Voter ID Informational Resources from the GAB

Update: The voter ID requirement has been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Please see October 10th  post for more information.

As you have most likely heard, the state’s voter ID requirements will be in effect for the November 4 general election. This means that voters will need to present poll workers with an acceptable form of photo ID in order to cast a ballot on election day. If you are voting absentee, you must provide the municipal clerk with a copy of your photo ID along with your absentee ballot application if you are requesting a ballot by mail, or present your photo ID to the clerk’s office if you are voting in-person absentee (early voting).

The following photo IDs are acceptable for voting purposes, and can be unexpired or expired after the date of the most recent general election:

o A Wisconsin DOT-issued driver license, even if driving privileges are revoked or suspended

o A Wisconsin DOT-issued identification card

o Military ID card issued by a U.S. uniformed service

o A U.S. passport book or card

Other types of IDs are also acceptable but must be unexpired. To see the full list, click here.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is providing free state ID cards for voting. To learn about getting a free Wisconsin ID card, please visit the Wisconsin Department of Transportation website:http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/drivers/apply/idcard.htm.

The Government Accountability Board has launched a new website to help voters better understand the new photo ID requirements for voting and what they’ll need to bring with them to the polls on November 4.  Take a look at Bring it to the Ballot for comprehensive information on voter ID:  http://www.bringit.wi.gov/

In-person Absentee Voting

If you are planning on voting early at your municipal clerk’s office, you may do so from October 20 to October 31. Weekend voting is no longer permitted in Wisconsin, so clerks’ offices can only provide voters with a ballot Monday-Friday, during normal business hours.

Finding your polling place and seeing who is on your ballot

To find your polling place and see what will be on your ballot, follow this link.

State of Education Address

State Superintendent Tony Evers delivered his annual State of Education address yesterday.

In his speech Superintendent Evers highlighted the work of the Speaker’s Task Force on Rural Schools this past session.  He plans to work towards passing legislation this coming session that will support rural schools, including assisting with improved broadband and technology. 

Superintendent Evers also promises to introduce the Fair Funding for Our Future package again and stressed the importance of action being taken in the budget for school funding reform.  One of the main objectives of the package is to return state aid to the two-thirds funding commitment as well as appropriately adjusting the formula for such factors as poverty, rural districts and those with declining enrollment.  There would be an increase in state general equalization aid to all school districts under the proposal.

Other highlights include Wisconsin’s heightened academic standards, the implementation of Smarter Balanced and ACT tests as new student assessments, a new statewide educator effectiveness system as well as the success of the school report cards.  Evers also launched Promoting Excellence for All which is to serve as a resource for closing the achievement gap in Wisconsin.

Superintendent Evers: Big year for Wisconsin public schools

Department of Public Instruction Submits Budget Request

State agencies submitted their 2015-17 budget requests to the Department of Administration on Monday, September 15. The governor will use these requests to craft his or her 2015-17 state budget, which will be introduced in February or March of 2015.

State Superintendent Tony Evers will be submitting his budget request in two parts. The first, which he submitted on Monday, September 15, focuses on school safety and technology. The second part, which will focus on overall school funding, will be released in November.

“To address a growing digital divide, my proposals related to technology and libraries would ensure that all students and teachers-no matter where they live in the state—would have equitable access to high quality digital learning tools and content,” writes Superintendent Evers in his request. 

Major funding items that may be of interest, include:

WISElearn/Digital Learning Portal and E-Publication Grants: DPI is requesting an additional $2,060,000 in the first year of the biennium and $2,945,000 in the second year of the biennium to continue its development of the WISElearn, which includes the Digital Learning Portal, professional learning platform, learning management system, content repository, collaboration tools, and curricular content; as well as to provide funding for regional technical support centers. This funding will also support a matching grant program to provide e-publications to both school and public libraries as part of WISElearn. DPI believes that one-to-one matching grants to consortia purchasing e-publications would incentivize libraries to participate in consortia, which are designed to provide a lower cost method for purchasing these resources through volume purchasing and economies of scale. Consortia also facilitate sharing these resources across any participating public library or school district.

It is important to note that when discussing the ongoing development of the digital learning portal, DPI says that “the Department intends to take advantage of the existing skill base in digital learning of school library media specialists and school librarians to collaborate with instructional technology educators, classroom educators, and administrators to build a solid basis of support for this development.” To see the detailed WISElearn plan, please review pages 155-164 of this document.

Public Library System Aid: DPI is requesting an increase of $13,879,500 in the first year of the biennium and $14,168,400 in the second year of the biennium for state aid to the public library system. This would bring overall funding for the public library system to $28,892,600 in the first year of the biennium and $29,181,500 in the second year.

Badgerlink: DPI is requesting an increase of $486,400 in the first year of the biennium and $546,800 in the second year of the biennium to fund BadgerLink and the College and Career Ready Digital Modules and maintain the current level of services. This brings the total funding of BadgerLink to roughly $3 million in each year of the budget.

School Library Aids: DPI estimates that base level funding for school library aids will be $34 million in each year of the budget.

Wisconsin School Safety Center: DPI is requesting $700,000 in each year of the budget to establish the Wisconsin School Safety Center (WSSC) to provide guidance to schools on school violence and emergency preparedness issues. Emergency preparedness would be addressed by supporting schools in developing emergency plans and conducting emergency drills to prepare schools in the event that there is a weather or mass casualty situation at a school district. Violence prevention would be addressed by providing needs assessments and professional training to school districts on how to reduce incidents of student-on-student violence including fighting/assault, weapon carrying and use, and bullying and harassment.

School Violence Prevention Programs: DPI requests $2 million to help improve school safety by providing funding directly to school districts to support programs and activities that prevent school violence and protect students.

DPI-identified Goals for Aids to Libraries, Individuals and Organizations

Goal: Ensure all citizens have equal access to comprehensive public library resources and services.

Objective/Activity: All libraries make effective use of technology and the Internet in order to provide access to information and knowledge resources to the state's residents.

Goal: Build a solid foundation for learning for all children.

Objective/Activity: Provide early intervention services at the middle school level via the Wisconsin educational opportunity, precollege and early identification programs to reinforce a solid foundation for learning and academic performance.

Don't Forget to Vote Tomorrow!

Don’t forget to vote Tuesday, August 12 in Wisconsin’s Partisan Primary! 

Statewide primaries are as follows:  Democratic Governor,  Democratic Lieutenant Governor,  Democratic Attorney General, Republican and Democratic State Treasurer, and Republican Secretary of State.  Remember, you can only vote for one party on Tuesday!

There are also local races for state Assembly and Senate seats and several congressional primaries, including a hotly contested Republican primary in the 6^th Congressional District between State Senators Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) and Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan) and State Representative Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville), as well as an unexpected Democratic primary between Congresswoman Gwen Moore and former State Senator Gary George in the 4^th Congressional District.

To check your registration status and see what’s on your ballot, visit   myvote.wi.gov

From the Government Accountability Board: Top Ten Things Primary Voters Need to Know

Governor Walker Releases 2015-17 State Budget Policies

The 2015-17 state budget process officially began last week when Governor Walker released his budget directives to state agencies. 

Walker directed agencies to submit budget requests that include no new GPR appropriations, though he does list K-12 school aids as an exception to this, and called on agencies to eliminate or reform outdated programs.

“Agency requests should focus on continuing to grow our state’s economy and improve the lives of our fellow Wisconsinites,” writes Walker in a letter to state agency heads.  “Agencies are encouraged to reform or even eliminate obsolete and outdated programs in order to fund new initiatives within their current base, rather than seeking additional funds or positions.”

The letter highlights the state’s positive economic condition and the tax cuts implemented during the last state budget and legislative session.  Walker also signals a continued commitment to freezing tuition for UW students and making additional investments in transportation, technology and workforce development programs.

"In training and education, we will continue our efforts to leverage technology to provide students in all corners of the state with access to our world-class institutions, as we did with the UW Flexible Option," Walker says. 

Agency budget requests are due on September 15, 2014. Walker will use these requests to begin developing his 2015-17 state budget, which will be introduced in February. 

Governor Walker’s full letter to state agencies.

Full state budget directives

Governor Walker Calls on Legislature to Repeal Common Core

Late this afternoon, Governor Walker issued a press release calling for the repeal of the Common Core State Standards. In his release, Walker asks that the legislature pass a bill to repeal the standards at the start of the 2015-16 session.

The Standards were the topic of much debate during the 2013-14 legislative session, but Republican legislators were not able to reach a consensus on legislation before adjourning for the session. Senate Bill 619 and a substitute amendment to Assembly Bill 617 would have created a Model Academic Standards Board charged with creating new state standards in English, science, math and social studies to replace the Common Core State Standards.  The board would have been comprised of members chosen by the Governor, state superintendent of public instruction and the majority and minority leaders in both houses of the legislature.  The Assembly version was scheduled to be voted on in committee in February but the vote was postponed, and the Senate version received a  public hearing in March but was never voted out of committee. 

It is not clear if Walker wants to the legislature to act on a proposal similar to SB 619/AB 617 or create an entirely new bill. 

Several states, including Indiana, South Carolina and Oklahoma, have already passed bills repealing the Common Core State Standards.

The full release is issued below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 17, 2014

Contact: Laurel Patrick, (608) 267-7303

Governor Scott Walker Calls on the State Legislature to Pass Legislation to Repeal Common Core

Madison – Governor Scott Walker released the following statement calling for the Wisconsin State Legislature to repeal Common Core:

Today, I call on the members of the State Legislature to pass a bill in early January to repeal Common Core and replace it with standards set by people in Wisconsin.

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Panel Discusses Importance of Broadband Access for Education at PSC Symposium

The Public Service Commission held a Broadband Planning Symposium last week to discuss the future of broadband expansion.The importance of libraries and school districts in providing access to internet services was highlighted throughout the symposium.  During a presentation on focus groups held by the UW Extension on broadband access, a key observation highlighted by Extension staff was that libraries in rural and urban Wisconsin appear to be undergoing a fundamental transformation in how they do business—they are becoming default broadband hubs and online training centers for their individual communities.  Libraries and school districts play a large role in providing broadband access, but many are experiencing funding cuts which make it harder to maintain or expand current services. Extension staff said adequate support for the state's public library system will be important as Wisconsin works to increase broadband access. 

Several area educators spoke about the importance of broadband for the future of education.

John Pederson of WiscNet gave an excellent overview of the current level of connectivity in schools and the importance of getting schools to one gigabyte.  He said that currently 40% of school districts hit the maximum capacity on WiscNet every day and that in 2010 the FCC found that 80% of school districts report having inadequate broadband connections.

Educators on the panel highlighted the importance of providing digital content to meet the needs of their students, but noted the challenges of providing one-to-one devices when students cannot access the internet at home. Melissa Emler of the Shullsburg School District and Don Childs of the Antigo School District discussed the challenges of providing high-speed internet in schools. Emler said that her biggest challenge as an administrator is the cost of infrastructure. Childs also highlighted the difficulty of getting broadband internet into rural schools where there are often no providers within reach of the school.

John Tanner of the Oregon School District said that every year his district doubles the speed of their internet—and they are still not able to meet the needs of their students. He also discussed the importance of technology for student retention, saying that students are most likely to drop out when they don’t feel like the coursework is relevant to them. Tanner said that increased use of technology in the classroom is important since it will allow students to customize their education.

The panel consisted of the following educators:

Broadband Technology: Shaping the Future of Education - Panel overview by Kurt Kiefer, DPI

Panel 1 moderated by John Pederson, Wiscnet

Greg Barniskis, South Central Library Service                                    

 Don Childs, Antigo School District

Diane Doersch, Green Bay Area Public Schools                              

 Melissa Emler, Shullsburg School District

Jamie Lane, ERVING

Michelle Nickels, CESA 9

Renee Nolan, Fond du Lac School District

Jon Tanner, Oregon School District

You can watch the education panel here and video from the rest of the conference, including keynote addresses by Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and UW System President Ray Cross, is available here.

On a related note, the Public Service Commission announced the recipients of this year's broadband expansion grants, which were created in the 2013-15 state budget.  You can view the full list of recipients here.