Richard of Appleton asked:
You indicated this is the largest total investment in K-12
education. What measures are you using?
Thanks for the excellent question Richard. As always, I draw my
budget numbers from the non-partisan
Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Based on their analysis, per
pupil funding and the total amount provided to districts by the
state will be the highest ever.
I also regularly meet with local school district board members
and superintendents, who are very pleased with our investment in
students within the legislature’s budget.
Some people could get the impression that we’re cutting school
funding because it’s not as high as the governor proposed, but a
proposal is not an actual budget and next year, if the governor
signs the budget, students will see more money in their classrooms
than ever before.
Richard of Appleton asked:
You mentioned that this budget was built in a bipartisan manner.
What does this mean?
We incorporated many of the governor’s budget proposals that we
could find common ground on. In fact, today the
Post-Crescent reported that one of the governor's top deputies
is praising the budget as a consesus package that required
movement from the legislature. You may have noticed that three
Republicans in the Assembly and two in the Senate voted against
the budget because they felt we were including too much of what
the governor wanted. In a divided government, compromise and
bipartisanship is critical, which is why I voted in favor of the
budget. I guarantee you that this is not the budget that would
exist if we had a Republican governor and it’s not the budget
we’d have with a Democratic legislature. We passed a bipartisan
budget in the spirit of negotiating in good faith among all the
leaders the people of Wisconsin elected.
Stephen of Appleton wrote:
I urge you to eliminate the proposal for a study on the use of
per-mile fees, approved by the Joint Finance Committee. Allowing
a single legislative committee to usher in a fee without proper
oversight would set a dangerous precedent.
I was not particularly happy with this provision either;
however, it was changed to require the entire legislature, and
not just the Joint Finance Committee, to approve any new tax.
Getting a final budget agreement is difficult with many people
having different opinions, but I think this is a big
improvement.
Ann of Appleton wrote:
Governor Evers proposed freezing enrollment in Wisconsin's
parental choice program. Please say no to the freeze.
I’m always proud to stand up for school choice and I’m happy to
report that the budget we adopted removed the freeze that the
governor proposed.
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