The state legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee (JFC) continues their “road show” or series of four public hearings on the 2023-25 state budget this week with meetings in Eau Claire and Wisconsin Dells:- Tuesday, April 11, 2023 UW-Eau Claire, Davies Student Center
Ojibwe Grand Ballroom (Third Floor)
77 Roosevelt Ave., Eau Claire - Wednesday, April 12, 2023 Wilderness Resort, Glacier Canyon Conference Center
Sandstone Meeting Room
45 Hillman Road, Wisconsin Dells
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.
The public hearings will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m. Attendees will be asked to fill out a form upon arrival to be added to the queue to testify. For more information on these hearings, see this post: Testifying at a state budget hearing: how to prepare & what to expect. WASB staff will be at the hearings to answer any questions and make note of your presence for WASB member recognition points.
Public schools had a strong presence at the first hearing in Waukesha last week and we look forward to keeping that momentum going at the remaining hearings. Thank you for your advocacy efforts!
