The Assembly Committee on Education held a public hearing on five new bills intended to improve academic achievement and make the state eligible for more stimulus funding.

The proposals would make the state eligible for federal “Race to the Top” stimulus grants, whose requirements include the use of standardized testing to evaluate teachers.

Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers gave a brief overview of each, saying they would give the superintendent explicit authority to turn around struggling schools, allow the state to better utilize data to improve K-12 and post-secondary educational systems, and provide guidance for charter school authorization.

“These bills represent good education policy and will provide the state superintendent explicit authority … to improve student achievement in our largest school district,” Evers said.

Evers fielded questions from committee members about details in each of the bills for further clarification.

Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, raised questions about the formation of the bills, saying they appear to be created to receive federal funding rather than deal with the issues facing education in Wisconsin.

“The trigger has always been ‘if there is money out there, then let’s do it’ instead of … doing something even 10 years ago [with Milwaukee Public Schools]. We really did nothing with the exception of school choice,” Nass said.

“I’m wondering why all of a sudden this appears, and to me, this appears as though the real kick start was ‘We’re going to get money from the federal government and oh, my God, we better get this legislation passed or we’re not going to get our money,'” Nass said.

In response to Nass’ comments, Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee, defended the fact that Wisconsin can only improve its educational system when it has the funding to do so.

“Over the years — at least since I’ve been here — we have continually cut K-12 funding throughout the state,” Sinicki said. “The issue with a lot of our schools, especially Milwaukee, is the fact that we know that these changes need to be made, but … you have to have money to be able to make these changes.”

However, Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, said the

Legislative Fiscal Bureau has not in fact cut K-12 funding. Davis said on a statewide level, about 44 percent of the state’s general purpose revenue dollars go toward education.

Christina Brey, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said WEAC supports the bills to improve academic achievement in Wisconsin.

“Our president, Mary Bell, … testified in favor of the bills that will make Wisconsin eligible for federal ‘Race to the Top’ grants,” Brey said.

Brey added the WEAC encourages the technical change to Wisconsin law regarding the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers, as the legislation needs to be enacted in order for Wisconsin to be eligible for the federal grants.