Tony Evers expands program that aims to hire more teachers of color in Wisconsin school districts

MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers took action on more than a dozen bills Thursday — signing into law measures that aim to boost a declining teacher workforce and rejecting one that would allow students' parents' names to be released publicly. 

Any Wisconsin teacher of color will be eligible to receive state-funded loans or have a portion of their college loan debt forgiven under one new law signed by Evers, a former state schools superintendent. 

The law expands statewide a program that until now was only available to Milwaukee teachers and aims to boost the number of school staff who aren't white in schools where nearly half of those enrolled are students of color. 

Wisconsin has the worst gap in academic achievement between its black and white students by some measures, which drove the bill's authors to seek the expansion of the loan program, they said. 

"The lack of attention being brought to the issue is appalling," Sen Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, said. "Increasing the number of teachers of color proves to reduce the disparity between students and passing this bill is a small step toward closing this gap."

Evers also vetoed a bill that would have included students' parents' names to be publicly released.

Current law allows members of the public to obtain certain information about students, known as directory data. Such information includes the student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, field of study, photographs, degrees and which sports students' play. 

Evers said he vetoed the bill that added parents' names to that list because of privacy concerns. 

"I object to implementing a mandate that will negatively impact the privacy of students in Wisconsin," Evers said in his veto message, adding that allowing release of such information would mean Wisconsin would provide less privacy than federal student privacy laws.

Bill author Republican Rep. Mark Born said Evers misunderstood the bill.

"@GovEvers accusation that this is a mandate shows his ignorance to the topic," Born said in a tweet. "This bill simply gives local school boards more options to include in their directory data list, which is a choice, not a mandate."

Schools must disclose to parents and students which information is considered public and allow parents to opt out of releasing such information. 

Evers signed 13 bills on Thursday, including another measure that makes it easier for teachers who move to Wisconsin to become licensed and start working in classrooms.

The new law requires the state Department of Public Instruction to issue a permanent teaching license to a qualified teacher who has a license from another state but has taught in Wisconsin under a temporary license for at least two semesters and is endorsed by their employer. 

Wisconsin is now one of 14 states that allow teachers from out of state to obtain teaching licenses without taking additional courses. 

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Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.