All news
Doyle signs school air quality, labor history education bills into law
Posted: 12/11/2009 8:58:09 AM
 | Surrounded by supporters, Governor Jim Doyle signs a bill requiring that the history of organized labor and the collective bargaining process be incorporated into the state's model academic standards for social studies. |
Governor Jim Doyle on Thursday (December 10, 2009) signed into law bills protecting indoor school environmental quality as well as incorporating the history of organized labor and the collective bargaining process into the state's model academic standards for social studies.
Protecting school air quality is a 2009-10 WEAC Legislative Agenda. The School Indoor Environmental Quality law provides school districts with expertise and guidance from a state task force of diverse members that will develop recommendations for a model management plan for maintaining indoor environmental quality in schools. Additionally, the law ensures that over time all school districts adopt and implement a locally developed plan to maintain indoor environmental quality in their school buildings.
More than 20 states have passed laws to address indoor environmental quality in schools. Schools throughout Wisconsin are struggling with air quality concerns such as mold, fungi, asbestos, carbon dioxide, and poor ventilation. Left unaddressed, such issues can lead to health problems, reduced student academic achievement and teacher performance, accelerated school building deterioration, school closings, and student and staff relocation – all major disruptions of the learning process.
The school indoor environmental quality bill was authored by Senator Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa) and Representative Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee).
The labor history education law requires that the history of organized labor and the collective bargaining process be incorporated into the state's model academic standards for social studies. The law helps make students more aware about working class heroes who have led the charge to bring equity and justice to the workplace.
The labor history bill was authored by Representative Andy Jorgensen (D-Fort Atkinson) and Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay).
