Statement on Passage of the State Budget

“Last night the State Legislature passed a state budget that does not address the fundamental needs of our state. Many issues remain unsolved, that we could have fixed through the budget process. During the public hearings, we heard directly from the people of Wisconsin what the solutions are to the problems they are facing on a day-to-day basis.

“Unfortunately, Republican leadership dragged their feet and waited to come to the negotiating table until the last minute. While we were able to make marginal progress on some areas, the budget that passed today leaves us with the same problems we started with at the beginning.

“We have received a clear message from the people that the needs of our state’s children should be the highest priority in the state budget. Without adequate childcare many parents have had to compromise in their professions, sometimes not being able to work full time as they would like in order to ensure their kids are cared for.

“Wisconsin’s constitution obligates our public K-12 schools to provide an accessible education to all students. While this budget modestly increases the reimbursement for special education costs in public schools, it still leaves them less than half of what voucher schools receive. Today’s budget does not provide any increase in general school aids, and does not bring special education funding up to levels that will guarantee services for students with special needs. The lack of funding allocated to our public schools hurts our children, communities, teachers, and tax payers. I am very concerned that the Republican budget does not provide enough to prevent property tax increases at the local level to fund public schools.

“Wisconsin’s public universities are faced with closure after years of inadequate state support. In this budget the University System is only receiving 28 percent of what they needed to prevent further closures. Moving forward, unless UW schools continue to raise tuition it is likely that we will continue to see fewer and fewer options available for our students.

“On top of all of this, the federal government under President Trump and Republican leadership of Congress, is preparing to kick tens of thousands of Wisconsinites off of Medicaid and food assistance in order to provide a tax break to the wealthy. Our state will need to pick up the pieces they leave behind, and today’s budget spends more on tax breaks than it does on child care, the UW System, and K-12 education.

“These are the reasons I could not support the state budget. I look forward to working with my colleagues to find the real solutions to these problems on behalf of our state.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.