Alec Johnson:

Over a year after the Wisconsin Legislature approved Act 20 and Gov. Tony Evers signed it into law, the state Department of Public Instruction is still waiting for the joint finance committee to release nearly $50 million it was promised as part of the new legislation intended to improve reading among state schoolchildren.

State DPI superintendent Jill Underly appealed to the committee to release those funds in a letter sent Monday to state Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and state Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, who co-chair the committee. Underly said she has “repeatedly called” for the committee to release the funding.

It was among the issues Underly brought up in her annual state of education address last month. Underly said at the time the state Legislature’s failure to release most of the funding needed to help schools implement the law left already-struggling public schools to fund the mandate themselves.

The new law requires schools to emphasize a phonics-based approach for teaching reading, meaning students learn how to sound out parts of words.

Evers signed the bill in July 2023. He also enacted a controversial partial veto to Act 100, the appropriations bill that funded the bill. That veto has been the source of legal wrangling since spring.

“I understand you have a concern about the governor’s partial veto, but the clear decision of the circuit court judge in that case has now once again made it clear you have the obligation to provide these funds to DPI,” Underly wrote this week to Born and Marklein. “I know we agree that the children of Wisconsin need this critical support to learn to read, and we need to support the Wisconsin districts with the greatest early literacy needs. Now is the time to keep your promise to Wisconsin families. Now is the time to take action and release the funding.”

Notes and links on DPI Superintendent Jill Underly.

The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”

My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results

2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results 

Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.

“An emphasis on adult employment”

Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]

WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators

Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results

Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.

When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?