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DPI, SAA Prevail in Coyne v. Walker
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 18, 2016
You might recaIl that, in a “Friend of the Court” brief filed with the State Supreme Court last October, the School Administrators Alliance (SAA) and the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) requested that the Court hold 2011 Wisconsin Act 21 unconstitutional and affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals in Coyne v. Walker.
WASB and SAA were joined in this important endeavor by the Wisconsin Retired Educators’ Association (WREA), the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance (WiRSA), the Southeast Wisconsin Schools Alliance (SWSA), Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW), Wisconsin PTA, and Professor Julie Underwood.
Our attorneys are currently analyzing the decision. More information will follow.
From WisPolitics.com …
A split state Supreme Court today nixed giving the guv oversight of DPI administrative rules.
Republicans approved Act 21 to give the guv’s office more input on the administrative rules written by state agencies.
But Justice Michael Gableman, writing for a 4-3 majority, found the law improperly gave the guv and DOA secretary oversight of the state schools superintendent and DPI. Gableman wrote that’s because the superintendent and agency don’t have a process to proceed with rulemaking if the guv and DOA secretary withhold approval.
Gableman noted the Wisconsin Constitution gave the Legislature broad discretion to define the powers and duties of the superintendent and other offices of public instruction. But it also requires the “Legislature to keep the supervision of public instruction in the hands of the officers of supervision of public instruction.” Act 21 improperly gives the guv and in some instances the DOA secretary supervision of public instruction, he said.
“Thus, Act 21 unconstitutionally vests the supervision of public instruction in officers who are not officers of supervision of public instruction,” Gableman wrote.
Justices Shirley Abrahamson, Ann Walsh Bradley and David Prosser concurred with Gableman.
It’s the third court win for those opposed to the law. A Dane County court and a court of appeals reached similar conclusions.
Chief Justice Pat Roggensack dissented, arguing the rules process is a legislative authority granted to the superintendent, not a constitutional one, and the Legislature has the oversight of that process. Justices Rebecca Bradley and Annette Ziegler joined the dissent.
Read the decision here.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel News Story
Wisconsin State Journal News Story
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