As I See It
Spend the money you have already allocated
Wisconsin’s state representatives seem better at providing funding than actually spending it. We’ve seen that with our groundwater, polluted with PFAS. The legislature allocated more than $100 million to deal with the problem, but continues to refuse to release the money to places like French Island where cleanup could begin. Now we are seeing the same petty tactic when it comes to funding education in Wisconsin. $50 million set aside in the state budget to fund new reading initiatives mandated by the state has yet to get to local school districts. Lawmakers continue to refuse to release the money in a fight with the Governor. That issue went to court, and that court ruled Governor Tony Evers did not exceeded his authority when he issued a partial veto. Still, the Joint Finance Committee hasn’t released the money. Meanwhile, local school districts have to pick up the tab for reading initiatives the state told them they must follow. Our children deserve better. Our lawmakers should release the money they already agreed to spend so it can get to our local schools where it is needed.
walden
September 30, 2024 at 8:45 pm
Governor Evers signed the State’s budget agreeing to the terms of deploying funding to study PFAS including that he would present a spending plan to the legislature before the release of the funding. The Governor has since reneged on his own agreement to present a spending plan and so the the monies are apparently frozen until Evers changes course.
In the case of the literacy improvement initiatives, the legislature allocated a total of $50 million in specific amounts to four specific spending categories. These categories were part of a supplemental spending bill. The Governor has now said “no” to the categories as he wants to decide where all the monies are spent.
It seems the governor likes to make up rules after the game has been played.
The State surplus has been reduced from $7 billion to about $3 billion largely as a result of additional funding released by the legislature for public schools. It’s unfortunate Republicans are so poor at communicating with the public because it leaves them open to undue criticism.
Char
October 1, 2024 at 9:46 am
Why do you constantly blame the republicans in the state legislature when it is the governor and the state democrats who are doing this? Don’t you ever read anything that would tell you what is really happening before you write your opinions???