Legislators Rush Property Tax Freeze to A Vote

Members of the education community are scrambling to prepare for a suddenly called hearing on a statewide property tax freeze.

The Legislature's powerful Joint Finance Committee has scheduled a Tuesday (February 1, 2005) hearing and vote on a bill that would freeze property taxes. The hearing will begin at noon at the Richard T. Anderson Education Center on the Pewaukee campus of Waukesha County Technical College. The committee has scheduled an executive session at 5 p.m.

WEAC members, school administrators, local government officials and technical representatives are organizing to present testimony at the hearing.

"A freeze would inflict immediate and massive harm to Wisconsin's great schools and staff," WEAC President Stan Johnson said. "It is reckless fiscal policy that would seriously impair school district and local government operations and damage the ability of technical colleges to train the workforce of the future.

"We will show how this idea would jeopardize Wisconsin residents' investment in public education," Johnson said. "Wisconsin has some of the best schools in the nation, but a tax freeze would starve school districts of the funds they need to create a great school for every child."

On Friday, Republican legislators presented amendments to the bill, including changes to school funding under revenue controls. Johnson said that even with those changes, the Republican plan will further tighten revenue controls, which already are severely harming the ability of school districts to provide the services needed to maintain our great schools.

"Cuts of any kind are unacceptable and will cause further harm to our schools," Johnson said.

"The Republicans' latest proposal, like their previous proposal, takes school districts and children down the road to failure. The only difference may be the speed at which they get there. In either case, they are headed in the wrong direction. What we need is a budget that moves our great schools along the road to success and is based on the needs of children, not the aspirations of politicians," Johnson said.

Johnson urged members to use the OnWEAC Cyberlobby to contact their legislators and let them know how they feel about the prospect of further cuts in education programs.

Resource page on tax gimmicks

Posted January 28, 2005