Republican-led budget committee rejects DPI literacy curriculum recommendations

“If we want to see Act 20 succeed, we need to embrace quality over quantity," Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) said. (Screenshot via Wiseye)

Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) rejected the state Department of Public Instruction’s early literacy curriculum recommendation and, instead, chose to approve a smaller list of instructional guidelines recommended by the Early Literacy Curriculum Council.

The curriculum recommendations are part of the state’s work to improve the way reading is taught by shifting early literacy education to a “science of reading” approach, which emphasizes phonics and learning to sound out letters and phrases, and away from a “balanced literacy” approach, which focuses on pictures, word cues and memorization.

The work towards that goal was initiated by Wisconsin Act 20, which was passed by the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Tony Evers in July 2023. Under the law, the state adopted several policies related to making the transition and dedicated $50 million for the purpose of supporting schools as they move to a new reading instruction approach.

Part of the money included in the law was set aside to create a grant program that would reimburse school districts, independent charter schools and private choice schools that adopt a literacy curriculum from the recommendations of the Council.

Under the grant program, schools will be able to receive 50% of the costs of purchasing new curriculum and instructional materials for use in kindergarten through third grade, however, to qualify for the grant, schools will have to purchase materials from the approved list in order to receive the funding.

A nine-member Early Literacy Curriculum Council (ELCC), which included three appointees chosen by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), three by Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and three appointees by state schools Superintendent Jill Underly, was created to come up with curriculum recommendations annually for DPI.

For the 2024-25 school year, the council’s final list included: Core Knowledge Language Arts K-3, Our EL Education Language Arts, Wit and Wisdom with Pk-3 Reading Curriculum and Bookworms Reading and Writing K-3.

DPI, however, had submitted a longer list of 11 recommended early literacy curricula to the Joint Finance Committee last month for consideration. The agency’s list threw out the “Bookworms” curriculum, saying it did not include instruction in some of the components included in the Act 20 definition of science-based early reading instruction, and included the other three council recommendations along with eight other options.

The committee approved the council’s final curriculum list in a 10-4 vote on Monday.

Democrats on the committee, who expressed concerns about potential lawsuits and arguing that the list was too short, voted against the measure.

“Why are we starting so narrow?” Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) said.

Republicans on the committee said the narrow list would prove to be better for schools and that the agency’s legal concerns were overblown.

Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) said that he understood DPI’s reasoning for recommending the number of curriculum options they did, but he added that he believes “if we want to see Act 20 succeed, we need to embrace quality over quantity.”

“The recommendations made by the ELCC represent a level of quality that we should be proud of,” Stroebel said. He added that the council’s recommendations — a “smaller, more manageable” list — would make it easier for literacy coaches working with schools.

Beyond the number of curriculum options included, potential legal challenges and concerns about the Council’s process of choosing recommendations was also at issue.

DPI said in its report to the committee that the agency “determined statements and actions by the Council’s selection process had exposed the state of Wisconsin to an unacceptable level of risk that the process and ultimate recommendations could be successfully challenged.”

The reason for the agency’s concerns stems from the ELCC’s process of picking curricula to include. According to the memo, the Council did not thoroughly review the potential curriculum options. The agency said this could open the agency up to litigation from a vendor that was not included on the Council’s list because vendors could make an argument that “their materials were not given full consideration, and therefore the recommendations from the Council may be subject to an Equal Protection Clause claim.”

Due to the concerns, DPI conducted its own independent review, which is how it came up with its list that excluded one of the recommendations included in the Council’s list. Act 20 doesn’t require the agency to adopt the recommendations of the Council.

Stroebel said that lawmakers shouldn’t be afraid of the legal issue.

“We shouldn’t not give our kids the best, the quality curriculum because we’re afraid of some far-fetched legal theory brought up by DPI about being sued,” Stroebel said. He added that if somebody wants to sue over our reading curriculum and “screw up the reforms that we’re trying to get done” that they wouldn’t be doing anyone any favors, and he “wouldn’t want to be on that lawsuit.”

Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) said she thought it was “pure foolishness” that the committee was going to go against the judgment of DPI, especially considering that the state would likely have to use taxpayer resources if a lawsuit were brought against the state.

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