2-12-14 school accountability bill

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A sweeping school accountability bill that would force poor-performing public schools to close may not have enough support to clear the Republican-controlled Assembly Education Committee.  The measure already appears to be dead on arrival in the Senate, where Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has said there's no appetite to impose the proposed sanctions.

Instead, the Senate Education Committee plans to vote Thursday on a narrower proposal that would ensure data from private schools in the voucher program gets reported.  At least one Republican on the Assembly Education Committee also opposes the sanctions bill. Rep. Steve Nass's spokesman Mike Mikalsen says that Nass will not vote for the bill that's up for a hearing Wednesday.  Mikalsen says the choice now is to either do nothing or pass the Senate bill.