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Wisconsin's $44 Billion Worth of State Grants
Wisconsin’s next deep-dives will look into the decision to change the state’s learning standards, and look into $44 billion worth of state grants.
The heads of the Legislative Audit Committee on Tuesday announced plans for two new audits.
"The first of the two audits will explore the background of how DPI came to create and apply its new testing standards. The second audit will inspect how funding is utilized through the various grant programs overseen by departments within Wisconsin’s executive branch," Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, and Rep. Bob Wittke, R-Caledonia, said in a joint statement.
The learning standards audit comes after State Superintendent Jill Underly ordered them changes last fall. Under her new learning standards, more than half of kids in Wisconsin were reading, writing, and doing math at or above grade level.
Wimberger and Wittke said that number is actually less than a third.
“Rather than support science-backed reform that the Legislature passed last session, Superintendent Underly lowered statewide testing standards to cover-over DPI’s failure to solve our literacy crisis. Superintendent Underly’s unilateral standard changing to cover up DPI’s failing is absolutely unacceptable, and this audit will help us uncover exactly how and why these reporting standards were changed to stop future manipulation,” the two added.
The state grant audit follows reports of how the Evers Administration rushed to get money out the door.
Wimberger and Wittke say they want to know if the governor’s office did its due diligence with the billions-of-dollars it was given dating back to COVID.
As we start the biennial budget process, it’s prudent to examine how much the state spends through various grant initiatives. In the last budget, the state issued more than $44 billion in grant assistance funding. Evaluating these programs for wasteful, fraudulent, or abusive spending means we can identify and cut the fat of big government, making Wisconsin’s state government more accountable for our hardworking taxpayers,” the two said.
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