Bell gives Assembly Republican budget work a grade of 'incomplete'
The Assembly Republicans' plan to separate education funding out of the state budget debate is counterproductive, WEAC President Mary Bell said Thursday (September 13, 2007).
"Although WEAC applauds the Assembly Republican effort to get a state budget agreement rolling and agree this proposal is better for K-12 public schools than their first offering, we are deeply concerned that the conference committee is not addressing the budget in total," Bell said. "The conference committee needs to do the work of deliberating on a whole budget in order to truly address the concerns of children, educators, families, and communities in Wisconsin. Their assignment: incomplete."
The Assembly Republicans came to the state budget conference committee Thursday with an offer on K-12 school funding, the school levy tax credit and shared revenue, and vowed to take the proposal to the Assembly floor for a vote next week Tuesday, September 18.
Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson (D-Beloit) said the conference committee should instead continue to work to come up with an agreement on K-12 funding, expressing optimism that the committee could reach such an agreement by next week Tuesday.
The conference committee is made up of representatives from the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled Assembly. The committee has been unable to work out differences between the budget versions passed this summer by each house. Wisconsin is the only state in the nation still without a budget for the current fiscal year.
The new Assembly Republicans' education proposal:
- Boosts general school aids by $235 million, resulting in increases of 1.7% in 2007-08 and 1.6% in 2008-09 from the prior year, mirroring the funding levels proposed by Governor Doyle and Senate Democrats.
- Adds $53.6 million to special education categorical aid, which would represent increases of 5.2% in 2007-08 and 5.4% in 2008-09.
- Provides funding to increase the SAGE per pupil payment amount from $2,000 per low-income pupil to $2,250.
- Creates a new annual appropriation of $10 million for grants to reimburse school districts for school safety beginning in 2008-09.
- Increases the annual reimbursement rate for pupils transported over 12 miles from home and school from $180 to $220 beginning in 2007-08.
- Provides $3.3 million over the biennium to increase the school breakfast reimbursement rate from 10 cents to 15 cents per breakfast served.
- Makes no changes to the current-law inflationary adjustment to the per-pupil adjustment, resulting in a per-pupil adjustment of $264 in 2007-08 and $270 in 2008-09.
- Increases the low-revenue ceiling from $8,400 to $8,700 in 2007-08 and to $9,000 in 2008-09.
- Provides for 100% hold harmless for declining enrollment school districts and allows the prior year’s base to serve as a revenue limit floor.
- Increases the current school levy tax credit distribution for the 2008(09) property tax year and for each year thereafter by $200 million, money that goes directly to property tax relief rather than to schools and not paid for during the current biennium.
Unlike the pro-public education budget proposals of Governor Doyle and Senate Democrats, the Assembly Republican proposal fails to:
- Repeal the unfair Qualified Economic Offer.
- Ease the burden on Milwaukee property taxpayers who must pick up 45% of the cost of the Milwaukee private school voucher program.
- Invest $15 million to boost student achievement in Milwaukee Public Schools.
- Grant revenue limit adjustments for school safety and teacher mentoring activities.
- Provide $3 million for 4-year-old kindergarten start-up grants.
- Provide $3 million in bilingual-bicultural aid just to maintain the state’s reimbursement rate at 12%.
- Expand the national teacher certification program to provide grants to master educator licensees and award higher grants to those board certified teachers and master educators who teach in high-poverty schools.
Resource page on 2007-09 state budget
Posted September 13, 2007
