Wisconsin Senate Bill SB1026

Wisconsin 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/12/26
• Refer: 2/12/26
• Failed: 3/23/26

Caption

An Act to renumber and amend 118.19 (8); to create 115.28 (55s), 118.165 (3), 118.19 (8) (b), 118.40 (2r) (b) 2. m., 118.40 (2x) (b) 2. m. and 121.02 (1) (L) 4m. of the statutes; Relating to: required instruction in African American history in the elementary and high school grades and making an appropriation. (FE)

Summary

SB1026 would require Wisconsin’s state superintendent of public instruction to develop a K-12 model curriculum on African American history, in collaboration with specified organizations and the University of Wisconsin System. The model curriculum must cover the history and contributions of African Americans in the United States and Wisconsin, place that history in broader national and state context, include the anthropological migration of people into the state, and provide tools for students to analyze history and understand current events. The bill also directs the superintendent to incorporate this instruction into the model academic standards for social studies. The bill would then require school boards, independent charter schools, and private schools to include African American history instruction consistent with the model curriculum in social studies for every grade from kindergarten through 12th grade. It also requires the Department of Public Instruction to employ three full-time education consultants to help schools update curriculum and deliver the instruction. In addition, the bill ties teacher licensure to this content by prohibiting the superintendent from issuing a teaching license unless the applicant has received instruction in African American history consistent with the model curriculum.

Impact

The bill would amend Wisconsin statutes governing public school curriculum, charter school requirements, private school curriculum, and teacher licensure. It creates a new statutory requirement for African American history instruction in elementary and high school social studies, adds a corresponding licensure requirement for teachers, and authorizes new DPI staffing and funding for curriculum support. The fiscal provisions increase the DPI appropriation by $384,900 in each of fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27 to fund three education consultant positions.

Sentiment

The available context suggests generally favorable support for the bill’s educational goals, as reflected by its introduction with multiple Senate and Assembly cosponsors. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Education, but no committee transcript or recorded votes are provided, and the bill ultimately failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1. Because there is no discussion record in the provided materials, there is no documented opposition or amendment debate to characterize beyond the bill’s final failure.

Contention

The bill’s main points of potential contention are the breadth of the mandate and the cost of implementation. It requires all public schools, charter schools, and private schools to add grade-by-grade African American history instruction, and it conditions teacher licensure on receiving that instruction, which could raise concerns about curriculum control, compliance burdens, and licensure standards. The appropriation for three new DPI consultants may also have been a point of fiscal concern. No specific objections are documented in the provided context, so any contention is inferred from the bill’s structure rather than recorded debate.