Assembly GOP: $21M for in-person schools
MADISON - Assembly Republicans are asking Gov. Tony Evers to prioritize $21 million for schools that are teaching children in person during the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawmakers sent Evers a letter on Monday asking him to distribute federal funds by putting a priority on districts that are providing in-person instruction.
Republican lawmakers have been pushing for all schools in Wisconsin to provide in-person instruction and Monday’s request may foreshadow how GOP legislators who control the budget-writing process may approach school funding in the next state spending plan.
“Districts that are providing in-person instruction have additional cleaning costs, transportation costs, staffing costs and other costs that the districts not in person do not have,” Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said at a press conference Monday.
A spokeswoman for Evers did not respond to questions about the request.
Since the start of the 2020-’21 school year, local school boards have decided how instruction will be provided. Evers issued an order in spring of 2020 to close school buildings until the end of the 2019-’20 school year but now leaves it up to school officials to decide how to teach their students.
Wisconsin schools are set to receive their share of a whopping $686 million in federal aid, of which Evers has discretion over a small portion. In 2020, Evers distributed about $46 million in federal aid based on how many students were living in poverty, how many households did not have computers or internet, and how many students were scoring low on state tests.
“You allowed a significant portion of these funds to go to districts that have provided little to no in-person instruction during the 2020-’21 school year. Don’t make the same mistake twice,” the GOP lawmakers wrote in the letter to Evers.
“We are asking you to direct these funds to districts that have been providing full-time, in-person instruction since the beginning of the 2020-’21 school year,” they wrote. “These districts have been spending more to keep their schools open for the betterment of their students. They know that this is the best for the students and families of their district.”
The school districts with the highest percentage of students living in poverty — in Madison and Milwaukee — are providing virtual instruction. That effort has included distributing computers and tablets and in some cases providing internet access to families.