Wisconsin school boards oppose teacher evaluation bill

MADISON (WPR) A bill that would lift Wisconsin's ban on using test scores to evaluate teachers is racing through the state legislature.  And while it has the backing of the state's teacher’s union, school boards say it's too weak.

Wisconsin has to lift this ban if it wants to qualify for a share of more than four billion dollars in federal "race to the top" stimulus money.  It's one of only a handful of states that prohibits using test scores to evaluate teachers right now.

Mary Bell is President of the Wisconsin Education Association Council,  or WEAC.  She told a state assembly panel that her union supports ending the ban, and that teachers are behind the goals of "Race to the Top".  Bell says instruction will be more directed at student learning and what happens in the classroom than it is currently.

But the Wisconsin Association of School Boards opposes the plan.  Lobbyist Sheri Krause says that while it lets school districts look at test results, they still can't use them to fire, suspend or discipline a teacher who gets poor results. She says it goes too far in protecting teachers and would make it hard to fire or discipline a teacher.

The plan has already cleared a Senate committee and could clear the full legislature this week.  Among other proposals lawmakers are considering is one that would give the State Superintendent more power to intervene in the Milwaukee Public School system, although that plan is not essential to getting race to the top funds. 

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Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org