Todd Ambs, Chair
Groundwater Coordinating Council
Referred to committee on Natural Resources.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Children and Families
Madison
September 3, 2008
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Pursuant to Section
46.014(4) of the Wis. Stats., the Department of Children and Families is required to submit an annual report to the Legislature concerning the activities of the Community Action agencies under s.
46.30, and their effectiveness in promoting social and economic opportunities for low-income persons.
The attached report describes the uses of the Community Services Block Grant funding and its support of the services provided by the Community Action agencies and Limited Purpose agencies in order to reduce poverty, revitalize low-income communities and empower low-income individuals and families to become economically self-sufficient.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Kitty Kocol, CSBG Coordinator at (608) 267-5149 or
gregorymarkle@wi.gov.
Sincerely,
Reggie Bicha
Secretary
Referred to committee on Children and Family Law.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources
Madison
September 12, 2008
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
In fulfillment of the requirements under s.
299.85(9m), Wisconsin State Statutes, I am submitting to you a copy of Wisconsin's Environmental Compliance Audit Program 2008 Annual Report. It covers the period April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008. Please distribute as appropriate. I am also providing a copy of the Report to the Governor and to the Chief Clerk of the Senate.
For more information on Wisconsin's Environmental Compliance Audit Program or additional copies of this report, please contact Mark McDermid at (608) 267-3125, or visit our web site at:
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/cea/ environmental/audit/index.htm. DNR staff will send your office an electronic copy of this letter and Annual Report to facilitate distribution.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Matthew Frank
Secretary
Referred to committee on Natural Resources.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources
Madison
September 15, 2008
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
A835
We at the Department of Natural Resources are pleased to provide you with a copy of our annual Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act (WEPA) report. In fulfillment of Section
1.11(2)(j) of the state statutes, this document provides information on the numbers of environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (ElSs) completed by the Department in the past fiscal year.
Questions about the report can be directed to me at 266-0426.
Sincerely,
James D. Pardee
Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act Coordinator
Referred to committee on Natural Resources.
__________________
Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
September 11, 2008
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
We have completed a best practices review of local government operations, as directed by s.
13.94(8), Wis. Stats. This review focuses on efforts by Wisconsin's public school districts to reduce truancy, which is the unexcused absence from school of children under the age of 18. In the 2006-07 school year, 9.3 percent of pupils in kindergarten through grade 12 were classified as habitual truants because they had five or more unexcused absences in a semester, although rates in individual school districts ranged from 0 in 47 districts to 58.2 percent in the Menominee Indian School District.
Efforts to reduce truancy are guided by a statutory framework that requires school districts to establish plans and policies, collaborate with local officials within their counties, and notify parents and guardians of their children's truancies. Districts have also established a variety of programs consistent with nationally developed best practices, which include involving parents in improving school attendance and working with human services and law enforcement agencies to provide services to pupils and to enforce local ordinances.
We have identified several best practices to assist school districts and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in monitoring, assessing, and reducing truancy.
We appreciate the courtesy extended to us by DPI, school district officials, other state and local government officials, and officials representing private-sector agencies that provided information for our review.
Respectfully Submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
September 16, 2008
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
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 a sample of 2,727 Choice pupils that comprises a random sample of pupils in the third through eighth grades and all Choice pupils in the ninth grade; 2,727 Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) pupils in the third through ninth grades who were selected based on their similarity to the Choice pupils; and a random sample of 2,727 MPS pupils in the third through ninth grades. The researchers plan to track changes in Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination scores and determine how participation in the Choice program affects changes in academic achievement.
We reviewed the project's data for the 2006-07 school year, the first year that it arranged for the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination to be administered to Choice pupils. We analyzed and confirmed the test score averages and related analyses that the project reported in February 2008. However, we were unable to review average pupil test scores at individual Choice schools because the project, citing confidentiality concerns, did not provide us with this type of information. As a result, we cannot provide legislators and other policymakers with information about academic performance specific to each of the 120 Choice schools that operated in the 2006-07 school year. We also note analytical challenges that the project will need to address when analyzing test scores in future years.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the project in conducting this review.
Sincerely,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
