Legislators to decide standards

Superintendent Tony Evers and DPI officials have heavily criticized the legislation, saying it would politicize education — an assertion Burke echoed Wednesday. The legislation would allow a committee of legislators to overrule DPI’s changes to the recommended model standards from the new board.

The bill calls for the board to recommend model academic standards to Evers, who then has 30 days to make any changes. The standards then are sent from DPI to a committee of legislators that either accept the standards that include DPI’s changes or reject them, which would then put the original recommended standards to a vote in the Assembly and Senate.

Burke said education standards should be written with a long-term focus in mind to provide consistency in schools, and that there is “no sense” in giving the job of writing them to politicians.

“That is what the (Department of Public Instruction) is for,” she said. “That’s why we elect a state superintendent, and it belongs in that agency.”