The agency said that its repeated requests for additional information about the new certification request went unanswered. In an April 9 letter, DPI asked for clarification on why the federal government was requesting another certification and asked the Department of Education to answer questions including whether the requested certification seeks to enforce any requirement beyond what is required by federal law and regulation and what legal authority the Education Department is using to make the request a condition of federal aid. 'If the certified assurances are insufficient to meet the conditions of federal funding imposed by USDE, please articulate the basis in law for imposing these conditions, as well as an explanation as to why these assurances do not fulfill those requirements,' DPI General Counsel Benjamin Jones wrote to the Department of Education. Underly said the new certification is a way for the federal government to 'directly control the decisions in our schools by conditioning federal dollars. This is a serious concern – not just for the DPI, but for anyone who believes in lawful, transparent government.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction won't certify Trump administration anti-DEI request, risking federal education funds
Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction won't approve a federal anti-DEI certification request, potentially putting state school districts' federal funding at risk. "This is about local control,' state superintendent Jill Underly said. 'It's about Washington, D.C., wanting to dictate how schools from Racine to Green Bay to Ashland educate their kids." On April 3, the U.S. Education Department announced it was requiring all state education leaders overseeing K-12 school districts to certify antidiscrimination obligations or risk losing federal funding. After raising initial concerns over the request's lack of clarity and apparent overreach, the DPI said April 18 it won't submit the certification, saying the education department hasn't responded to those concerns. In a response to the federal agency, DPI general counsel Benjamin Jones included assurances from school districts that they'll comply with 'all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.' But one key request from the education department was missing from the DPI response: compliance with a 2023 anti-affirmative action decision. The DPI received no responses to the questions it raised about the certification. Underly said she couldn't sign in good conscience, because she didn't know what she'd be agreeing to. "This letter that they sent us was their interpretation of what should be followed. But that's not law,' Underly said. "Wisconsin schools are already following a law that's in place, and that's what our letter made absolutely clear.' The department requested state education commissioners, like Underly, to certify their compliance with Title VI, which prevents racial discrimination, and a 2023 Supreme Court decision, SFFA v. Harvard, that outlawed race-based affirmative action programs. In the letter requesting certification, the Department of Education asserted that certain diversity, equity and inclusion programs violate antidiscrimination law. Because of that, it said it could cut federal funding to any state or local education agency with DEI programs. This isn't the first federal funding threat sent out under the Trump administration. On Feb. 14, the education department sent a 'dear colleague' letter to school districts nationwide as notice of its interpretation of illegal discriminatory practices, such as support programs for historically marginalized communities. In a news release, the DPI said it would not complete the Department of Education's requested certification due to the order's lack of clarity, failure to follow procedure around imposing funding conditions and impact on local control. Instead, it submitted certifications that every Wisconsin school district will comply with 'all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements,' such as Title VI, Title IX and FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Title IX protects students from sex discrimination, and FERPA is a student privacy law. Those district certifications are submitted at the beginning of every school year, Underly said, and they show that the state upholds antidiscrimination law. Notably absent from the list was the SFFA v. Harvard affirmative action decision. If the submitted school district certifications don't meet federal funding conditions, Jones, DPI's general counsel, asked the education department to explain the legal basis behind those conditions and why approving 'all applicable' requirements wouldn't meet them. In Green Bay: 'Nonsensical': Green Bay schools cut inclusion in job descriptions under federal funding threat In Appleton: How Fox Valley schools are changing their DEI messaging to avoid losing federal funding The DPI isn't collecting certifications from districts, so schools can't independently certify. For Underly to sign the certification, she said, the Department of Education would need to provide more information on what was being agreed to. There are also constitutional questions because there wasn't notice or a comment period, she said. 'This is just another way for the federal government to bypass Congress and dictate what we're doing in our schools,' Underly said. Wisconsin is one of 15 states that have declined to certify the request as of April 17, according to EdWeek. Thirteen of those states, including Wisconsin, have Democratic governors, while Utah and Vermont are led by Republicans. Sixteen states and Puerto Rico have said they intend to certify the request, and the rest haven't said. Underly said she spoke to about a dozen other state superintendents, who were all in agreement about the threat to local control. Federal dollars are vital for Wisconsin schools, Underly said. If that funding were to go away, the state would have to fill that gap. While she's talked to legislators about what that would look like, those conversations have all been in the broader context of school funding issues. U.S. Education Department dollars account for $568.2 million in education funding, which is equivalent to over 6,100 educator jobs, according to DPI. Overall federal funding counts for $842.9 million. Federal funding supports low-income schools through Title I programs, special education, free and reduced lunch and Head Start, which is already facing a major funding drop. In the Milwaukee area, federal funds account for 2%-20% of total district funding, with Milwaukee Public Schools at 20%. Around Green Bay, federal dollars make up 4-10% of total funding, and in the Fox Valley, those funds make up 3%-11%. Underly said she spoke to several district superintendents, who all agreed with the DPI's decision. 'They also see the perspective that they're in compliance with the law already,' Underly said. 'They want to focus on doing what's best for kids and families.' Contact Green Bay education reporter Nadia Scharf at nscharf@ or on X at @nadiaascharf. This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: DPI won't certify Trump administration anti-DEI request. Why?
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DPI reviewing Trump administration request that schools certify compliance with diversity ban
"We remain confident Wisconsin schools and the DPI are in full compliance with the law," DPI Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement. Underly at a rally in February. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner) The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is reviewing a request by the Trump administration that state education agencies ensure they aren't using diversity, equity and inclusion programs — or risk losing federal funding. According to WisPolitics, state Superintendent Jill Underly said the agency is looking at the U.S. Department of Education's 'justification and authority to request sign off from Wisconsin schools on the federal agency's political beliefs.' 'Now more than ever, Wisconsin's students, educators and schools need support – not threats of federal funding cuts that are vital to their success,' Underly said in a statement. 'As we stated in February, we remain confident Wisconsin schools and the DPI are in full compliance with the law and remain committed to providing the best education possible for our students.' In a letter, the Department of Education said that state agencies need to certify their compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the responsibilities outlined in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard — the landmark Supreme Court decision that said race-based programs in higher education violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and effectively ended consideration of race in admissions programs. 'Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement. 'When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements. Unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI.' The request comes as a part of President Donald Trump's ongoing attack on DEI efforts across the country. State agencies were given 10 days to collect certification from local education agencies and respond, according to the release. Underly, who was reelected to a second term this week, also urged state lawmakers Wednesday to invest in Wisconsin's public schools amid the threat of funding cuts by the federal government. 'An unprecedented number of our school districts have been forced to turn to referenda, asking their communities to raise property taxes just to compensate for the state's underfunding. On top of that, the Trump administration's reckless cuts threaten the critical federal funding that Wisconsin schools depend on,' Underly said at a public hearing held by the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee in Kaukana. Underly was not invited for an agency briefing before the committee, so she traveled to deliver her message at the public hearing. Her requests for state investment include increasing the state's special education reimbursement for schools, funding universal free school meals and investing in mental health supports for students. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
