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Germantown board unanimously adopts resolution urging DPI to stabilize and revise state school report card
Summary
The Germantown School District Board adopted a resolution calling on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to slow annual changes to the state report card, to give equal weight to growth and achievement, and to avoid weighting performance by free/reduced-price lunch status; the vote was unanimous (7-0).
The Germantown School District Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt a resolution asking the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to amend how the state school report card is calculated and communicated.
Board President Ewart read a resolution that criticized frequent changes to the report card's elements and said those changes make year-to-year and district-to-district comparisons unreliable. The resolution calls on the state superintendent to: give equal weight to student growth and achievement; stop weighting student performance by free- and reduced-price lunch status; recognize and reward high achievement placements, dual-credit and CTE enrollment, and extracurricular involvement; include fiscal efficiency in scoring; and build changes slowly and with broader practitioner input.
During the reading, President Ewart recited a passage from the draft resolution that drew attention: "The soft bigotry of low expectations assumes poor students can't be smart." He said the board wanted to be part of broader statewide discussions and noted that several peer districts had adopted similar resolutions.
Board members who spoke in favor said the report card is a widely used public measure but has changed repeatedly in calculation and presentation, limiting its usefulness for communities and for local improvement planning. Mister Boyer and Mister Pollock encouraged dialogue with regional superintendents and DPI leaders; one board member suggested the report card's scoring bands should better align with common grading expectations.
The board voted by roll call: seven yes votes, zero no votes. President Ewart said he would share the resolution with the state superintendent, local legislators and news outlets, and the motion was recorded as carrying unanimously.
The resolution refers explicitly to "Act 20" (the legislative reference used at the meeting) and to the Department of Public Instruction report card process; the board requested that the district's materials be shared with regional school leaders and the Wisconsin School Leaders of Excellence group.
