The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) approved on Wednesday the Department of Public Instruction's plan outlining how they will use the $17.4 million in flexible Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding provided to Wisconsin by the federal CARES Act. JFC negotiated with DPI to make one minor change to the plan, which had originally let DPI keep up to $500,000 for administrative costs. JFC lowered this amount to $350,000.
DPI's plan does the following:
1. Minimum Level of Support: This plan proposes to provide every local educational agency with at least $40,000 from the Emergency Relief Fund. This is estimated to require approximately $1.5 million.
2. Building capacity for, and expanding access to, high quality online instructional resources: DPI will collaborate with the Wisconsin Digital Learning Collaborative, the CESA Instructional Technology Network and the the Institute for Personalized Learning to support online, blended, and remote instructional delivery systems. DPI plans to focus on providing additional capacity to facilitate access to online and blended courses and support for schools to build out their own high-quality online or blended instruction.
3.Providing training for educators in the provision of online and remote instruction. DPI will work with educator preparation programs to prepare educators for delivering instruction in online and remote settings.
4. Expanding and building capacity of school staff to provide mental health services to better support students. DPI will provide resources and online training to support mental health offerings for students and school staff.
DPI will use its federal grants portal, WISEgrants, as the platform to distribute these funds to school districts.
Additional Funding for Library Services: the CARES Act also provided funding for the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Wisconsin will receive $526,106. DPI intends to pass through the additional funds to public libraries.
Update on Safer at Home Strike Down; Future COIVD-19 State Plans
After Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling striking down the Safer at Home Order, there is no longer a statewide COVID-19 plan. However, the Court's ruling did not impact the provision closing schools for the remainder of the school year. The Supreme Court in its ruling said it is up to lawmakers and Governor Evers’ administration to come up with a new COVID-19 plan.
Governor Evers approved a draft scope statement from the Department of Health Services on Thursday afternoon allowing them to come up with a new COVID-19 plan using the administrative rules process. According to DHS, the proposed rule will likely include a variety of temporary measures, such as limits of gathering size, social distancing requirements and safeguards for businesses as well as a phased approach for fully reopening the economy.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald released a joint statement following the court's ruling saying they would be open to working with the Evers administration "to begin promulgating rules that would provide clear guidance in case COVID-19 reoccurs in a more aggressive way.”
However, lawmakers have been clear that they do not support a plan that would shut down businesses.
“The Badger Bounce Back Plan and any other plan that might have been out there that was a transition from the full shutdown to opening businesses up, that's behind us now, that's over with — the court resolved that," Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald said following a Thursday meeting with Governor Evers and Assembly Speaker Vos.
Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) said decisions should be made at a local level, “If anything like that were to occur, it certainly wouldn’t be on a statewide basis.”
