Lawmakers advance education overhaul bills, up for vote next week

 

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A central theme at the state Capitol lately has been focused on overhauling education as new testing standards measuring students performance levels have been widely criticized by lawmakers.

The Assembly Education Committee advanced five Republican bills that target K-12 schools on Thursday, clearing the way for votes on the measures next week.

One proposal would revamp student report cards by reverting back to testing standards the Department of Public Instruction changed last year. The move made it impossible to measure students' academic performance from previous years because the rankings are different.

The report card used to categorize achievement levels as below, basic, proficient and advanced. Now those categories are "developing," "approaching," "meeting" and "advanced."

"How do we know if someone is doing better or someone is doing worse without having a benchmark to gauge off of?" said Rep. Cindi Duchow (R-Town of Delafield). "We're all just kind of floundering."

Both sides of the aside have criticized DPI for altering the test cut scores, including Gov. Tony Evers. It's unclear whether Evers would sign the bill if it reached his desk.

State Superintendent Jill Underly has defended the changes and told CBS 58 they will provide a more accurate picture of how students fared on the test.

Other proposals voted out of committee include requiring schools to add a civics instruction and teach students cursive.

"I believe we have a literacy problem in this state and this county," said Rep. Paul Meltok, the GOP author of the cursive bill. "I believe this will enhance literacy skills for our kids."

Democratic Rep. Francesca Hong argued the proposal wouldn't make an impact.

"I see very little evidence that learning cursive is what's going to help our students," Hong said.

Empowering parents to inspect textbooks or other materials in the classroom was another proposal GOP lawmakers reintroduced.

The measure would require districts to respond to a parents request to inspect instructional material within 14 days. It's the third time the bill has been introduced and was previously vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers in 2022.

Critics say it's unnecessary because there's already ways people can access educational materials.

"I'm just very much struggling to figure out what problem we are trying to solve with this," said Rep. Angelina Cruz (D - Racine).

Another bill would place mandates on schools by requiring them to spend a minimum of 70% of their operating costs on classroom expenditures. Republican lawmakers are expected to add an amendment to the measure due to concerns it would also punish districts if they fail to meet the 70% threshold.

All five bills will be up for a vote in the Assembly on Wednesday.