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180-Day Bill Circulating for Co-Sponsorship
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 7, 2014
Senator Luther Olsen and Representative Steve Kestell are circulating for co-sponsorship companion bill drafts (LRB 1721/4 and 2248/2) that would remove the 180-day requirement but maintain the minimum hours of instruction requirement. The SAA has been working with the authors on the development of this legislation. Please note that the co-sponsorship deadline ends at 4:00pm on Monday, February 10th. Please encourage your legislators to sign on as co-sponsors. We also believe this bill will receive a public hearing in the very near future, perhaps as early as next week.
The co-sponsorship memo appears below:
The purpose of this bill is twofold: 1) Provide school districts with more flexibility in terms of the number of days per year that they must provide instruction; and 2) Ensure that school districts receive aid for students while in sessions not considered part of the regular school year, including summer school and interim sessions.
School districts are increasingly wanting and needing flexibility in order to provide the best education to their students. One area where districts have requested flexibility is around the number of days they are required to hold school each year. Current law requires that students be in school for 180 days AND maintain a minimum number of hours of instruction; this bill removes the requirement for the number of days but maintains the minimum number of hours. In this way, the bill provides flexibility without compromising instructional time.
In addition, some school districts are choosing to operate schools on a non-traditional calendar, most often with schools that operate year-round but also have interim sessions, which function similarly to summer sessions in terms of providing a period of instruction outside of the regular school year. This bill ensures that school districts can receive aid for students during both summer school and interim sessions.
Stay tuned. The SAA will keep members informed of developments on legislation impacting K-12 education as we march toward the conclusion of the legislative session.
See Bill Draft here.
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