WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and SportsLawmakers pass late-night education reform bills

Lawmakers pass late-night education reform bills

MADISON (WKOW) -- Wisconsin lawmakers debated into the early morning hours of Friday on a series of education reform bills that would allow tying student performance to teacher performance and qualify the state for billions in federal funding.

The final vote came at around 3:00 a.m. Friday after Democrats met for more than three hours behind closed doors.

The action came as the Legislature neared the end of its session and just one day after President Barack Obama stopped at Madison's Wright Middle School to tout his Race to the Top grant program.

The state's education reform bills would make Wisconsin eligible for nearly $4.5 billion in federal stimulus money.

Wisconsin is one of only a few state that bans using student test data to evaluate teachers. But even with that prohibition lifted, teachers could not be disciplined or removed based on student test scores.