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Evers Rallies Democrats Around Budget
Gov. Tony Evers is dismissing criticism of the new state budget from statehouse Democrats.
Nearly 50 Democrats voted against the governor’s compromise budget last week, many saying the new spending plan doesn’t spend enough.
Rep. Representative Russell Goodwin, Sr., D-Milwaukee, said the budget didn't have enough "good wins" for his district.
“You cannot claim to love education and leave it underfunded. You can’t be pro-kid and anti-classroom,” he said during the debate over the budget. “I didn’t come to this Capitol to preserve broken systems. I came to challenge them.”
Rep. Karen Kirsch, D-Greenfield, said pretty much the same thing.
"Our public schools remain inadequately funded, perpetuating the cycle of local referendums just to meet basic needs," she said in a statement. "The budget fails to increase general aid and only raises special education reimbursement to 42% in the first year and 45% in the second. My communities needed 60% to 90% to properly serve students with special needs."
Evers on Thursday told reporters in Milwaukee that his new budget pumps $500 million into special education.
"We've dealt with that in a significant way," Evers said. "We won't say that's a bad thing. That's a good thing, because we did exactly what the school districts were asking us to do."
In exchange for the $500 million in special education, Gov. Evers guaranteed two income tax cuts. One will exempt retiree income, and the other will cut taxes for families making less than $67,000 a-year.
There’s also a nearly $300 million increase for the UW System, but Republicans say that money will go toward targeted raises for in-demand professors.
There’s also a hospital assessment increase that will be used to capture more federal Medicaid money, but not a Medicaid expansion that Democrats have wanted for years.
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