Your WEAC Legislative Agenda

Throughout Wisconsin, WEAC members and parents work each day for better public schools. But it takes more than that to make our schools as good as they can be. It takes elected officials fully committed to public education. That's why WEAC members have developed a Legislative Agenda. Dozens of members are volunteering hundreds of hours interviewing candidates to see how each one measures up against this set of goals and priorities. Candidates — regardless of party affiliation — who best support this Legislative Agenda are recommended by WEAC members for election. From start to finish, WEAC members control the process and decide who gets the organization's election support. Most candidates will not get WEAC support until members decide through an internal election to support them, based on their positions on Legislative Agenda issues.

To Ensure Preparation for Productive Lives

• Develop Student Performance Assessments in 4th, 8th and 10th grades to make sure each student has mastered specific skills in English, math, science, social studies and the arts.
• Provide learning opportunities for all children in a school environment where parents are encouraged to work in partnerships with teachers.
• Establish a set of guiding principles for all who share in the responsibility of nurturing and educating young people.

To Ensure Discipline and a Safe School Environment

• Allow teachers to dismiss a dangerous or disruptive student from the classroom. The student would be readmitted only with the consent of the teacher following a parent-teacher conference. Appeals would be through a disciplinary panel composed of teachers. Impose strict penalties for possession of weapons, drugs or drug paraphernalia. Encourage schools to work with parents in developing codes for appropriate dress and behavior.
• Provide grants to develop alternative education programs for at-risk or disruptive students.

To Ensure Cooperation Among Students, Parents, Teachers and the Community

• Establish a council in the Department of Public Instruction to provide recommendations on parent/family involvement programs and to require school boards to develop these programs and establish family centers in the schools.
• Repeal the "qualified economic offer" language from the collective bargaining law that has undermined the morale and financial stability of education professionals.

To Ensure Highly Trained, Experienced and Accountable Education Professionals

• Establish a professional standards board in the Department of Public Instruction to develop standards for licensure, review, preparation and practice of the education profession. Create a pilot program for the 1997-98 school year for teachers to participate in the certification process conducted by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.

To Ensure Quality Education Using New Technologies

• Reduce class size to 15 for kindergarten and grades 1 through 3 by 2001.
• Expand technology use in classrooms by establishing bonding authority for school districts' technology expenditures, and exempting these expenditures from revenue limits. Also, create regional technology advisory councils and consolidate all K-12 technology programs in one agency.
• Improve aging and inadequate school buildings by requiring the Department of Public Instruction to study the condition and capacity of existing school facilities and their ability to support an environment conducive to learning.

Posted September 12, 1996