Governor's Task Force to Propose QEO Repeal
The Governor's Task Force on Educational Excellence will recommend
eliminating the Qualified Economic Offer law, Chairman Michael Spector
told reporters Tuesday (June 1, 2004).
Spector said the panel's list of recommendations also will include:
- Reducing property taxes by 20% by raising the state sales tax from
5% to 6% and eliminating some sales tax exemptions.
- Fully funding the 4-year-old kindergarten program.
- Increasing state funding for special education programs, English-as-a-second-language
programs, and class-size reduction.
Spector said recommendations will not include eliminating
school district revenue controls.
The task force is expected to turn its recommendations
over to Governor Doyle by the end of June. The governor is expected
to incorporate some of the task force's recommendations into his next
two-year state budget proposal early next year.
In his first state budget proposal last year, Doyle
proposed eliminating the QEO – which severely limits the ability
of teachers to negotiate fair pay raises – but the Republican-controlled
Legislature removed that item from the budget bill. Doyle said 11 years
of the QEO has caused teacher salaries in Wisconsin to stagnate, is
driving experienced teachers from the profession, and is causing the
best and brightest young people to choose other careers. Under the QEO,
Wisconsin teacher salaries have fallen below the national average.
Spector said there was broad support among the panel's
29 members to eliminate the QEO. He said the panel would propose a new
system of incentives to improve teaching skills and learning.
Like the QEO elimination proposal, the sales tax plan
is expected to meet resistance in the Legislature. The plan would raise
an additional $800 million through the higher sales tax and another
$752 million by repealing sales tax exemptions on more than two dozen
products and services. The panel did not specify which product and service
exemptions should be repealed, but it will keep exemptions for food
and drugs, Spector said. Current sales tax exemptions include legal
services, real estate commissions and accountant fees, among many others.
Under the plan, the $1.55 billion sales tax increase
would be almost entirely offset by a $1.44 billion property tax reduction.
Spector said Doyle could apply the remaining $110 million to tax credits.
Resource page on school
funding
Web site of the
Governor's Task Force on Educational Excellence
Posted June 2, 2004