Assembly Task Force To Examine Urban School Issues

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has appointed a bipartisan task force to study the challenges faced by urban schools in Wisconsin.

The 13-member task force is charged with tackling teacher recruitment and retention, reducing truancy, and increasing graduation rates. Democratic Rep. Sondy Pope will serve as vice chair. She said there’s already enough data on these issues for legislators to start crafting solutions.

“I would like to believe that we’re going to actually do something with the knowledge we’ve already gained, rather than creating a situation where private charters and voucher expansion is offered up as the solution, and that’s my fear,” said Pope.

The task force chair, Republican Rep. Jessie Rodriguez said voucher and charter schools will be on the agenda. One of her top priorities is implementing a new partnership program in Milwaukee. It creates a county-appointed commissioner to solicit offers from charter operators and private voucher schools that perform better than public schools.

In an email to WPR, Rodriguez listed items she wants the task forces to work on:

• Study issues surrounding teacher recruitment and retention and make recommendations that will help empower teachers to provide quality education while dealing with unique challenges, including a student population with an above-average poverty rate.
• Discuss best practices to address problems such as truancy, below-average academic performance and low graduation rates; identify barriers that exist to the successful replication of those practices.
• Explore ways to improve access to technology for virtual and online learning purposes in high poverty urban communities.
• Make recommendations to improve and expand access to high-quality early childhood education as well as other opportunities outside of the classroom that help maximize education outcomes.
• Review the “Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program” established in the 2015-17 budget. Discuss alternatives.
• Empower parents to take advantage of educational alternatives and identify ways to better encourage parents to take ownership of their child’s school and education.
• Review the school report card system and discuss the best method to account for academic achievement in districts with high levels of poverty.