This February the Assembly passed Assembly Bills 1-6, which focus on K-12 education accountability. I would like to highlight a few of the bills that you may find interesting. To start, Assembly Bill 1 addresses the recent change to student and school assessment criteria by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Dr. Jill Underly, the State Superintendent, has departed from federal testing standards in recent years in an effort to hide the fact that student scores continue to remain drastically low after the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the most recent NAEP scores, only 31% of Wisconsin fourth graders were proficient in reading in 2024. This is the lowest score we have seen in the state since 1992. AB 1 will require that school and school district accountability reports use the same cut scores and the same score ranges for the performance categories as used by the DPI for the 2019-20 school year. This will allow both schools and parents to assess their child’s educational growth. Assembly Bill 4, requires instruction in civics in the elementary and high school grades, high school graduation requirements, and private school educational program criteria. This legislation requires that students learn about their rights and responsibilities as citizens, as well as the foundation of those rights. The last bill I want to highlight, Assembly Bill 6, requires school boards to allocate a minimum of
70% of their operating expenditures toward direct classroom expenses and limits the annual salary increases for school administrators to no more than the percentage given to the teachers in that school district. AB 6 ensures taxpayer dollars are used effectively to enhance education quality and support student success. This legislation ensures accountability in education standards and directs resources to support students in the classroom. These bills will now go to the State Senate for consideration before heading to the Governor for his signature or veto.
