No Legislative Oversight of SAGE

Why are the Dems so afraid of a little oversight?

In proposing an audit of the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education program, or SAGE, Republican lawmakers characterized it as a routine request for a decade-old program that the governor has recommended spending $109 million on in the next school year.

State Rep. Kitty Rhoades (R-Hudson) also raised concerns about the state Department of Public Instruction’s practice of granting waivers that allow school districts to exceed the 15-student class limit called for in the law.

“The waiver process was not established by statute, nor was it established by the Legislature, nor do we even know what it is,” she said during a hearing Wednesday.

But Democratic lawmakers on the committee countered that much of the information requested could be provided by the state Department of Public Instruction without conducting an audit.

A vote on whether to hold the audit split 5-5 along party lines, effectively killing the request by Rhoades and state Rep. Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake) to authorize the Legislative Audit Bureau to examine SAGE.

Before we pump more millions into the program, shouldn’t we look into it and see if and how it’s working? 

1. Yes.  That’s why it is so frustrating to see the GOP block oversight, testing and quality control over the school choice program.

   Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 1100 hrs




2. There’s a difference between a government body digging into private businesses that receive taxpayer dollars and a government body digging into a government program.

   Posted by Owen on April 19, 2007 at 1127 hrs




3. I don’t equate asking them to be accredited and to administer the same standardized tests as public schools with digging into private businesses.

   Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 1203 hrs




4. Why administer standarized tests?  Who cares about those?

   Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 1204 hrs




5. Owen, the government has the right to dig into private businesses that are receiving taxpayer dollars. Shouldn’t we look into them and see if and how they’re working? If a private business doesn’t want to deal with that, they don’t accept the money.

   But with respect to measurement and accountability:

   http://facstaff.wcer.wisc.edu/normw/SAGE/SAGE%20FINAL%2 0REPORT%2020904.pdf

   The MSM version is here:
   http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=233753

   Everything that Rhodes was asking for is already available. Schools are required to submit 3rd Friday counts by school by grade. They are required to submit SAGE participation applications, if you ask the DPI I’m sure they’d provide this information. Rhodes justification in the article is that schools might be lying. That’s pretty lame.

   It may make people here happy to know that SAGE participation is dropping. Too many schools are losing too much money on it, the state aid frequently does not come close enough to covering the cost of additional teaching staff. It peaked at 576 schools in 2000-2001 and has dropped each year since, to the current 480.
   
   The quote from Jeskewitz in the article is pretty funny. A partisan vote! Holy smokes, alert the media!

   Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 1244 hrs




6. Isn’t a little distrust of officials healthy?  Isn’t that why AG Gonzalez is being grilled by Congress today?

   Posted by Owen on April 19, 2007 at 1301 hrs




7. Why do private schools need to be accountable to the government for anything?  The whole point of a private school is that they’re only accountable to the parents of their students.  The money they get is from parents, not the government.  Calling it government funding of private schools is like calling little old ladies making church donations with the social security checks government funding of churches.  Parents are free to send their kids to any private school they want, so if one is performing to their satisfaction, they can send their kid somewhere else and take the money with them.  That’s the ultimate accountability.

   Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 1307 hrs




8. Rhodes justification in the article is that schools might be lying. That’s pretty lame.

   Isn’t that basically what an audit is?  Verifying the information to make sure you aren’t lying?  In my opinion there should be regular audits of all programs receiving government funds.  It prevents abuse and/or overspending. 

   Then again, when has Wisconsin ever really cared about overspending. 

   Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 1503 hrs




9. Supportkids, I am a firm supporter of school choice(BTW I am a pulic school teacher), however, the money is not the parents, it is the government’s money and there should be some government accountabilty for those schools that participate in the school choice program.  They need to know if these schools have a curriculm and the kids are learniong.  Now, I am not saying the government has to say what the curriculm is, but there should be some minmum standards.
   As far as Sage, I’ve seen in action.  No doubt it helps a little but how much, I don’t know.  All I know it is a boom for school districts and big boom for WEAC with all the extra teachers belonging to the union and getting their health insurance.

   Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 2101 hrs




10. My concern centers on an item in the story.  Is DPI granting exceptions?  If so, on what basis? 

    This is a concern because the purpose of SAGE is to reduce the teacher/student ratio.  If DPI is saying that schools don’t have to adhere to that ratio but can still get the money, then isn’t it just another way to send money to the school under a different name?

    Posted by Owen on April 19, 2007 at 2109 hrs




11. Dan,

    Excuse me but the money in question is not the governments money. It is money confiscated from taxpayers who work to earn it. The government does not earn money the way you and I do, by getting up every day and going to work, they take it from our paychecks. So the funds are the parents and they have the right to decide how it is spent.

    Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 2115 hrs




12. Irwin, in a cynical way, you are correct, but the government still disburses it. But there still should be some oversite of Choice schools- safety and basic curriculum.  There have been some schools that have been frauds.

    Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 2156 hrs




13. Owen, I agree- if DPI is giving exemptions to the student/teacher ratio in SAGE, then what good is SAGE?

    Posted by on April 19, 2007 at 2224 hrs