The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee voted Thursday (May 20, 1999) to increase funding for special education and the SAGE class size reduction program -- two of the top legislative priorities of WEAC and education coalitions.
The key votes came two days after about 200 educators, parents and citizens came to the Capitol to lobby for special education funding and two weeks after a similar lobby day focused on the SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) program. Both lobby days were organized by coalitions that include WEAC.
The Joint Finance Committee voted, 14-2, to increase categorical aids for special education by $35 million over the next two years. While that amount is less than what was sought by educators and parents, it was a significant improvement over the governor's budget proposal, which froze special education categorical aids at $275.5 million.
State statutes require that the state fund 63% of special education costs, but the state contribution has fallen over the last few years and is now at about 31%. Educators who came to the Capitol earlier in the week lobbied for at least 50% state funding. They said school districts are increasingly being forced to take money from regular education programs to fund special education services, which are required by law. While the Joint Finance action is a step in the right direction, it is not likely to raise the state's percentage above the current 31% but will prevent it from falling much further.
"At least the committee recognizes there is a problem here that must be addressed," said WEAC President Terry Craney. "They haven't by any means solved it, but they are moving in the right direction."
The Joint Finance Committee is the Legislature's key budget panel. It takes the governor's two-year budget proposal, rewrites it and submits it to the full Legislature for floor action.
In another key vote, the committee voted, 14-2, to spend a total of $53 million to increase the number of schools participating in the SAGE program from 80 to 146. Fifty-three of the additional 66 participating schools will be in Milwaukee.
SAGE provides state funding to help reduce class sizes in kindergarten through 3rd grade in schools with significant concentrations of children from low-income families. The goal is to keep those classes to a maximum of 15 students. Follow-up studies have shown it to be extremely successful in raising achievement levels of students.
The governor's budget proposal had set different eligibility criteria for Milwaukee schools. For a Milwaukee school to be eligible for SAGE funding, at least 80% of its students had to be from low-income families. Outside Milwaukee, the threshold was 62%. The Joint Finance action changed the requirement to 65% for all schools, including those in Milwaukee.
In other votes, the Joint Finance Committee took three actions that affect school district revenue controls. It:
- Provided $6.5 million for an inflationary adjustment to the revenue caps. This will allow school districts to increase revenue to $212.43 per pupil in 1999-2001 and $216.68 in 2000-'01. The governor recommended freezing the per pupil cap at $208.88 indefinitely.
- Provided $1.5 million to decrease the disparity between low-revenue and high-revenue school districts. This will provide additional flexibility under the caps for the poorest districts in the state.
- Approved the governor's plan to relieve the impact of revenue controls on districts with declining enrollments. This provision allows school districts to calculate decreasing pupil counts as 75% of what they otherwise would be for the purposes of calculating allowable revenue increases under the caps. However, the committee modified this plan to apply the same 75% calculation to increasing enrollments.
In other action, the committee:
- BadgerLink: Approved $2.5 million to continue BadgerLink, an Internet-based research service that is popular in school libraries. Federal funding for BadgerLink ends in December, and the service would be discontinued without state funding. The governor had initially included no BadgerLink funding in his budget proposal but has since agreed to a funding plan that uses money from the TEACH (Technology for Educational Achievement) Wisconsin initiative.
- Preschool to Grade 5 Grants: Provided $350,200 annually for P-5 categorical aids. The P-5 program operates in 39 elementary schools in four school districts with high concentrations of economically disadvantaged low-achieving pupils. It promotes 4-year-old-kindergarten, remedial assistance for low-performing pupils, parent involvement and staff development. P-5 schools are excluded from the SAGE program.
Posted May 21, 1999
