Erin Richards

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A proposal in Gov. Scott Walker's state budget appears to make Wisconsin the only state with no law aimed at guaranteeing students a minimum number of hours and days of instruction.

Walker's budget plan eliminates the state law that calls for public schools and private voucher schools to provide a minimum number of hours of instruction. It would also free virtual charter schools from having to ensure that teachers are available for direct pupil instruction for a minimum number of hours each year.

Supporters of the change say it would allow schools to be more innovative with instructional time and that state report cards would hold them accountable for outcomes such as student attendance, achievement, academic improvement and graduation rates.

When asked about his proposals to lift such restrictions on schools, Walker said he thinks the report cards are the best way to hold schools accountable.

"For us, it's about eliminating the mandate," he said. "I want to give maximum flexibility to districts."

But some worry that taking away the baseline for instructional hours could have unintended consequences, especially in districts where many students are struggling.

"What happens if you have a year when budgets get tight?" asked Dan Rossmiller, director of government relations for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. He said the minimum hours requirement is a floor, not a ceiling.

Current law calls for Wisconsin schools to provide at least 1,050 instructional hours for first- through sixth-graders and at least 1,137 instructional hours for seventh- through 12th-graders. Virtual schools have to ensure teachers are available for direct pupil instruction for those same hours and grades and also for at least 437 hours for kindergarten students.

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Days of instruction mandate dropped

Three years ago, lawmakers freed schools from having to meet for at least 180 days each year, something advocates said was needless because of the instructional hour mandate. Both the school boards association and a statewide virtual charter school group lobbied to lift the 180-day mandate.

But eliminating the minimum hours requirement as well would make Wisconsin the only state without a mandate for minimum hours or days, according to a 2016 analysis by the Education Commission of the States, a nonpartisan group that tracks state policy.

According to Amy Skinner, spokeswoman for the commission, 36 states measure the school year in hours per year either in addition to, or in place of, days per year. And most states require between 900 and 1,080 instructional hours per year for all grades, she said.

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The proposal in Walker's budget appears to have originated at one of the statewide education agencies in Oshkosh: CESA 6.

Ted Neitzke, the head of CESA 6 and the former superintendent of the West Bend School District, said some administrators wanted more flexibility for how they could count minutes of instruction. For example, he said, some Advanced Placement courses require students to read books before the school year starts. Schools don't get credit for that kind of learning time under state law, he said.

And because the instructional time has to be in a classroom for the minutes to count, Neitzke said, teachers may not be able to offer what could be innovative teaching and learning opportunities in the community during the school day, he said.

"This was not about reducing costs," Neitzke said. "It's about giving us the flexibility to count time in different ways."

Neitzke also said most districts already exceed the state minimum for instructional hours anyway.

Concern over virtual schools

State Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), a member of the Joint Finance Committee and the head of the Senate Education Committee, said he was OK with dropping the minimum hours for public schools and private voucher schools because the report cards were in place to track outcomes.

But in a recent state budget hearing, he appeared leery of freeing virtual schools from mandates for teacher availability.

"If you sign up and no teacher is available..." he said at the finance committee meeting on K-12 spending.

"... There could be nobody there," said state Superintendent Tony Evers, finishing Olsen's sentence while testifying at the hearing.

Evers is not in favor of the proposal and said schools were still free to be innovative with instructional time even with the mandate in place.