AB748: Bill Text

LRB-4267/1

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2011 - 2012 LEGISLATURE

2011 Assembly BILL 748

March 15, 2012 - Introduced by Representative Krusick. Referred to Committee on Education.

AB748,2,2 An Act to renumber and amend 118.60 (7) (e) and 119.23 (7) (e) 1.; to amend 115.28 (7) (b), 118.19 (1), 118.225 (intro.), 118.225 (3), 118.60 (7) (am) 1., 118.60 (10) (d), 119.23 (7) (am) 1. and 119.23 (10) (d); to repeal and recreate 119.23 (7) (f); and to create 115.28 (27), 118.30 (1m) (c), 118.30 (1r) (c), 118.30 (4m), 118.60 (6m) (b) 5., 118.60 (6m) (e) and (f), 118.60 (6p), 118.60 (7) (b) 8., 9., 10., 11. and 14., 118.60 (7) (e) 1. a. to f., 118.60 (7) (e) 2., 118.60 (10) (am) 4., 118.60 (11) (c) and (d), 118.60 (12), 119.16 (15), 119.23 (6m) (b) 5., 119.23 (6m) (e) and (f), 119.23 (6p), 119.23 (7) (b) 8., 9., 10., 11. and 14., 119.23 (7) (e) 1. a. to f., 119.23 (7) (e) 1m., 119.23 (10) (am) 4., 119.23 (11) (c) and (d) and 119.23 (12) of the statutes; relating to: reporting of student testing results in public schools and in private schools participating in a parental choice program, a school assessment guide, licensure of teachers in private schools participating in a parental choice program, and evaluation of teachers and principals.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill makes a number of changes in the laws governing public schools, including charter schools, and private schools participating in a parental choice program (PCP). Under the PCP, a pupil who resides in the city of Milwaukee or in an eligible school district (the Racine Unified School District) may attend a private school (PCP school) at state expense under certain conditions. The changes under the bill include the following:

Teacher and principal evaluations

Under current law, a school board may use value-added analyses of scores on standardized examinations required to be administered to pupils under state and federal law to evaluate the pupils' teachers if the school board has developed a teacher evaluation plan with several specified elements. This bill permits school boards to use value-added analyses of scores on both standardized examinations and pupil assessments to evaluate not just teachers but also principals. The bill also requires PCP schools to annually evaluate the effectiveness of each teacher employed by the PCP school on the basis of pupil scores, standardized examinations, and pupil assessments.

School assessment guide

The bill directs the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to develop a guide for parents to use in assessing public and private schools, including charter schools. The guide must include a variety of information, including information on how to evaluate the academic performance of pupils enrolled in a school, a school's academic opportunities, and a school's expenditures per enrolled pupil. The guide must be developed in consultation with specified public and private educational organizations. DPI must then post the guide on its Web site and make copies available to schools upon request.

Teacher licensure

Under current law, a person is not required to be licensed to teach in any private school. Beginning in the 2012-13 school year, this bill requires each PCP school to ensure that every teacher, principal, administrator, and professional staff member holds a license or permit to teach issued by DPI.

Cost report for Milwaukee Public Schools

The bill requires Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) to report annually to the legislature the costs it incurred in the previous school year in connection with the PCP, including transportation costs and costs of providing special education to pupils attending PCP schools.

Disclosure requirements

The bill requires each PCP school to provide, annually to DPI and upon request to any person, all of the following:

1. Rates of graduation, truancy, attendance, suspension, and expulsion in the previous school year.

2. The PCP school's requirements for promotion from grade to grade and for graduation.

3. The number of pupils with disabilities enrolled in the previous school year.

4. The services provided by the PCP school to pupils with disabilities.

5. The PCP school's safety plan.

6. The PCP school's attrition rate for teachers in the previous school year, as compared to the statewide attrition rate and the attrition rate of the eligible school district or of the MPS, as appropriate, in the previous school year.

7. The PCP school's budget for the ensuing fiscal year and a five-year budget plan.

The bill directs DPI to prepare a report card for each PCP school and post the report cards on DPI's Internet site. Each PCP school must post its report card on its Internet site.

Disclosure of results of tests, assessments, and standardized examinations

Under current law, each PCP school must provide to DPI (and, upon request, to any pupil who attends or who is applying to attend the PCP school) pupil scores on certain standardized examinations for each of the previous five school years. To the extent permitted by federal law and ensuring confidentiality of records, beginning in the 2012-13 school year, the bill requires each PCP school to report scores for any assessments and examinations administered to pupils attending the PCP school, and to make the information available in several formats and at a specified level of detail associated with each format. The formats include posting scores on the Internet Web site of the PCP school or the organization that oversees the PCP school; forwarding electronic copies to DPI to post on its Internet Web site; providing written copies to the parents and guardians of pupils attending the PCP school; making copies available in a binder at the front desk of the PCP school; and posting the mean average class growth assessments on a poster on the wall of the PCP school.

Beginning in the 2012-13 school year, the bill also requires a school board and the operator of a charter school to report the scores from standardized examinations required to be administered to pupils at the same level of detail and, with some exceptions, in the same formats required of PCP schools. School boards are not required to provide copies of the scores in a binder at the front desk of the school.

Exclusion of private schools from a PCP for fraudulent representations

Under current law, DPI may bar a private school from participating in a PCP if DPI determines that the school has violated certain prohibitions. For example, a PCP school that fails to submit an independent financial audit of the school that has been conducted by a certified public accountant may be barred from participating in a PCP. Current law also prohibits a person, with the intent to sell a product or service to the public or induce the public to enter into a contract, from making any assertion or statement that is untrue, deceptive, or misleading in its advertising or other representations made to the public. The bill authorizes DPI to prohibit a private school from participating in a PCP in the following school year if the private school has violated this prohibition.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB748, s. 1 Section 1. 115.28 (7) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB748,4,12 115.28 (7) (b) Subject to the same rules and laws concerning qualifications of applicants and granting and revocation of licenses or certificates under par. (a), the state superintendent shall grant certificates and licenses to teachers in private schools and tribal schools, except that teaching experience requirements for such certificates and licenses may be fulfilled by teaching experience in public, private, or tribal schools. An applicant is not eligible for a license or certificate unless the state superintendent finds that the private school or tribal school in which the applicant taught offered an adequate educational program during the period of the applicant's teaching therein. Private Except as provided in ss. 118.60 (7) (b) 9. and 119.23 (7) (b) 9., private schools are not obligated to employ only licensed or certified teachers.

AB748, s. 2 Section 2. 115.28 (27) of the statutes is created to read:

AB748,5,5 115.28 (27) School assessment guide. Develop a guide for parents to use in assessing public and private schools, including charter schools. The guide shall include information on how to evaluate the academic performance of pupils enrolled in a school, a school's academic opportunities, a school's expenditures per enrolled pupil, the education and experience levels of teachers, and the opportunities for parental involvement in a school and classroom, and may include additional information. In developing the guide, the department shall consult with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, the Wisconsin Charter Schools Association, the Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, and School Choice Wisconsin, Inc. The department shall post the guide on its Internet site and make copies of the guide available to schools upon request.

AB748, s. 3 Section 3. 118.19 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB748,5,12 118.19 (1) Except as provided in s. 118.40 (8) (b) 2., any person seeking to teach in a public school, including a charter school, or; in a school or institution operated by a county or the state; or, beginning in the 2012-13 school year and except as provided in ss. 118.60 (7) (b) 9. b. and 119.23 (7) (b) 9. b., in a private school participating in the program under s. 118.60 or 119.23 shall first procure a license or permit from the department.

AB748, s. 4 Section 4. 118.225 (intro.) of the statutes, as affected by 2011 Wisconsin Act 105, is amended to read:

AB748,5,19 118.225 Teacher and principal evaluations. (intro.) A school board may use value-added analyses of scores on pupil assessments and the examinations administered to pupils under s. 118.30 and 20 USC 6311 (b) (3) to evaluate teachers and principals if the school board has developed a teacher and principal evaluation plan that includes all of the following:

AB748, s. 5 Section 5. 118.225 (3) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB748,5,22 118.225 (3) The rationale for using examination results to evaluate teachers and principals.

AB748, s. 6 Section 6. 118.30 (1m) (c) of the statutes is created to read:

AB748,5,25 118.30 (1m) (c) To the extent permitted under 20 USC 1232g and 43 CFR part 99, beginning in the 2012-13 school year, do all of the following:

AB748,6,14 1. a. Except as provided in subd. 1. b., report the scores from any examinations required to be administered under this subsection or sub. (6) or (7) for the 5 preceding school years on the school district's Internet site as soon as the information becomes available and no later than 30 days after receiving scores from the testing company. Scores under this subdivision shall be reported by grade and class and shall include the total number of questions, the number and percentage of questions each pupil answered correctly, the number of questions each pupil answered incorrectly, the mean percentile for the class, the mean average percentile distributions, the mean average scores, and the mean percentage distributions for the examination as a whole and for each of the following topics and subtopics: reading, including determining meaning, understanding texts, analyzing texts, and evaluating and extending texts; mathematics, including processing number operations, geometry, measurement, statistics and probability, and algebraic relationships; science; social studies; and any other topic or subtopic included in the examination.

AB748,6,18 b. A school district is not required to report the information under subd. 1. a. if the number of pupils in a category is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual pupil.

AB748,6,20 2. Provide the department with an electronic copy of the information described in subd. 1.