Dear Friends Fighting the Federalization of Education: I received a message from Representative Knudson this morning.

(His message is in red and follows my message to you.) Please encourage your contacts to bombard our legislators will calls requesting support for Senate Bill 619 and Assembly Bill 617. Both bills provide legislative oversight for the DPI and they provide additional protections for Wisconsin statutes which govern local control of schools. Keep your message short and sweet. SUGGESTED MESSAGE: As my representative, I want you to support SB 619 and AB 617. I approve of the legislative oversight these bills would place on the DPI and I appreciate the protections these bills would provide for local control of schools. As a citizen, I want to participate in shaping the academic and behavioral standards adopted by our schools. Please call YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATOR AND each member of the Education Committees. Phone numbers for the members of the Education Committees follow: MEMBERS OF THE EDUCATION COMMITTEES AND THEIR ADDRESSES (all area codes are 608) Rep. Fred Clark: Room 9 E. phone266-7746 Rep. Dianne Hesselbein: Room 9N #266-5340 Rep. John Jagler: Room 316 N. #266-9650 Rep. Steve Kestell: Room 212 N. #266-8530 Rep. Howard Marklein: Room 214 N. #266-7502 Rep. Stephen Nass: Room 12 West #266-5715 Rep. Sondy Pope: Room 111 N. #266-3520 Rep. Don Pridemore: Room 318 N. #267-2367 Rep. Erik Severson: Room 221 N. #267-2365 Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt: Room 16 W. #266-3156 Rep. Mandy Wright: Room 10 W. #266-0654 Sen. Timothy Cullen: 108 S. #266-2253 Sen. Alberta Darling: Room 317 E #266-5830 Sen. Paul Farrow: Room 323 S. #266-9174 Sen. Richard Gudex: Room 415 S. #266-5300 Sen. Nikiya Harris: Room 3 S. #266-2500 Sen. John Lehman: Room 5 S. #266-1832 Sen. Luther Olsen: Room 319 S. #266-0751 Sen. Kathleen Vinehout: Room 22 S. #266-8546 Sen. Leah Vukmir: Room 131 S. #266-2512 FROM REPRESENTATIVE KNUDSON: You may be aware that the two bills SB 619 and AB617 had many similarities as well as some differences. Rep. Thiesfeldt and I have been working with both Sen. Vukmir and the governor's staff to make improvements to AB617. On Tuesday morning SB619 was put out and we introduced a substitute amendment to make AB617 identical to SB619. The governor yesterday expressed his support for the new version. The failure to pass a bill through both houses in the next month would mean DPI will continue to have unfettered ability adopt future standards without public input or legislative oversight.

The assembly education committee was scheduled to vote on the substitute this morning but, after heavy, misleading public attacks by DPI yesterday including Evers communicating to every school administrator, teacher and school board member in the state, the vote on the item was indefinitely postponed this morning by Rep. Kestell, chair of the assembly education committee. We will continue to fight on this issue. Thanks, Dean