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Board hears legislative update: federal waiver guidance, DPI allocation spreadsheets and report-card benchmark recommendations
Summary
District staff summarized a recent U.S. Department of Education "Dear Colleague" letter about waivers to federal education requirements, upcoming DPI allocation spreadsheets for 2025–26 and a recommendation to change report-card benchmarks forwarded to the state superintendent.
The Stoughton Area School District Board received a legislative update on federal and state actions that could affect district funding and accountability measures.
District staff reported that the U.S. Department of Education sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to state education officials encouraging states to pursue waivers from certain federal education requirements to allow more flexible use of federal funds for academic supports, literacy and numeracy, and expanded parental decision-making. The staff member said they would forward the letter to the full board.
At the state level, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau released budget summary papers intended to clarify how the new state budget may change aid levels for individual school districts over the next two years, including membership and enrollment estimates. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) planned to post allocation spreadsheets for the 2025–26 school year, including title-grant allocations, on its website around Aug. 20.
Staff also reported that a convened group of more than two dozen education leaders met in Madison to review performance-benchmark calculations for district and school report cards. That group voted 25–1 to recommend updates to the benchmarks used to calculate overall accountability scores. The recommendation will be forwarded to State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly for adoption; if adopted, the updated benchmarks will be reflected in 2024–25 report cards scheduled for release later this fall.
Board members asked clarifying questions about the federal waiver guidance, the scope of allowable changes under a waiver and whether further legislative approvals would be required at the state level. The staff member said they had not yet read the full Dear Colleague letter and would obtain and circulate it to the board. The board requested that staff email the letter to members and later provide guidance to the public on what the changes would mean for district funding and programming.
The board listed staff follow-ups as action items: staff will forward the federal letter to the board and examine processes for publicly announcing the contract and budget changes approved at the meeting.
Board members and staff did not provide exact dollar amounts or percentage changes to aid allocations at the meeting; they said DPI’s posted spreadsheets will offer district-level allocation estimates when published.
