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Republican JFC Members on Education Issues
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 4, 2015
From WisPolitics:
The GOP committee members interviewed this week all agreed the No. 1 priority with K-12 is restoring the $127 million the guv proposed cutting in categorical aids during the first year of the biennium.
Nygren said No. 2 on his list for any new money is a second-year increase for K-12, with reducing the $300 million cut to the UW System third on his list.
A significant factor in those discussions will be any additional revenue projected for the upcoming biennium. The higher the growth, the more room there would be to shave the UW cut.
The guv’s public authority proposal for UW also continues to be dead for many members, though some are open to providing some flexibilities to the system. Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, said any flexibility has to be tied to accountability, including things such as student outcomes and meeting workforce needs.
“You can’t provide flexibility without ensuring that you have accountability, and that’s a very important component,” she said.
Olsen also noted lawmakers can pull together money for schools by making cuts elsewhere. For example, Walker’s call to put $15 million in GPR into the Eau Claire Confluence project is on next week’s JFC agenda. The project is intended to help develop a blighted area in downtown Eau Claire. But lawmakers may look to cut that GPR appropriation to redirect the money for schools and possibly add the project to the building budget.
Some have also eyed the way Walker structured the school levy credit.
Walker proposed increasing the levy credit by $211.2 million over the two-year budget cycle, with the increase split evenly between both property tax years covered by the biennium. But both bumps are counted in the second year of the biennium. The first payment would be made in July 2016 with the second in June 2017.
Pushing that second payment past July 1, 2017 — and into the next budget — would free up $105.6 million.
Finances are also going to be an issue as the committee takes up Walker’s call to lift the caps on statewide enrollment on the school choice program. The guv’s plan called for pooling state equalization aid for each student who left a public school for the voucher program and then dividing the money equally for the vouchers. Choice advocates have been unhappy with the funding proposal, calling it inadequate, and several GOP Finance members said they will be looking at a more measured approach to expanding the choice program because of the limited resources.
Kooyenga said the state has to be smart in how it phases in an expansion considering the financial impact. And Marklein suggested tying any proposal to districts with underperforming schools and high poverty.
Nygren said several proposals are being kicked around on how to manage an expansion, including limiting the number of students who could leave a school at possibly 1 percent.
“It’s going to have to be a more measured approach,” Nygren said. “There might be ways to do it statewide, but still keep some restrictions on growth year to year.”
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