Join with the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families and other parents, advocates, teachers, service providers, professionals and concerned citizens to make sure that Wisconsin’s legislators make the needs of kids their top priority in the state budget.
The event takes place on March 14th and starts with a noon registration at the Orpheum Theater on State Street in Madison. Registration and details here.
Robert Godfrey
AMPS 
Is there anyone from this group planning on attending this event?
This is a biennial budget year and Joint FInance, the powerful 16-member Legislative Committee charged with fine-tuning and changing the Governor’s proposed budget, now has TWO Madison members: Mark Pocan and Mark Miller. If anyone in this group is represented by either, it might be useful to talk with one of the Mark’s on what strategies are going to be most likely to push forward an agenda this year that more highly prioritizes kids. Mark Miller has been very proactive on kids’ issues in the past.
Related, Johnny Winston mentioned at a candidate forum last night that a group of people would be working with district legislative/public information staff to craft message points for Joint Finance and the Legislature about the plight of public school funding. When those message points are developed, we’ll try to get them on AMPS as soon as possible, along with any other strategies advocates can share on how to most effectively tell the story at Joint Finance hearings that are coming up in the next few weeks.
Does anyone know what issues will be stressed during the lobbying? Will any relate to school funding? The group’s Web site didn’t list any.
It is my understanding that most of the focus this year will be on education.
I’ll contact the organization tomorrow to see whether they can give us some specifics.
Unfortunately, the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families hasn’t nailed down the final list of issues, so we’ll have to wait until the isssue are posted on the group’s Web site.
The Wisconsin Association of School Boards is having a lobbying day at the same time (March 14) – Arlene Silveira, Lawrie Kobza and I will be meeting individually with several of the district’s delegation – and the topic will be the Governor’s budget as well a K-12 funding reform.