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Every single Democrat in the Wisconsin Assembly is now on the record as being against restoring learning standards for Wisconsin schools.
Republicans in the Assembly on Wednesday passed the plan, officially known as Assembly Bill 1, on a strict party-line vote.
“If it is truly the ‘Year of The Kid,’ we are going to see on the first day of session, with the first few bills that we bring-up, focusing on education, whether it is a bipartisan ‘Year of The Kid,’ or empty rhetoric on one side and reality on the other,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said at the beginning of Wednesday’s debate.
The proposal from Republicans would reverse State Superintendent Jill Underly’s decision from last fall to move away from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, better known as the nation’s report card. Underly changed both Wisconsin’s state standards, and the language used to track how well kids in Wisconsin can read, write, and do math.
Vos and Republicans said those standards need to be changed back in order to better track how well kids are doing.
All 55 Assembly Republicans voted for the change Wednesday. All 44 Democrats voted against them.
“Our agenda today does nothing to solve any of [the] very real challenges our students are facing, or put working families’ minds at ease,” Assembly Democratic Leader Great Neubauer said. “We can do better.”
Will Flanders, with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said the Democrats’ No vote sends a clear message.
“Voting against AB1 is essentially telling parents ‘we’re okay with DPI lying to parents about how kids are doing.’.” Flanders said in a post on X. “This ought to be a bipartisan effort to put standards back where [Gov] Evers had them as State Supt. Why wasn’t it?”
Evers said earlier this year that he wants high standards for Wisconsin kids. But his office hasn’t said whether he’ll sign AB 1.
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