by Chris Kulow | Mar 28, 2023 | Legislative Update Blog, State Budget
Before any votes are taken on the state budget, the powerful budget-writing Joint Finance Committee (JFC) holds a series of public hearings at locations around the state. This cycle, the public hearings will be located in Waukesha, Eau Claire, Wisconsin Dells and Minocqua (
more details here).
These hearings are a great chance for your board to provide testimony highlighting issues such as the importance of inflationary increases in spendable resources, special education reimbursement, etc. Based on what we are hearing, lawmakers are yet not sold on the need to provide inflationary increases in school funding and, while they understand the need to provide some level of increased resources to schools, they have neither embraced the governor’s proposal nor come up with a number of their own yet. It is of critical importance for public school districts to have a strong presence at these hearings so lawmakers can hear from you as they are deciding what level of investment to make in your school district. (more…)
by Dan Rossmiller | Mar 16, 2023 | Legislative Update Blog, State Budget, State Issue
The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) released its detailed summary of Governor Evers’ 2023-25 budget proposal yesterday (3/15).
Here are links to the documents:
by Chris Kulow | Mar 7, 2023 | Legislative Update Blog, State Budget
From a press release: The Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Finance (JFC), Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) announced four (4) public hearings related to the State Budget today.
“As the Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Finance (JFC), we invite you to provide comments and input. Your ideas are an essential part of our process. We also encourage you to visit the website we
have dedicated to the public hearing process. It is a central portal for input to reach the entire committee and it will be a helpful tool when looking for upcoming budget hearings and other documents pertaining to the budget process.”
The public hearing schedule is: (more…)
by Chris Kulow | Feb 14, 2023 | Legislative Update Blog, State Budget
Governor Evers today announced details of his budget initiatives for K-12 education including an overall increase of $2.6 billion. That figure includes significant investments in special education aid, increases in revenue limits and general aid, increases in the low revenue ceiling and more. The details are provided below. The governor delivers his budget address tomorrow evening at 7pm (WisEye coverage begins at 6:30pm).
From the Governor’s office (see full release):
Overall Investment
To ensure kids and educators have the resources they need to be successful, Gov. Evers is providing an overall state investment of over $2.6 billion in general and categorical aids for public schools. Gov. Evers’ historic education budget proposes: (more…)
by Dan Rossmiller | Feb 6, 2023 | Legislative Update Blog, State Budget, State Issue
Governor Evers is scheduled to give his 2023-25 state budget address next Wednesday evening, Feb. 15 before a joint session of the state Senate and Assembly in the state Capitol. The speech will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Assembly chambers.
At that time, the governor will unveil and highlight his budget proposal, which by law will then be introduced by the Joint Finance Committee. That will mark the start of several months of legislative discussion and debate over the state’s next biennial (or two-year) budget. If all goes as planned. that discussion and debate will result in passage of the budget bill in late June or early July. (more…)
by Chris Kulow | Jan 26, 2023 | Legislative Update Blog, State Budget
One day after Gov. Evers in his State of the State Address proposed over $1 billion in new spending, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) released a memo showing the state will end the current fiscal year with a projected $7.1 billion surplus, $524 million more than previous estimates. The LFB cited several factors that contributed to the $524 million difference, the most significant of which is the $775 million projected Medicaid (Medical Assistance) fund surplus due in large part to the continuation of enhanced federal matching funds enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. A second factor is a $202 million appropriation set aside by the Legislature to fund the repeal of the personal property tax. That money was never used because the proposal wasn’t signed into law. Another factor is a $60.7 million increase in projected tax collections compared to the same earlier estimates. (more…)
