Rep. Benjamin Franklin speaks about his bill to require 70% of funding in schools go towards "classroom" expenses. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin Republicans in the state Assembly passed a package of education bills Wednesday to implement new standards for standardized test scores, school funding allocations, responding to curriculum inspection requests and for keeping cell phones out of schools. 

Republicans argued that the state needs to ensure that schools are meeting certain standards, especially as they’ve provided some state funding increases in recent years and as school enrollments have declined. While Wisconsin schools did receive an increase in the last state budget, many schools continue to struggle to meet costs as funding has failed to match the rate of inflation.

“We need to make sure that, as we are increasing funding for education, we are also doing a better job, ensuring that the standards and the expectations that parents and taxpayers have across the state are being met,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said at a press conference. 

Vos called some school districts “disappointing”  and named Milwaukee Public Schools as an example. The district, which was  an ongoing target of Republican lawmakers throughout the debate, has experienced turmoil over the last few years with turnover in staff, a financial crisis after delays in delivering required documents to DPI and reading and math scores that show continued disparities between Black and white students.

“I’m a huge supporter of local control. There are some districts that are so broken and expect us to have to pay for it as taxpayers, either on the front end through funding the school district or on the back end with the bad decisions that are made where people make bad choices,” Vos said. “Having that statewide standards is good for Wisconsin while still maintaining the flexibility to try to get there.”

Democrats said Republicans’ focus was in the wrong place and that the proposed solutions would not help address the real challenges that schools are facing. 

Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) criticized Republicans for rejecting Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal that would invest heavily in Wisconsin K-12 education. 

Evers unveiled his complete state budget proposal Tuesday evening, calling for more than $3 billion in additional funding for K-12 schools, including to support operational costs, special education and mental health supports. 

“The level of investment from the Legislature is just not enough to provide these essential investments in our schools,” Neubauer said. “Here in the Capitol, the Legislature has failed our students … we just have not kept up our end of the bargain.” 

“Instead of bringing legislation to the floor to support our schools, teachers and students, the best the majority party can do is to fast-track a bill that would require cursive instruction,” Neubauer said. That bill — AB 3 — passed 51-46 with Reps. Joy Goeben (R-Hobart), Shae Sortwell (R-Two Rivers) and David Steffen (R-Howard) joining Democrats to vote against it.  

Test scores

Another bill focused on reversing changes to standards on state tests that were approved by the DPI last year. GOP lawmakers slammed State Superintendent Jill Underly, who is running for reelection against Republican-backed education consultant Brittany Kinser, for approving the changes in the first place.

“Something is wrong in our communication system. It is not a lack of resources. It’s a lack of willpower to do something about the problems that we know are obvious because it is the fact that we have kids who can’t read,” Vos said. He added that only lawmakers should be allowed to “dumb down” the state’s standards.

Vos said there was only one person — referencing Underly — that “needs to pay a price” and “hopefully she will in April.”

Wisconsin students take standardized tests each year including the Forward Exam for third graders through eighth graders and the ACT and PreACT Secure for high school students. 

Underly approved changes to the standards last year that included new terms — “developing,” “approaching,” “meeting” and “advanced” — to describe student achievement. Previously, the terms were “below basic,” “basic,” “proficient” and “advanced.” The changes also included new cut scores — which are the test scores cutoffs needed to qualify to be placed in each performance level. 

Underly and DPI have defended the changes, saying they were necessary to more accurately measure achievement; that educators and other stakeholders worked together to create the new measures with Underly signing off; and that it’s too late to take the state back to 2019-20 standards.

Republican lawmakers said the changes “lowered” state standards and were an attempt to “cook the books.”

AB 1 directs DPI to use score ranges and qualitative terms used on school report cards for the 2019-2020 school year and to tie the Forward exam score ranges and pupil performance categories to those set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). 

“There’s no legislative oversight on the scoring and assessment of our kids, so this bill will establish that,” bill coauthor Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Caledonia) said at a press conference.

“We will be once again allowed to compare ourselves to other states — let us know who’s doing well, are we on pace with them or not,” Wittke said. “Then it provides legislative oversight, so the only time these scores can be adjusted or changed is when we actually legislate.” 

Rep. Angelina M. Cruz (D-Racine), who has worked as an educator for the last 20 years, said during floor debate that a variety of student assessments are used to measure students’ learning with each serving a “unique purpose” and reflecting the “expertise of professional educators.” She said that goes for the state tests as well and said the updates to standards weren’t made in a “vacuum,” noting that this isn’t the first time DPI has made changes and it shouldn’t be the last.

“Education is dynamic,” Cruz said. “The disconnect between the reality of classroom teaching and this body and the understanding of assessments has never been more clear… This bill is not about improving education. This bill is about playing political games.” 

Cruz said lawmakers would be better served fully funding the state’s public schools. 

During floor debate, Wittke said that Democrats were repeating political talking points by talking about increasing  funding for public schools. 

The bill passed 55-44 along party lines with Republicans for and Democrats against it.

Ban cell phones

Lawmakers also passed a bill that would mandate cell phone bans in schools statewide. 

Under AB 2, school boards must require districts to adopt cell phone ban policies in their schools during instructional time. Policies would need to be implemented by July 2026 and would need to include certain exceptions in emergencies, cases involving student’s health care, individualized education program (IEP) or 504 plan and for educational purposes.

Kitchens said it was a “modest” proposal and would help schools enforce policies if they already have them and get other school districts on the same page. 

“Part of that is putting them away when it’s time to do work,” Kitchens said, adding that the bill would provide a “unified” approach for the state. During the 40 minutes of debate on the bill, some lawmakers in the Assembly chamber could be seen with their phones out.

Of the 320 school districts that participated in DPI’s 2024-25 State Digital Learning survey approximately 90% of districts reported already having some sort of restrictive cell phone policy in place.

Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwautosa) said she thinks the original intent of the bill was genuine in trying to address challenges posed by phones in classrooms. However, she noted that it wouldn’t apply to the state’s private and charter schools that participate in voucher programs. Vining said the bill was modeled after legislation in Indiana, but Wisconsin Republicans intentionally carved out the voucher schools.

“It’s not fair when the concerns of voucher lobbyists are considered valid by Republicans in the Legislature that while the same concerns are ignored when they come from public schools,” Vining said.

Kitchens said the issue shouldn’t be partisan and noted that Louisiana, a red state, and New York, a blue state, both have strict statewide cell phone ban policies.

The bill passed 53-45 with Rep. Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander) joining Democrats against. 

Materials inspections within 14 days

AB 5, which would require school districts to comply with requests within 14 days, passed 54-43, also on a party-line vote, with Republicans for and Democrats against. 

Parents can already submit open records requests to school districts to receive school materials. The bill adds  that entities should respond “as soon as practicable and without delay.” 

Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) said during the press conference that the bill seeks to help  parents get information about materials more quickly. She noted that there are no time requirements included in state statute for responding to open records requests. 

“I’m old enough to remember a time in our Wisconsin schools where our schools were begging parents to become engaged and then there came a huge fracture when COVID-19 hit,” Dittrich said. Some parents, she said, aren’t having their requests fulfilled before their child is out of the class. “[The bill] works at bridging this gap between schools and families so they can work together for the benefit of our students.” 

This is the third time lawmakers have introduced a bill to implement a time frame for complying. In the 2021-23 session, the bill passed the Legislature and Evers vetoed it. Last session, the bill passed the Assembly and never received a vote in the Senate

Other laws in Wisconsin include one that requires a list of textbooks be filed with the school board clerk every year on an annual basis. Another state statute requires school boards to provide the complete human growth and development curriculum and all instructional materials for inspection to parents who request it.

Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) said the bill is unnecessary given the current state laws. 

“It’s trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist,” Hong said. 

Requiring 70% of money to go to “classroom” expenses

AB 6 would require school boards in Wisconsin to spend a minimum of 70% of operating money on direct classroom expenditures and limit annual compensation increases for school administrators to the average percent increase provided to teachers in the school district. 

An amendment to the bill would clarify that “direct classroom expenditures” would not include costs for administration, food services, transportation, instructional support including media centers, teacher training and student support such as nurses and school counselors. Those costs would need to fall under the other 30% of spending. 

Rep. Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere) said the state has “a system that fails to put the money in the classroom where the education is happening” and said the bill would implement “guardrails” for school districts to ensure money is going to classrooms and teachers. 

Rep. Joan Fitzgerald (D-Fort Atkinson) said she was voting against the bill — and others on the calendar — because they appeared to be written without “meaningful input” from teachers, administrators, superintendents, parents, students or community members. 

“I’m here to let you know that if you want support in the educational community for any education bill, you should do your homework,” Fitzgerald said, “including having conversations with the public and reaching across the aisle.” 

Fitzgerald said Franklin’s bill would take away local control from school districts and school boards and criticized the bill for including “vague” wording and “undefined terms,” saying the bills are unserious. 

“What about all the additional staff needed to meet the special needs of my students — people like speech pathologists, nurses, counselors? People I could not have done my job without,” Fitzgerald said. “That definition does include athletic programs…. Does it include bus transportation to get to games because I’ve heard that actual bus transportation is not included as a direct class transmission? Although I’ll admit I’m incredibly confused about that one, since I would not have had kids in my classroom in my rural district without bus transportation.” 

Rep. Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire) called the proposal an “arbitrary, one size fits all budget crackdown that limits our ability to meet moral and constitutional obligations.” 

The bill passed 53-44 with only Republican support.

The Assembly also passed AB 4, which would require civics instruction in K-12 schools, in a 52-46 vote. Sortwell and Goeben voted against the bill with Democrats.

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Correction: This story has been update to correct the vote on AB 2 and a quote.

A teacher and students in a classroom. (Klaus Vedfelt | Getty Images)

In its first hearing of the legislative session, the Assembly Education Committee took testimony Thursday on several Republican bills, including one that would reverse changes to state testing standards and others that implement new state requirements on local school districts. 

State Superintendent Jill Underly criticized several of the bills ahead of the hearing in a statement for not providing “real solutions” to the problems that school districts are facing across the state.

“[Republicans are] too busy playing political games, using our schools and children as pawns to push their own ideological agenda,” Underly said in a statement. “Rather than empowering local districts, they are intent on ignoring local control and imposing their own control over classrooms, dictating every move and actively trying to undermine public trust in our teachers and the entire education system.”

Reversing test score changes

The first bill — AB 1 — would reverse the changes to the Forward Exam test scores implemented by DPI last year.

Under the bill, Wisconsin would be required to return educational assessments to score ranges and qualitative terms that DPI used on school report cards for the 2019-2020 school year. It also would require DPI to align the Forward exam score ranges and pupil performance categories to those set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). 

Each year Wisconsin students take standardized tests, including the Forward Exam for third graders through eighth graders and the ACT and PreACT Secure for high school students, that help schools, teachers and families determine educational progress. 

Last year, DPI approved changes that included new terms to describe student achievement — “developing,” “approaching,” “meeting” and “advanced.” Previously, the terms were “below basic,” “basic,” “proficient” and “advanced.”

New cut scores were also implemented — switching the state from a 3-digit number to a 4-digit number score for the math and English/language arts (ELA) test and changing the test scores needed to qualify to be placed in each performance level. 

Sen. John Jagler (R-Watertown) said at the hearing that the recent changes to the test scores “broke the connection to previous years to allow us to see how our kids are performing over time.”

“As we move out of COVID, it is more important than ever that we’re able to see how our educational system is advancing or not advancing,” Jagler said. “Moving away from the national standards set by NAEP only compounded the problem.”

Jagler said he was “disturbed” to see recent NAEP results that found that 31% of fourth grade students were at or above proficient in reading and 8% were advanced. 

The Forward Exam results with the new cut scores found that public school student proficiency rates in ELA were 48%. 

“We simply can’t improve our numbers by cooking the books which it appears we’ve done here,” Jagler said.

Lawmakers said there needs to be more oversight of the process for test score review, especially as  more money is being requested for education in Wisconsin. Underly has proposed spending an additional $4 billion. 

“Later on in this session, there will be a request for billions of dollars to be invested in our schools. Should we, the Legislature, be able to determine where we are with other states that are making improvements?” Wittke commented.

Representatives from DPI defended the test score changes and said reverting to the old standards would not be an effective way of measuring test results any longer. 

Deputy State Superintendent Tom McCarthy, noting that Wisconsin has a seven-year process for reviewing standards, said Wisconsin hasn’t lowered its educational standards “one iota.” 

“If you ask a classroom teacher, what we are expecting them… to teach kids has continued to get more and more rigorous over the past decade,” McCarthy said. 

When it comes to NAEP, McCarthy said that it “does not have standards like we do,” adding of the NAEP standard rubric, that it “sometimes relates and it sometimes does not relate.”

DPI Director of the Office of Educational Accountability Viji Somasundaram noted that NAEP addresses the “proficiency” measure on its website. 

“It should be noted that the NAEP Proficient achievement level does not represent grade level proficiency as determined by other assessment standards (e.g., state or district assessments),” the website states.

Somasundaram also said that while state assessments are administered to every student in Wisconsin (in 2023-24 there was a 95.4% participation rate for public school students) the NAEP is only administered to a few thousand students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the NAEP just tests a representative sample in a state, so not every student in a school or school in a district participates. She said it is a “valuable tool” that can “provide comparison information across the states” and trend information over several years but it doesn’t provide grade level assessment.

Somasundaram explained the process for coming to the new state standards, saying it included input from 88 participants who met over the course of four days. She said they used a method called “bookmark” standard setting, which is used across the country for developing cut scores. DPI helped organize the session but isn’t involved in the process, she said.

“We have one of the most stable assessment systems and it is a practice that we have been following to bring educators together after we have a new assessment to establish cut points,” Somasundaram said. 

Some have complained that because participants were required to sign nondisclosure agreements it was a sign of a “secret” process, however, McCarthy said the NDAs were required since participants were looking at “live” test questions, which are considered “proprietary” information. 

“Reverting the cut course or having these conversations and accusing people of dumbing down or lowering standards is a convenient political narrative, but it’s not actually real,” McCarthy said. “It’s not what’s happening in schools.”

Rep. Cindi Duchow (R-Town of Delafield) accused DPI of trying to “muddy the waters” when it comes to the scores and focused specifically on the results in Milwaukee. The recent NAEP test results found concerning results for Milwaukee public schools, where only 9% of fourth-grade students tested proficient or above in reading. Other large cities had 26% of students at that level

“We got the national reading scores last week. MPS is the worst in the country. You should all be embarrassed,” Duchow said, “and if this was a private sector and not a government bureaucracy, you would all be fired.” 

“You’ve got nothing but word salads going on,” she added.

In response, McCarthy said that the challenges in Milwaukee Public Schools go beyond the agency and have existed since 1988 when the Legislature created the Milwaukee school voucher program.

“I would contend for you that since that point in time things have not actually gotten any better, it’s actually gotten worse,” McCarthy said. “If you want to sit down and have a conversation about what we can do to support Milwaukee and figure out how to drive their results, we’re on board, but the Department of Public Instruction does not have a lever to push that says ‘make Milwaukee better.’”

According to the Wisconsin lobbying website, the test score bill is supported by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, the City Forward Collective, Badger Institute, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, School Choice Wisconsin Action, Wisconsin Charter Action and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is registered in opposition.

Gov. Tony Evers’ spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. 

Dictating how districts allocate funds

The committee also discussed a bill that would impose new mandates on the way school districts allocate money.

The bill — AB 6 — would require school boards in Wisconsin to spend a minimum of 70% of operating money on direct classroom expenditures and would limit annual compensation increases for school administrators to the average annual percentage increase in total compensation that is provided to teachers in the school district. 

The bill defines “direct classroom expenditures” as money spent on “salaries and benefits of teachers and teacher aides, instructional supplies, tuition, athletic programs and cocurricular activities.”

Currently in Wisconsin, local school boards, which are elected by community members, are responsible for overseeing school spending. 

Bill coauthor Rep. Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere) said the bill would “provide fairness for our teachers and support staff and prioritize our students by making simple reforms to how schools use their resources.” He noted that, according to National Center for Education Statistics, positions devoted to school administration grew by 94.6% nationally between 2000 and 2022 while teaching positions have shrunk. He also noted the recent results on the NAEP test.

“In the business world if I invest money in a particular area and it yields negative or undesirable results, I would look to reallocating my resources to achieve the desired outcome,” Franklin said. “Government is no different. As state legislators, we have the responsibility to be wise stewards of citizens’ tax dollars and to make sure that we continue to invest back in our classrooms and not in the front office.”

Rep. William Penterman (R-Hustisford) asked how the author came to the 70% number. 

Franklin said that most school districts spend on average 73% in the classroom across the state, though he couldn’t name the source of the 73% average. He said 70% is an “achievable” number, and that the bill is a way to ensure districts that are “underperforming” keep up with other districts. 

If school districts don’t meet the requirement, DPI would be required to cut the district’s state aid payments by the difference between what the school board spent on direct classroom expenditures and the minimum that it should have spent on direct classroom expenditures. The district would also be prohibited from levying additional property taxes to compensate for the reduction. 

Under the bill, if the total reduction in state aid and other state payments does not cover a school board’s excess expenditures, DPI must order the school board to reduce the property tax obligations of its taxpayers, including providing refunds to taxpayers who have already paid their annual taxes, by an amount that represents the amount of excess expenditures that have not been recovered through the state aid reductions.

Franklin highlighted that Milwaukee Public Schools recently came under fire for attempting to increase four administrators’ salaries to $200,000 a year, though the district eventually decided against the raises due to the district’s current finances. The finances of the district have been under scrutiny over the last year due to the passage of one of the largest operating referendums in state history and the subsequent news that the district was late in delivering required financial information to DPI.

Underly said in her statement that the bill “threatens local control, burdens schools with unnecessary penalties and risks worsening the already fragile financial and administrative challenges districts face.” 

“Instead of top-down mandates, local communities should retain control over how their schools are run and the Legislature should instead focus on fully funding our public schools so they can meet their local priorities and student needs,” Underly said. 

During the hearing, DPI representatives presented more in-depth testimony about why the bill would be ineffective. 

Kimber Vercauteran with DPI noted that the state already limits school districts spending through revenue caps. She said that the agency is also supportive of local control, calling it “the most important aspect of our Wisconsin state law.” 

“This bill because it requires DPI to intervene, calculate, monitor and penalize spending at the district level lies in direct conflict with school boards, which are empowered with the supervision and management of schools,” Vercauteran said. “Boards are still best positioned to ensure that bonds are expended in accord with the needs of the community.” 

Vercauteran also said that the definition included in the bill may not cover all of the costs actually incurred. 

For example, she said, athletic activities usually require facilities. She said that the remaining 30% also may not cover the costs of other things including school safety, libraries and librarians, nutrition services, transportation or utilities as the bill is written. 

Vercauteran said there are also logistical problems with the enforcement mechanism included in the bill. She said that DPI doesn’t receive school district reports until after the end of a school year. 

“We would not be able to determine whether the district meets that 70% benchmark until well into the following year, and if this bill wants us to enact those aid reductions in that following year, school districts have little to no notification that they’re all of a sudden going to have an aid reduction,” Vercauteran said. 

Mandating two weeks for school materials inspections

Wisconsin Republicans are also resurrecting a bill that would set a deadline for a school district to respond to a resident’s written request to inspect a textbook, curriculum, or instructional material.

The bill — AB 5 — would require school districts to comply with requests within 14 days. 

This is the third session in which lawmakers have introduced a bill to accomplish this. In the 2021-23 session, the bill passed the Legislature and Evers vetoed it. Last session, the bill passed the Assembly and never received a vote in the Senate.

Nicholas Zabloudil, who works for bill author Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) — who was absent from the hearing due to illness — said the bill “is vital in restoring the relationship between parents and school districts.” 

“We’ve seen an outcry from parents around our state and frankly around the country regarding the lack of transparency in public schools,” Zabloudil said. He noted that in some cases  parents have made records requests and have encountered delays in receiving responses.

DPI testified against the bill, saying it is duplicative, unnecessary and would put a burden on school employees.

DPI Education Policy Advisor Laura Adams said that the agency fully believes in transparency for families and community members, but noted that there are already a variety of ways for people to gain access and to understand the types of instructional materials being used in schools

Adams said that open records laws “are already a vehicle for families and community members to be able to request instructional materials and to see the instructional materials that are being used.” 

Other laws in Wisconsin include one that requires a list of textbooks be filed with the school board clerk every year on an annual basis. Another state statute requires school boards to provide the complete human growth and development curriculum and all instructional materials for inspection to parents who request it.

The committee also took testimony Thursday on a bill to place cursive in Wisconsin’s educational standards and a bill to require students take a half-credit civics class.

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