Legislators, school officials gather for forum in Medford
By Brian Wilson, The Star News Building bridges of understanding between policy makers in the state legislature and the concerns of local school districts was at the heart of the annual Boards of Education Legislative meeting held April 1at Medford Area Senior High School.
The event brought together, three state senators, five Assembly representatives, board members and administrators from 18 school districts for a chance to socialize and then six presentations on a wide range of school related topics over one night. This year topics included the following: Act 20, state testing, 4K funding, school funding, funding for special education and increasing flexibility for school start date.
Legislators at the event included Senators Jesse James, Mary Felzkowski, and Cory Tomczyk along with representatives James Edming, Patrick Snyder, Karen Hurd, Donna Rozar and Rob Summerfield.
Abbotsford accountability coordinator Georgia Kraus and Abbotsford school principal Abbey Frischmann started the presentations voicing concerns over the potential consequences of the Act 20 legislation especially in districts such as Abbotsford with a very high level of English learners.
They began their presentation by handing out a reading test and giving the legislators a few minutes to go over it. The catch was that the test was in Spanish. Kraus compared that to the impact of the Act 20 requirements to have reading assessments given in English to those students who are English Language Learners. She noted that 61% of Abbotsford school district students fall under the
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A PANEL OF DECISION MAKERS - Representatives from both the Senate and Assembly met with area school district personnel during a forum at Medford Senior High School on April 1.
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category of English as a second language and raised concern that those students who read on grade level in Spanish would end up being among non proficient when based on their ability to solely read English. She detailed the steps this would require under the law’s rules and how it would take away resources from those who had reading issues. She noted that Abbotsford school district is unique in their population make-up and that they are continually adding students with 30 new students added since Christmas break.
She said that while they supported the goals of Act 20 to address falling reading proficiencies in the state, she urged the legislators to look at the requirements in a lens beyond that of dyslexia.
Krause described the law as being “rushed” and requested the legislators look to delay the implementation of Act 20 to the fall of 2025 to allow things to be put into place at the state and local levels to meet the requirements.
“Our reading scores are getting worse and worse,” Felzkowski said of the need for the law and its requirements. She noted that all legislation is fluid and that rarely is the first bill passed on a topic perfect. “It is like Whack a Mole,” she said, with legislature acting to address issues as they come up.
She said she empathized with Abbotsford’s situation and the high numbers of English language learners due to the nature of the industries that are in the area. However, she was adamant about the need to start somewhere.
She also asked if Krause or anyone from Abbotsford had come to the public hearings on the legislation, noting that no one is invited to come. “They come because they want their stories told,” she said.
She said there was an opportunity at the public hearing for Act 20 to raise these concerns. “If you don’t like what we are doing, drive down and tell us,” she said.
“I think Act 20 could be life altering for the state if it is done right,” Felzkowski said of the importance of getting kids learning again and of raising reading proficiencies across the state.
Rozar agreed with the need for the legislation, noting that while you spend time learning to read in the early grades people read to learn their entire lives. She noted that she fought for additional budget funding for schools such as Abbotsford with high levels of English language learners. However, she noted that in the legislature you can’t write bills for every specific situation. She also defended the need to teach students English.
“We live in America, English needs to be taught to people who move to our country,” Rozar said. She said the primary purpose should be to teach these kids to speak English.
State testing
Medford curriculum coordinator Laura Lundy presented on mandatory testing. She said the state wastes countless hours of instructional time and taxpayer money with the testing as it is currently set up. She noted the current state tests have little buy-in from students because the results are not released until after they are no longer in the grade. She advocated for the state to adopt adaptive tests such as those currently used by schools to measure student ability levels. She said the scores from these types of test would be known immediately after the students completed them and the information could be put to use right away. Having these types of testing would reduce the amount of overall testing and stop duplication, freeing up educational time. She projected it would save the state about $20 million to switch to the adaptive testing already used by districts.
Snyder said the similar message from Lundy last year resonated with him and that he had approached the Department of Public Instruction and said he was ignored. He said his next step will be to work with Lundy and the CESA district and write a bill to bring to the legislature. He is hoping that with a governor election year in 2026, they will have better luck with it.
“You need a grass roots movement,” Felzkowski said. She said they need parents and educators to come to the state showing that not only are there better results with the different type of testing, but that the science shows they should change to it, citing states that have the highest proficiencies who use adaptive testing to measure student learning.
“Let’s do what is right for our students,” James said, describing the testing as being “insane.”
Felzkowski said one of the major barriers to changing the testing will be the lobbyist for the companies that provide the current testing. She gave the example of their efforts to try to eliminate the Foundation of Reading Test (FORT) which is required for elementary level educators and how every time there is a challenge to it, the money flows into the Democrats’ pockets from the testing company.
4K funding
Rib Lake District administrator Travis Grubbs was scheduled to talk on the 4K fund, but was unable to be there and Medford administrator Pat Sullivan and elementary principal Dan Miller spoke on his behalf, starting with reading what he had prepared.
Current state law funds 4K students at .5 full time equivalent. This goes up to .6 FTE if additional time threshold it met. Many districts, especially those in rural areas such as north central Wisconsin have gone to full day 4K programs with the additional costs for staff and space coming from school budgets. In his statement, Grubbs noted this was important to do in districts such as Rib Lake which does not have any licensed daycare providers within its district borders.
The presentation also noted that there are quantifiable educational benefits to having the children in a classroom setting and learning.
Sullivan also commented on the current language which requires the school to send taxpayer money to private schools and daycare centers for the fouryear- olds. He said his concern was that the requirements need to be the same for certifications for these private providers as the school.
In his remarks Miller highlighted Medford’s switch to the all day 4K programs and its success and called on legislators to increase the funding for 4K students to full FTEs.
“It sounds like a no brainer,” Felzkowski said of the move to have more 4K funding. However, she explained that it becomes more complicated when looking at daycare providers.
Rules for daycare centers regarding child to staff ratios make infant and toddler care extremely expensive to provide. It is when the children are older that the centers are able to make money to offset the cost of care for the younger children. She said parents will choose to go to a school program because there is no cost compared to the expense of a daycare center. This leaves the daycare centers with no revenue coming in and faced with having to raise costs for parents.
“We as legislators have to take a step back and ask if this is the right thing to do,” Felzkowski said.
“We, as legislators have to look at the whole policy,” she said, as to the reason why a funding change has not happened. She said they are trying to balance the policy issues.
Rep. Hurd said that there is a childcare problem in the state and that many centers are underwater. “They are in a terrible state,” she said.
She talked of legislation she co-wrote that sought to address concerns and to decouple the funding that would go to private centers having them come from general purpose revenues rather than through the local school districts.
School funding
John Gaier, administrator of the Neillsville School District, spoke about the changes in school funding and the need for the state to do more. He commended the additional funding in the current biennial budget noting that the gap between low spending districts and high spending districts was closing so that more are close to the state average.
Gaier also referenced referendum questions being voted on in Abbotsford, Rib Lake, Greenwood, Osseo-Fairchild, Owen-Withee and Stanley-Boyd school districts, among regional districts and the dozens more referendums around the state. He noted that many were operational and even those dealing with construction were tied to the operational limits imposed by the state because districts put money toward education rather than buildings.
“You didn’t cause the problems. I know you can help solve them,” Gaier said.
Rozar referenced the need to decouple the money for school voucher programs from the local school districts, noting that is already done in Milwaukee and will be soon done in Racine. She said this would provide greater transparency about what state funds actually go to local public school districts.
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REPRESENTING THEIR DISTRICTS - Colby Superintendent Dr. Patrick Galligan (above), Abbotsford Elementary School Principal Abbey Frischmann (below, at right) and Dr. Georgia Kraus, Student Accountability Coordinator at the Abbotsford School District, (below, at left) attended the forum to ask questions of lawmakers.
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Felzkowski said a major theme in the email she gets from constituents is for them to hold the line on property taxes. She noted that when the property tax bills come at Christmas time, people are upset about the amount they have to pay. She questioned why the bills were timed to come at Christmas versus another time of the year.
She said that the historic decision to fund schools and local governments on property taxes was because it is historically stable versus sales or income taxes which can be volatile depending on the economy. She said the challenge is that now 175 years later, property values are increasing at a rapid rate and driving taxes up with them.
She also noted that there is a growing argument among out of state property owners that are not being able to vote on issues impacting their local taxes amounts to taxation without representation and that there is a movement to allow out of state land owners to vote in school referendums. She noted that if this were to happen they would likely never see another referendum passed in the 12th Senate District which includes Minocqua and Eagle River.
Special Education Funding
On a related funding issue Medford finance director Audra Brooks and student services director Joseph Greget spoke about the funding needs for special education programs. Brooks highlighted the problem with state funding special education to a set dollar amount rather than reflecting a percentage of the actual cost incurred by districts. They called for additional funding to ensure that special education costs are reimbursed.
They also spoke of the need for additional funding for mental health services in the schools. Greget noted that there have been students who have died by suicide during his time in Medford with three students in the past two years.
“This is something near and dear to my heart,” James said. He spoke as a parent and shared the experience of having his daughter’s suicide plans discovered, fortunately in time to get her the help she needed.
“Our kids are suffering,” he said. He said parents needed to be more engaged with their children.
“We only get one chance to be parents,” he said, noting that when kids suffer they turn to drugs and other behaviors.
“We need to have conversations with our kids,” he said adding that parents need to ask the question to their kids if they are planning to die by suicide.
“If I had lost my daughter, I don’t know what I would have done,” James said.
Snyder echoed James’ sentiments and talked about a teacher in the DC Everest district who was strangled by a student and is currently suffering post traumatic stress disorder. “She felt the school district didn’t have her back and that they don’t stand up for teachers,” Snyder said of that instance and how this contributes to the high turnover in special education teachers.
Rozar said there are some bright spots. She spoke of joining the state Lt. Governor in going to Colby Schools and reviewing the innovative things they are doing there to engage students and have the students working with other students to address mental health concerns.
She said peer pressure is an awful thing in schools these days and noted that in places like Colby they are turning it around to be a positive thing.
Start date
Dr. Patrick Galligan, administrator of the Colby School District spoke in support of giving additional flexibility to the Department of Public Instruction to allow local school districts to have an earlier start date. For more than 20 years the start date for schools has been set at September 1. School districts have long criticized this lack of local control.
Galligan said in recent years the DPI has seen a dramatic increase in the number of districts requesting an earlier start date. He said the number has gone from 18 in one year to 101 last school year. He said the current rule is inflexible and outdated.
In a recent public hearing held by the DPI on potentially loosening the guidelines for grant exceptions to the law, there were 600 people speaking in favor of the rule change and 60 entities opposed. Galligan said the current September 1 start date puts Wisconsin students at a disadvantage for things such as advanced placement coursework and in competing with students in other states with earlier start times.
“We want to be able to do what is best for our community,” Galligan said.
Felzkowski noted that tarring and feathering wasn’t a good look for her in suggesting the idea as the senator for a heavily tourism-dependent area. She again noted the value of having a grassroots effort with parents calling for change.
She said that if parents knew their kids were at a competitive disadvantage with starting later, they would push for a change. She said there needed to be more than 600 with numbers of 60,000 or even 6,000 able to make a change. She said having a grassroots movement in favor of it will give her the reason why she should support it.
She also noted the reality of a rule change from the DPI getting approved since it has to go through legislative review and can be blocked at multiple points and sent back for rewrites.
Summerfield said there may be room for compromise in this, noting that despite it being sometimes considered a dirty word in modern politics that there was a potential for sides to sit down and see if there was a way to give additional flexibility.
Sullivan also noted that as a former principal at Northland Pines, there may not be as much support for a later start date as people may think. Snyder said he agrees with local control and that things may have changed in the time since the law was put in place.
“This mandate from the early 2000s is a little outdated,” he said.
Rozar agreed noting there has been a shift in the state away from being an agrarian community and that kids aren’t on the farm anymore.
