Wisconsin Family Action’s 2017 Legislative Priorities for EDUCATION:
- Change teacher requirements for voucher school teachers to match State of Wisconsin Higher Education Aids Board (HEAB) and ICE’s requirements for student visas.
- HEAB provides scholarships for certain schools that for religious reasons have declined to be accredited, but are still recognized by other peer schools and by ICE and HEAB.
- Helps voucher schools find teachers.
- Pertinent statutes with recommended changes:
SECTION 3366. 119.23 (2) (a) 6. a. of the statutes is amended to read:
119.23 (2) (a) 6. a. Except as provided in subd. 6. c., all of the private school’s teachers have a teaching license issued by the department or a bachelor’s degree or a degree or educational credential higher than a bachelor’s degree, including a masters or doctorate, from an a nationally or regionally accredited institution of higher education, or, if not so accredited, is a nonprofit institution of higher education whose credits are accepted on transfer by not less than 3 institutions which are so accredited, on the same basis as if transferred from an institution so accredited.
SECTION 3367. 119.23 (2) (a) 6. b. of the statutes is amended to read:
119.23 (2) (a) 6. b. All of the private school’s administrators have at least a bachelor’s degree from a nationally or regionally accredited institution of higher education, or, if not so accredited, is a nonprofit institution of higher education whose credits are accepted on a transfer by not less than 3 institutions which are so accredited, on the same basis as if transferred from an institution so accredited, or a teaching license or administrator’s license issued by the department.
118.60(2)(a)6.a. a. Except as provided in subd. 6. c. and d., all of the private school’s teachers have a teaching license issued by the department or a bachelor’s degree or a degree or educational credential higher than a bachelor’s degree, including a masters or doctorate, from a nationally or regionally accredited institution of higher education, or, if not so accredited, is a nonprofit institution of higher education whose credits are accepted on a transfer by not less than 3 institutions which are so accredited, on the same basis as if transferred from an institution so accredited.
118.60(2)(a)6.b. All of the private school’s administrators have at least a bachelor’s degree from a nationally or regionally accredited institution of higher education or, if not so accredited, is a nonprofit institution of higher education whose credits are accepted on a transfer by not less than 3 institutions which are so accredited, on the same basis as if transferred from an institution so accredited, or a teaching license or administrator’s license issued by the department.
- Reduction/ elimination of mandatory fee for voucher schools (Wis. Stat. 119.23(2)(a) which currently costs choice schools around $1,000 a year
- Bussing equality for choice schools– (repeal Wis. Stat. 121.55(3)(b))
- If a choice school has a family of 4 students eligible for busing, even though it costs $900 per student ($3,600), the school only will get reimbursed for one student, not for all students.
- Repeal of Wis. Stat. 121.55(3)(b) can get the busing provided for each student, not just each family.
- 55(3)(b) was added in the 2009 budget (Jim Doyle’s last) as a means to squeeze choice schools.
- Repeal Ban on Tuition Grants to Theology Majors
- Stat. 39.30(2)(d) prohibits Wisconsin Tuition Grants that are available to all Wisconsin students attending Wisconsin schools if those grants are being used by religious students at a religious school for a religious degree. Locke v. Davey attempted to repeal these and other Blane Amendment provisions, but the US Supreme Court upheld this “play in the joints.”
Wis. Stat. 39.30(2)(d) No grant shall be awarded to members of religious orders who are pursuing a course of study leading to a degree in theology, divinity or religious education.
