Stop Special Needs Vouchers Wisconsin Action Alert, NO to voucher expansion in state budget! (July 21, 2017)

[Stop Special Needs Vouchers]

NO to Special Needs Voucher Expansion in the 2017/19 State Budget!

As you may be aware, the Wisconsin State Budget for 2017/19 is now three weeks overdue.  The powerful Joint Finance Committee (JFC), which is responsible for deliberating on the state budget and moving it forward, has not met in a month.  Education is one of the areas the committee has yet to consider.

This week, however, two things have happened of particular concern regarding special needs vouchers.

First, the Republicans of the State Senate have released their own version of a state budget proposal, including a voucher-lobby wish list for expansion of the special needs voucher program.

Second, Rep. Nygren, co-chair of the JFC, has requested that the committee begin meeting again as early as next week!

As you are probably aware, Wisconsin's special needs voucher program was created in the 2015/2017 state budget, in a surprise after-midnight vote, over the objections of parents and disability organizations across the state. At the heart of our objections: students in public schools have a whole host of rights and protections under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the doors of our public schools are open to all, regardless of disability.  In private voucher schools, the IDEA does not apply so voucher students with disabilities lose their IDEA rights and protections -- and tax dollars get diverted from our already-underfunded public schools!

Back in 2015, voucher proponents said that the special needs vouchers were aimed at students with IEPs in the public schools who had attempted to open-enroll into neighboring school districts but were denied. Then when the program was implemented, we learned that many of the vouchers were going to existing private school students, who were being instructed to actively seek open-enrollment denials in order to qualify (MKE Journal Sentinel, 10-23-2016, http://tinyurl.com/y83e8lqf ).Even with this thumb on the scale, the program only succeeded in filling 202 of 421 available special needs voucher seats for fall 2016, but the cost to school districts was still $2.4 million in state aid.

And now, the budget proposal from the state senate Republicans reveals that the rationales about IEPs and open enrollment denials were never really serious to begin with.

Senate Republicans have proposed adding the following special needs voucher expansions to the state budget:

• Eliminating the open-enrollment denial requirement
• Eliminating the requirement that students attend the prior full year at a public school
• Eliminating the requirement that a student have an IEP at a public school, as long as they've been identified as being in need of services
• Allowing special needs voucher schools to set up virtual-school programs
  

These proposals are estimated to increase special needs vouchers by 250 students relative to Governor Walker's budget proposal, more students than are currently even in the program! And, of course, all this expansion would happen at the expense of our already-underfunded public schools and the students who attend.

The Joint Finance Committee needs to hear from us, as soon as possible!

Tell them:
-- We need our Wisconsin tax dollars to fund public education, where students with disabilities have the full rights and protections of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

-- Special needs vouchers are risky for students who take them, and harmful to students with disabilities in public schools, as increasingly more funding gets diverted into unaccountable private schools

-- Please reject all the special needs voucher expansion proposals in the senate Republican budget plan:
   * REJECT eliminating the open-enrollment denial requirement
   * REJECT eliminating the requirement that students attend the prior full year at a public school
   * REJECT eliminating the requirement that a student have an IEP (and not just an in-need-of-services identification) at a public school 
   * REJECT allowing special needs voucher schools to set up virtual-school programs
-- Please end a decade of flat-funding special education in our public schools, by increasing the special education categorical aid reimbursement to 33%.

EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR THE JOINT FINANCE COMMITTEE:

Sen.D...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Rep.N...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Sen....@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Rep.Ko...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Sen.Ha...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Sen.V...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Sen.T...@legis.wi.gov; 

Sen.Ma...@legis.wi.gov; 

Sen.Er...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Sen.T...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Rep.Ro...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Rep....@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Rep.Fel...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Rep.Lou...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Rep....@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Rep.Sh...@legis.wisconsin.gov; 

Questions? Let us know at StopSpecialNeedsVouchers@gmail.com. 

Thank you in advance!


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Register Today! 3rd Annual WPEN Summer Summit

Stop Special Needs Vouchers is part of the Wisconsin Public Education Network, and this year's August 9 summer summit in Lake Mills has a great lineup!

You are invited to join us for the 3rd Annual Wisconsin Public Education Network Summer Summit - the Wisconsin public education advocacy event of the year: an opportunity like no other to connect with and learn from other supporters of public schools. From parents and  grassroots organizers to academics and administrators, the Summit showcases the expertise and experience that all of our statewide partners bring to the important work we do in supporting our students and their public schools.

Click here to register and learn more  

Building on our 2017 theme - GO PUBLIC! - this year's lineup includes interactive sessions with trusted experts and veteran organizers on the topics our statewide partners want to talk about most. The day opens with a welcome from Dr. Tony Evers, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and closes with the Wisconsin premiere of the brand-new documentary, Backpack Full of Cash, and a conversation with our special guests, Sarah Mondale and Vera Aronow, director and producers of the film. An optional dinner follows.


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Please help us extend this invitation to all who need to be part of these conversations. Forward this message widely to administrators, board members, parents, and community leaders who support strong local schools, and invite your entire team to join us. You'll want to split up and take in as many sessions as you can!  You can also share this link directly: https://summer_summit. eventbrite.com.

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