HAYWARD – Parents from the grassroots Learn in My Shoes campaign will be among those who testify at legislative state budget hearings in Hayward on Monday, April 28, and Wausau on Tuesday, April 29. The hearings can be viewed live on Wisconsin Eye’s website: https://wiseye.org.
Parents involved in the grassroots Learn in My Shoes campaign have spent the last two months sharing the stories of students with disabilities from across the state with members of the Wisconsin State Legislature. They started with a March event at the State Capitol, where they delivered stories attached to pairs of children’s shoes. One shoe went to their state representative, and the other to the state senator who represents them.
Local school districts are only reimbursed for about one-third of special education costs. Since the current state budget was passed two years ago, two-thirds of Wisconsin’s 421 school districts have gone to referendum, according to the Wisconsin Public Education Network. Some districts have had multiple referendums.
Meilssa Custer, a parent from Grafton, launched the campaign with Tiffany Schanno, a Sheboygan parent. Custer’s son is now being homeschooled due to his high support needs and health issues that their school district could no longer address due to insufficient state funding. “This is what happens when schools have to cut corners,” Custer said during the legislative committee’s hearing in West Allis earlier this month. “Our children pay the price.”
Parents of special education students will wear black and share their children’s stories with the Legislature’s budget-writing committee beginning Monday in Hayward and continuing on Tuesday in Wausau. Learn in My Shoes co-founders Melissa Custer and Tiffany Schanno will be on hand to testify, along with Amanda Sherman, Melanie Grosse, and other parents of special education students.
JOINT FINANCE COMMITTEE HEARING DETAILS
Monday, April 28
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Hayward High School Auditorium
10320 Greenwood Lane
Hayward
Tuesday, April 29
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Northcentral Technical College – Center for Health Sciences
1000 W. Campus Drive
Wausau
Learn more about Learn in My Shoes: https://www.learninmyshoeswi.org/
