Stop Special Needs Vouchers ANNOUNCEMENT: Tue. 6/30 Press Conference at the Capitol!

[Stop Special Needs Vouchers]

Greetings from Stop Special Needs Vouchers -- please forward widely and quickly!

Statewide Education Advocates Unite at Capitol Press Event

Stop Special Needs Vouchers is participating in a press event held by a coalition of groups actively supporting public education: Tuesday, June 30, 11am at the Capitol. The press conference will be followed by a reception to thank lawmakers who have signed on to pro-public-education legislation, and visits, if you wish, to the offices of legislators at the Capitol.

What: A day at the Capitol to call on all legislators to vote in favor of a budget that provides fair funding for public schools, and to reject unvetted and dangerous policy items such as special needs vouchers.
When: Tuesday, June 30, 11:00 am

Where: Senate Parlor, Wisconsin State Capitol

Who:  All education advocates who care to attend (is this YOU?)
Why: To call on legislators to listen to the people of Wisconsin and pass a budget that prioritizes public education funding (and rejects dangerous policy items), and to thank legislators promoting common sense legislation that responds directly to the concerns raised by districts statewide.

The following pro-public education bills are being introduced by friendly legislators. We will have an opportunity to thank these legislators Tuesday. 

LRB-2357, the Special Education Restoration Act, would provide some relief to local districts by increasing the state-level support for special education costs to 33%. While the state used to fund over 70% of special education costs, Wisconsin currently only pays for 26% of these high and growing expenses. Special education funding has been frozen for 8 years at this rate, and school districts all over the state have long been asking for more support.  This modest increase would be a dramatic improvement from the current situation and help districts meet the needs of all students.

LRB-2356, the Invest in Our Children Act, would allow locally elected local school boards to increase local levy limits to keep up with inflation. This would bring us back to a standard established by former Governor Tommy Thompson that puts control of levy limits in the hands of locally elected officials, who are accountable to local taxpayers. School districts all over the state have been asking for this flexibility, which would allow them to off-set the effects of decreased state funding to local schools.

If you are able to attend, please send e-mail to stopspecialn...@gmail.com and let us know!  

We can make sure you have a t-shirt if you need one.  Please bring a non-partisan, handmade sign to hold as well!

If you can't attend, please call your legislators and encourage them to support these bills, and to take education policy items OUT of the budget (special needs vouchers, voucher expansion, teacher licensure, the Milwaukee takeover proposal -- ALL of them!)

Hoping to see many of you there!

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Stop Special Needs Vouchers in West Bend, Sun. 6/28

Joanne Juhnke from Stop Special Needs Vouchers, along with other education advocates from across the state, will be speaking at the "Benders for Better Public Education Rally" at 2:30pm, Sunday 6/28, at Settlers Park in downtown West Bend. Come join us if this is your neck of the woods!  Benders for Better Public Education is one of several new parent-led groups that have formed in Wisconsin recently to stand up for students and the neighborhood schools that are the heart of our communities.  Welcome!

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Special Needs Vouchers and Undermined Teacher Licensure: A Toxic Combination

Stop Special Needs Vouchers issued the following press release earlier this month, online at http://thewheelerreport.com/wheeler_docs/files/0618ssnv.pdf

Madison, WI – “How can this be happening to students with disabilities in Wisconsin?” That’s the question on the minds of parents of students with disabilities all over the state, as the implications of the Joint Finance Committee’s special education bombshells become ever clearer. Two particularly damaging proposals were introduced without warning or public discussion on May 19 and voted into the budget after midnight: special needs vouchers and a massive dilution of teacher licensure standards. Taken in combination, these two proposals are even more damaging for students with special education needs in our state. 

The families of Stop Special Needs Vouchers have strongly objected to harmful special needs voucher proposals that have repeatedly been introduced and defeated in Wisconsin. Families are deeply concerned about the lack of rights and protections for students with disabilities in private voucher schools, and the increasing drain on funding for the public schools that must accept and educate students of all abilities. 

Meanwhile, the proposal to credential grade 6-12 teachers in non-core subjects without even a bachelor’s degree, solely upon administrator request in public, charter, or private voucher schools, brings an additional hidden threat to the education of students with disabilities. Though special education is a specialized and demanding profession, it falls into the category of “any subject area excluding English, social studies, mathematics or science” as outlined in the motion. The prospect of credentialing untrained, non-degreed “special educators” to teach in any type of publicly-funded school in Wisconsin has left parents of students with disabilities with their jaws on the floor. 

“These proposals are downright disrespectful to children and families, not to mention the professional special educators in our public schools across the state,” says Tracy Hedman, whose 11-year-old son Cyril has an IEP in the Glendale - River Hills school district. “What are we saying about how we value students with disabilities and those who teach them, when we say that just-about-anyone can get credentialed as special educators, and that voucher schools aren’t even required to address their educational needs?” 

Kelli Simpkins, whose 13-year-old son Mickey has an IEP in the Madison school district, sees a bonechilling prospect ahead as the two proposals interact. “Can you imagine what a shady voucher-school operator could do with this?” she asks. “They could hire anyone with a high-school diploma and declare that person to be a qualified special educator, no proof required. Then they could market their newly Stop Special Needs Vouchers is comprised of Wisconsin families committed to quality inclusive public education and to stopping harmful special needs vouchers. DPI-credentialed ‘special educators’ in combination with the special needs vouchers to unsuspecting parents, who will have no way to tell the difference. Why in the world are we making this possible?” 

Neither the special needs vouchers nor the teacher licensure debasement proposal belong in Wisconsin’s budget. The parents of Stop Special Needs Vouchers call upon the legislature to remove this toxic combination altogether, before it’s too late.

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