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Board reviews WASB resolutions, signals opposition to several proposals
Summary
Trustees reviewed a packet of 12 WASB resolutions and debated positions on proposed changes to school report-card weighting, grant distribution via DPI, decoupling voucher funding from property tax, and a bylaw creating a limited membership class; the board signaled likely opposition to several items and directed their WASB delegate.
Board members spent an extended portion of the Jan. 12 meeting reviewing resolutions from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) ahead of the association’s delegate assembly. Trustee Lee (WASB delegate) and others discussed 12 resolutions that included: proposed changes to the school report-card formula (making achievement and growth equal and removing free/reduced lunch weighting), a proposal to route federal/state grant distribution through the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), two opposing resolutions on decoupling parental choice/voucher payments from property taxes, and a proposed WASB bylaw change to allow a "limited active" membership class that would exclude resolution-voting rights.
Trustees voiced specific concerns: several said equalizing achievement and growth and removing the free/reduced lunch weighting would penalize districts serving higher-poverty students and likely harm the district’s report-card outcomes. Members raised procedural and practical questions about shifting grant distribution to DPI, noting potential delays if DPI were responsible for disbursement. On voucher decoupling, several trustees supported separating state payment responsibility from local property taxes to improve transparency and reduce levy impacts for their constituents, although some expressed concern about downstream state-level decisions.
The board generally expressed opposition to the proposed bylaw creating a limited membership class, calling it a potential fracturing move that could undermine unified advocacy and create a slippery slope of districts opting out of advocacy votes while receiving other services. Trustee Lee said he will use the board’s feedback to guide his votes at the WASB assembly.
No formal WASB vote was held by the board; the trustee serving as the W ASB delegate said he would represent the board’s preferences at the association meeting.
