Building the Budget

On Friday, my colleagues and I gave a brief presentation to area businesses on the budget and some of the great things we are doing to continue moving Wisconsin Forward.

For example, this month, we learned Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is at 3.2 percent, the lowest rate in the last 17 years. What’s more, we continue to outpace the rest of the nation with a strong labor force participation rate. And we continue to encourage job growth with approximately 100,000 available jobs through the Jobs Center of Wisconsin website.

The budget is also beginning to take shape as members of the Joint Finance Committee work diligently to improve on the governor’s recommendations.

Last week, the committee agreed to freeze tuition for Wisconsin students in the UW System and set aside additional funding for schools that perform well. With this budget, students at the UW System will experience continued savings while the UW will be rewarded for educating our students.

On Wednesday, the committee approved additional funding for workforce training with $11.5 million for the Wisconsin Fast Forward program in addition to $1 million for career and technical education grants. The new funding will build upon our previous efforts to improve the workforce in Wisconsin.

In the coming weeks the committee will be taking up property taxes and K-12 education where they will set aside millions of dollars for our public schools and eliminate the state portion of your property tax bill.

At the beginning of session, Assembly Republicans promised to make education a top priority while holding the line on property taxes. With this budget, we make good on those promises and continue moving Wisconsin Forward.

Have a great weekend!

Remember the Fallen

Monday morning, many from around our community gathered in South Milwaukee and Oak Creek to honor our fallen heroes.

It was wonderful to see so many of you in Oak Creek and South Milwaukee paying your respects to the men and women who lost their lives fighting for our freedom.