School Board Members on Board for Adequacy

At the 82nd Wisconsin school leadership convention in late January 2003, school board members from the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES) pumped up support for adequacy among a large number of delegates from throughout the state.

From advocacy to information to hospitality, WAES school board partners reached out to their colleagues who had traveled to Milwaukee for the annual joint convention of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB), the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, and the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials. WAES members raised adequacy funding reform for a vote from the floor, presented the Wisconsin Adequacy Plan during a special convention forum, and hosted a hospitality suite that attracted over 60 convention-goers.

Floor Fight on Adequacy

A goal of WAES partners was to seek convention support for funding Adequacy.

In early January, the West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board submitted a resolution to WASB for inclusion in the delegate assembly discussion. The resolution was based on the four core principles of WAES that have already been endorsed by a dozen school boards and other organizations. The resolution was not included in the convention agenda. Resolution committee members wouldn't accept the resolution, claiming that the principles were already included in other resolutions passed by previous delegates or to be voted on during the convention.

Tuesday evening, January 21, WAES partners attended the resolution committee meeting to object to the ruling and try to submit the original resolution again, this time as an emergency resolution based on the fluidity of the school finance and budget situations in Wisconsin. Again, the resolutions committee disagreed.

The emergency resolution, submitted on behalf of the Middleton-Cross Plains School Board by member Ellen Lindgren, said that the four principles of adequacy would allow the WASB to respond more quickly and adapt more realistically to the changing political climate in the state Capitol.

Undaunted, WAES partners and their allies came close to opening a discussion on adequacy in order to move beyond WASB's recommendations. However, WAES delegates were not called upon early enough and both the clock and the quorum ran out as delegates began leaving for lunch.

Rita Kohls, the delegate from the West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board, tried to get the original resolution introduced from the floor. She was supported by WAES partners Nancy Horns, Verona School Board; Bill Rehnstrand, Superior School Board; and Lindgren. Also speaking for consideration of the resolution was Green Bay School Board member Andrew Becker.

Many of the delegates who were there for the 8 a.m. start of the session were gone when Kohls took the microphone at about 12:20 p.m. Then, just as the vote was about to be taken, the chair of the assembly called for a delegate count that showed there was no longer a quorum present. The meeting was then quickly adjourned.

Although many of the WAES partners and other delegates were disappointed that parliamentary circumstances rather than a majority of votes ended the discussion before it began, some of the momentum created carried over to the next day, Thursday, January 23.

School Funding Reform Panel Discussion

Jack Norman, research director for the Institute for Wisconsin's Future and finance advisor for WAES, presented the Adequacy Plan at a special session panel dealing with school funding reform. Other participants were Doug Haselow of the Association for Equity in Funding; Rep. Michael Lehman (R-Hartford) who has co-authored a reform plan with Rep. Wayne Wood (D-Janesville); and Michael Boerger, aid to Sen. Michael Ellis (R-Neenah), who has a plan.

Nearly 200 people attended. Each participant outlined their plan for the board members, administrators, and school business officials assembled and then answered questions.

"The only true reform plan," Norman said, "is a plan based on adequacy that gives every child in the state—despite where they live or their special circumstances—the opportunity to meet Wisconsin's rigorous academic standards."

A Chance to Chat

Following the special forum, WAES partners hosted a hospitality suite in the Hilton Hotel. At least 60 people stopped by, talked about school-funding reform, and became better acquainted with each other and the adequacy model.

The evening was hosted by school board members Ellen Lindgren of Middleton-Cross-Plains, Jennifer Morales and Peter Blewitt of Milwaukee, Kathy Zingsheim of West Allis-West Milwaukee, Jerry Erdman of Tigerton, and Bill Rehnstrand of Superior.

Those taking part in the discussion included board members and administrators from the school districts of South Shore, Racine, Shell Lake, Waukesha, Parkview, Peshtigo, Phillips, Janesville, Milwaukee, Superior, Albany, Monticello, Balsam Lake, New Berlin, Birchwood, Waupun, Solon Springs, River Ridge, Algoma, Burlington, and Lake Geneva, among others.

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