WEAC's advocacy has been instrumental in the establishment of SAGE schools throughout Wisconsin.

Despite a hostile governor, a volatile Legislature, and the success of several harmful anti-public education initiatives, the 1990s provided some major victories for WEAC and friends of education in Wisconsin.

Throughout the 1990s, seniors in Wisconsin’s public high schools maintained the highest scores in the nation on the ACT college entrance exam. Wisconsin students were first or second every year throughout the 1990s, and first from 1994 on. This accomplishment is testimony to the quality of Wisconsin’s public school teachers and educational support personnel. Students learn well because they are taught well, and Wisconsin’s students are the best because they learn from the best.

One of WEAC’s proudest moments in the often-turbulent 1990s was the 1995 creation of the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) class-size reduction program. SAGE was developed based on the work of a special task force appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and supported by WEAC to study the condition of urban education in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Urban Initiative Task Force developed a program to guarantee academic achievement for poor children through lower class sizes, the use of school facilities as community centers, rigorous curricula, and increased professional development for educators. The SAGE program began with 30 schools in 21 districts in the 1996–1997 school year and grew to serve kindergarten through third-grade students in 78 schools in 46 school districts by the 1999–2000 school year. Participating districts received $2,000 per student and were required to meet specific contractual requirements with the Department of Public Instruction. They were also required to take part in an extensive evaluation of the program conducted by the Center for Urban Initiatives and Research at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

One of WEAC's proudest moments in the often-turbulent 1990s was the 1995 creation of the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) class-size reduction program.

In addition, districts agreed to turn schools into “lighted schoolhouses” that were open for extended hours, to develop rigorous academic programs, and to establish and implement plans for staff development and accountability.

A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee evaluation of the first three years of the program showed that students in the SAGE schools scored significantly higher than students in the comparison schools in reading, language arts, and mathematics—a stunning measure of success for the innovative new program.

As WEAC continued to push for more funding and expansion of the program, SAGE became a favored subject of budget negotiations. Anti-education elements who repeatedly tried to cut state funding for the program could not stop SAGE from growing into a program that school districts throughout the state wanted as soon as they were eligible to participate. In fact, in the 1999-2001 state budget, in what was WEAC’s top legislative priority, eligibility was expanded to allow approximately 400 more schools into the program, and provisions were added to provide for partial state reimbursement to school districts for the costs related to the construction of new classrooms for the SAGE program.

SAGE was a great victory for students, communities and WEAC. Smaller class sizes meant more one-on-one attention for students—which translated into higher student achievement—and it also made it easier for teachers to maintain discipline in the classroom so that unruly students would not interfere with the learning of everyone else.

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