Stoughton board hears update on federal certification request, state budget outlook and rise in seclusion and restraint

At a Stoughton Area School District Board of Education meeting, board member Lisa Pugh updated the board on recent federal and state education developments and on a statewide report showing increases in student seclusion and restraint.

Pugh said the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter on April 3 asking state education agencies to certify whether federal funds were being used for certain diversity, equity and inclusion-related policies. She told the board that Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) Superintendent Jill Underly responded to the U.S. Department of Education on April 18 without providing the formal certification the federal letter requested, instead sending assurances about districts’ compliance with federal law. Pugh said Wisconsin is among “about 14” states that have not complied with the federal certification process as requested and that state officials are examining whether there could be any repercussions, including the possibility of withheld federal funds.

Pugh provided local figures for Stoughton, saying the district receives about $1,700,000 in federal funding, which supports 14 full-time educators and represents roughly 5 percent of the district’s revenue.

On the state budget, Pugh noted a recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decision rejecting a challenge to Gov. Evers’s use of expansive veto powers to adjust the biennial budget. She said the court’s 4-3 ruling leaves in place a series of line-item vetoes that effectively extend a $325 per-student revenue limit adjustment for 400 years. Pugh said Republican legislative leaders and the governor are negotiating taxes and possible tax cuts, and that budget movement could follow pending those agreements and two remaining public hearings next week.

Pugh also highlighted the DPI’s April 14 seclusion and restraint report. Quoting DPI leadershiplanguage reported in her update, she said the superintendent called the findings “an alarming increase, and a call to action.” According to the report Pugh summarized, statewide seclusion incidents rose 15.3 percent and incidents where students were physically restrained rose 16.9 percent year over year. Pugh told the board that younger students and students with disabilities were disproportionately affected: students with disabilities accounted for about 81 percent of seclusion incidents and about 76 percent of physical restraints in the statewide data.

Board members did not take action on any of these items at the meeting; the presentation was informational. Pugh said the state’s budget process includes two more hearings and that the district will continue to monitor potential legal or funding consequences tied to the federal certification request and to follow DPI’s response to the seclusion and restraint findings.

Pugh’s update reflects what she said during the board’s legislative update segment; she attributed the seclusion and restraint findings to the DPI report and the characterization of those findings to the DPI superintendent.