Assembly Spares K-12 Education Funding from Cuts

The State Assembly early Friday (March 15, 2002) passed a budget adjustment plan that spares K-12 public education from new funding cuts.

“The budget bill does nothing to fix the crisis caused by state-imposed revenue controls,” WEAC President Stan Johnson said. “It makes the best of a bad situation. Even in grim economic times, we cannot abandon the need to provide classrooms that work for all of Wisconsin’s students.”

The budget plan sent to the State Senate also:

• Maintains the state’s commitment to fund two-thirds of the costs of K-12 operations and provides property tax relief to home owners.
• Preserves early childhood educational opportunities.
• Continues the commitment to reduce class sizes in the early elementary grades.
• Strengthens the economy by retaining an investment in Wisconsin’s technical colleges.
• Restores funding for the Challenge Academy, a residential program for high school dropouts. Educators at the Challenge Academy are WEAC members who could have lost their jobs under earlier budget proposals.
  

Johnson called on the Legislature to finish work on the budget and eliminate the state’s $1.1 billion deficit as quickly as possible.

“This is especially important to school districts faced with uncertainty over the future of their state aid payments,” he said. “If the Legislature does not act quickly to pass the budget adjustment bill, school districts will be forced to issue layoff notices to thousands of teachers and staff.

The budget bill also restores the ability of Wisconsin’s technical colleges to provide classrooms that work for thousands of people who depend on them for job training and advancement.

“Technical colleges play a pivotal role in Wisconsin’s economy, providing a great return on taxpayers’ investment,” Johnson said. “The budget adjustment bill now preserves funding for the state’s technical colleges, which are an integral part of our education system.”

Johnson said WEAC remains concerned about the potential cuts to state agencies and their effect on children and the economy.

“WEAC will stay involved throughout the rest of the budget adjustment process to find solutions that balance the need to eliminate the deficit with the need to preserve essential state services to school districts and communities,” Johnson said.

The bill now moves to the State Senate for consideration. After the Senate votes on the budget, it goes to a conference committee and ultimately to the governor.

Resource page on 2002 state budget crisis

Posted March 15, 2002