School districts still waiting for state to reimburse literacy expenses

NORTHEAST WIS. – School districts like Gillet in northeast Wisconsin waiting for state funds for science-based reading programs might have to wait for a while longer. The Wisconsin Supreme Court said June 25 the legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance doesn’t have to give the Department of Public Instruction $50 million intended to support literacy programs at local schools.

The Supreme Court’s opinion in Wisconsin State Legislature v. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction leaves it unclear when local school districts will receive state funds for science-based literacy education.

The court found Gov. Tony Evers erred in trying to use a partial veto of Act 100, an education bill that created an Office of Literacy and a literacy coaching program without including appropriations within the document’s four corners. Act 20, a bill providing more specific mandates related to literacy education, also didn’t include appropriations, despite stating local districts were to be reimbursed for up to half the costs of science-based reading curriculum purchased.

The 2023-25 biennium budget bill, Act 19, contained an appropriation for $50 million for science-based reading programs but allowed the Joint Committee on Finance to hold the funds in its surplus fund, not the Department of Public Instruction. The Supreme Court said it didn’t have the authority to direct a transfer of funds, the legislature does.

On June 27, the Joint Committee on Finance voted 4-12 against a motion to transfer $49 million to the Department of Public Instruction for Act 20, but it unanimously agreed to move about $9 million to the Department’s Office of Literacy and a literacy coaching program. On June 30, state Sen. Eric Wimberger (R - Oconto) said he expected the Joint Committee to revisit the literacy funds before the clock struck midnight, when the funds were set to expire. As of press time on July 1, the Peshtigo Times couldn’t verify any action on this had occurred, but progress was being made on the 2025-27 biennium budget bill, which is expected to deliver over $1 billion more revenue for K-12 schools.

In Gillet, Superintendent Nathan Hanson said the school district selected a new literacy program called Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) before he started a year ago. The district is counting on the state to reimburse it for a portion of the related expenses, especially as federal COVID-19 funds for schools, called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds (ESSER), haven’t been renewed, he said.

“Gillett has had a significant financial deficit since federal ESSER Funds ran out. So any loss of income is unfortunately felt by our students and local tax payers,” he said.

While Evers said the Republicans failed to release the funds by objecting to his partial veto, State Sen. Eric Wimberger, a Republican from Oconto, said Evers’ unconstitutional partial veto was the reason the funds weren’t distributed. “Governor Evers attempted to take the power over the purse away from the legislature, and the Supreme Court stopped him. He used a literacy program aimed at helping struggling kids as an opportunity to play politics, try to redefine the word ‘appropriation’ and become both the executive and legislative branches,” Wimberger said.

Evers explained his use of the partial veto in a Feb. 29, 2024 letter to members of the Wisconsin Senate, where he said he wanted to consolidate support for literacy program initiatives in one appropriation, vetoing a separate program involving literacy coaching because two separate appropriations seemed unnecessary.

In its opinion, the Supreme Court said this blending of executive and legislative tasks was illegal. Further, while the legislature passed two separate acts (Act 100 and Act 20) related to literacy education, neither contained appropriations, the high court said.

Evers also said in his 2024 that letter he objected to signing a bill “with an apparent error that benefits only private choice schools and independent charter schools.” The way the bill was drafted, Evers said, “either intentionally or inadvertently, these entities could also receive an increase in per pupil funding….Consequently, a private choice or independent charter school could receive both a grant for curriculum and an ongoing increase in per pupil funding. Contrastingly, no such funding increase would be provided to public school districts under the bill.”

Evers had the authority to veto either or both Act 100 and Act 20 in their entirety, but declined to use the full veto power.

“I will never apologize for fighting for our kids and our schools,” he said.

With the Supreme Court’s opinion, the legislature should proceed with distributing funds to school districts, State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a June 25 statement.

“It’s time to release the almost $50 million our schools were promised to help improve reading for kids. Schools invested based on the promise of funding and it’s time that promise is upheld.”

“Schools across Wisconsin embraced the reforms outlined in Act 20, and after the law was signed, the DPI made immediate changes to support educators teaching students to read. Today’s ruling changes none of that,” she said.

According to DPI, Act 20 required school districts to use a science-based literacy curriculum and post information on their early-literacy remediation plans with the name of their reading assessment, information on reading interventions and tools they use.

The school districts also are required to provide information on academic standards and a link to Wisconsin’s Informational Guidebook on Dyslexia and Related Conditions on their websites.

“A key part of our compromise was to provide districts with funding to implement new strategies and change practices. States across the nation have seen success using similar models. It is devastating that despite bipartisan agreement on how to proceed, we have been stuck in neutral,” she said.

Wimberger said science-based literacy curriculum was designed to turn around a decline in student progress. School districts wouldn’t necessarily need to purchase a new reading program if they already were using one that fit the act’s requirements.

Other requirements in the act related to student assessment, intervention and progress monitoring “will likely have the biggest impact on student learning,” said retiring Oconto Falls School District Superintendent Dean Hess in Feb. “A new curriculum can have a positive impact on student learning, which in turn results in higher test scores,” he said.

Data from The Nation’s Report Card (NAEP) suggests schools’ over-reliance on technology contributed to declines during COVID-19.

“All-virtual schooling of all students was incredibly ineffective and detrimental to the vast majority of children during Covid,” said Brittany Kinser, a former candidate for State Superintendent of Education , education consultant and co-founder of 95 Wisconsin.

“There is no replacement for a good teacher in the classroom, and parents should be able to choose the best learning environment for their children,” she said.

While the pandemic may have exacerbated the reading declines, the trend began in 2019, before the pandemic, the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) said. In 2024, the percentage of eighth graders scoring below NAEP Basic levels in reading was the largest in NAEP’s history, NCES said in a news release. The percentage of fourth graders scoring below the Basic level was the largest in 20 years.

In Wisconsin, the 2024 average fourth grade reading score was 215, the same as the national average, and down from 217 in 2022. The average eighth grade reading score was 260, two points higher than the national average, and down from 267 in 2019.

About 31% of Wisconsin students performed at or above the Proficient level in reading in 2024, about the same as in 2022.

About 70% were at or above the NAEP Basic level, down from 72% in 2022. Reading scores for economically disadvantaged students were 30 points lower than scores for non-economically disadvantaged peers in fourth grade and 25 points lower in eighth grade.

The state legislature passed several acts related to providing education funds earmarked for literacy support to replace failing curricula and to provide students with more support to bring more students to grade-level proficiency, Wimberger said. Lawmakers in both parties have said the money should go to local schools.
For more on how the Supreme Court decided the case, see “Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds education statute.”