The joint committee for review of Administrative Rules reports and recommends:
Relating to fishing on the inland, outlying, and boundary waters of Wisconsin.
No action taken.
Leah Vukmir
Senate Chairperson
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Senate Majority Leader
August 19, 2011
The Honorable, The Senate:
Pursuant to Section
234.02 (1) Wisconsin Statutes and Senate Rule
20, I am appointing Senator Glenn Grothman to the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Sincerely,
Scott fitzgerald
Senate Majority Leader
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Government Accountability Board
August 9, 2011
The Honorable, The Senate:
The following lobbyists have been authorized to act on behalf of the organizations set opposite their names.
For more detailed information about these lobbyists and organizations and a complete list of organizations and people authorized to lobby the 2011-2012 session of the legislature, visit the Government Accountability Board's web site at
http://gab.wi.gov/.
Culotta, Jason Wisconsin Manufacturers &
Commerce
McCoshen, William J Public Finance Authority
Nekola, Katie Clean Wisconsin Inc
Petersen, Eric J Public Finance Authority
Walsh, Kenneth Select Management
Resources
S420
Also available from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board are reports identifying the amount and value of time state agencies have spent to affect legislative action and reports of expenditures for lobbying activities filed by organizations that employ lobbyists.
Sincerely,
Kevin Kennedy
Director and General Counsel
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
August 17, 2011
The Honorable, The Legislature:
As required by
2005 Wisconsin Act 125, we have reviewed the pupil test score data provided to us by the School Choice Demonstration Project, which is a group of privately funded education researchers who are studying the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. The Choice program provides publicly funded private school tuition for low-income children in Milwaukee.
Project researchers are conducting a five-year longitudinal study of Choice and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) pupils first selected in the 2006-07 school year. The representative sample includes 2,727 Choice pupils who were in the third through ninth grades in fall 2006 and a comparable group of 2,727 MPS pupils. The researchers are tracking changes in Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination scores and determining how participation in the Choice program affects changes in academic achievement.
We reviewed the project's data for the 2009-10 school year, which is the fourth year the researchers arranged for the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination to be administered to Choice pupils. We analyzed and generally confirmed the analyses that they reported in March 2011, which show no significant difference in the performance of Choice pupils and similar MPS pupils after four years. However, we note that only 41.3 percent of the 2,727 Choice pupils in the researchers' sample remained in Choice schools in the 2009-10 school year.
As we discussed in our prior reports, we cannot provide legislators with information about academic performance specific to each of the 111 Choice schools that operated in the 2009-10 school year because the project, citing confidentiality concerns, has not provided us with average pupil test scores at individual Choice schools. However,
2009 Wisconsin Act 28 made several changes to testing requirements, including requiring Choice schools to administer the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination during the 2010-11 school year and report the results to the Department of Public Instruction.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by project researchers as we conducted this review.
Sincerely,
joe chrisman
Interim State Auditor
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
August 18, 2011
The Honorable, The Legislature:
As requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, we have completed an evaluation of educational programs for working adults within the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS). Full-time equivalent enrollment increased 16.9 percent from fiscal year (FY) 2007-08 through FY 2009-10. WTCS attributes the increase to an increase in the number of new students, as well as students enrolling in more credit hours.
To help meet the local needs for the occupational education, training, and re-training of working adults, 31.8 percent of associate degree courses held in the Spring 2010 semester by the 16 technical college districts were scheduled after 5:00 p.m. or on weekends, or were available as online courses. Twenty-one associate degree programs are offered entirely online, and the number of online associate degree courses increased 46.4 percent over the six-semester period we reviewed, reaching 2,822 in Spring 2010. Current district policies allow other educational institutions to provide training and occupational programming in rented district facilities, which may help improve access to needed services. However, we include a recommendation for district boards to determine whether such programming could be offered by the technical colleges.
In June 2010, 259,643 individuals were unemployed, including some who were dislocated from their employment as a result of plant closings or mass layoffs. Some dislocated workers are eligible for training services funded by two federal programs, the Workforce Investment Act and the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. We estimated 7,000 students in the technical colleges were supported by these two programs in FY 2009-10. However, given the uncertainty of future federal funding levels and the likelihood of continued demand for training services, we include recommendations for updating information on funding, training needs, and employment outcomes after training.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by WTCS, the 16 technical college districts, and the Department of Workforce Development.
Sincerely,
joe chrisman
Interim State Auditor
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Government Accountability Board
August 18, 2011
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to provide you with a copy of the official canvass of the August 9, 2011 Recall Election vote for the office of State Senator, along with the determination by the designees of the Chairperson of the Government Accountability Board of the winners.
With this letter, I am delivering the Certificates of Election and transmittal letters for the winner to you for distribution.
If the Government Accountability Board can provide you with further information or assistance, please contact our office.
Sincerely,
kevin j. kennedy
Director & General Counsel
Statement of Canvass
for
State Senator
RECALL ELECTION, August 9, 2011
I, Gerald C. Nichol, designee of the Chairperson of the Government Accountability Board, certify that the attached tabular statements, as compiled from the certified returns made to the Government Accountability Board by the several counties of the state, contain a correct abstract of the total number of votes given for the election of a candidate for State Senator, at a Recall Election held in the several election districts in said counties on the ninth day of August, 2011.
I DO, THEREFORE, DETERMINE AND CERTIFY that the following candidate, having each received the greatest number of votes, is duly elected State Senator:
Senate District Elected
2nd District Robert L. Cowles
8th District Alberta Darling
10th District Sheila E. Harsdorf
14th District Luther S. Olsen
18th District Jessica King
32nd District Jennifer Shilling
Done in the City of Madison, this 18th day of August, 2011.
Judge gerald c. nichol
Designee of the Chairperson
Government Accountability Board
__________________
On Friday, August 19, 2011, Jessica King took and subscribed the oath of office in Oshkosh, which was administered by the Honorable Barbara H. Key, Circuit Court Judge, Branch 3, Winnebago County.
__________________
Relating to hunting and the 2011 migratory game bird seasons and waterfowl hunting zones.
