JFC Delays Action on K-12
By John Forester(Don't Use) | May 20, 2011
As yesterday’s executive session of the powerful Joint Finance Committee was called to order, Co-chair Robin Vos announced that the Department of Public Instruction items scheduled for action would be deferred to another day. DPI is not on the agenda for Tuesday, May 24th but those items could be brought forward quickly by the committee. The public education items were deferred because the Republican Senate & Assembly JFC members could not come to an agreement on the education finance package.
Co-chair Vos also announced at the end of the session that the JFC plans to finish it’s work on the budget by June 4th.
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JFC Takes Up K-12 Education Tomorrow
By John Forester(Don't Use) | May 18, 2011
The powerful Joint Finance Committee will take up the K-12 public instruction portion of the budget tomorrow, May 19th. (Here is a link to the K-12 Budget Papers the committee will be working from tomorrow. Simply scroll down to the “public instruction” papers.) The SAA and many other education groups have been lobbying hard for at least a significant piece of the additional $636 million in state revenues that the Legislative Fiscal Bureau recently projected would be available during the next biennium. But, Governor Walker and JFC co-chairs seem committed to using the money for debt reduction.
If you wish to use this opportunity to contact your legislators and the Joint Finance committee members – use the information from our May 13th Legislative Alert post.
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SAA Survey: Districts Face Over $300 Million Deficit
By John Forester(Don't Use) | May 18, 2011
Analysis of SAA survey data collected in March 2011 shows that the statewide budget gap for school districts is more than $300 million, even after application of the WRS and health insurance changes proposed in Act 10 and the 2011-13 State Budget Bill.
The SAA and WASB issued a joint news release yesterday on the survey analysis.
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SB-2 Passes Assembly, On to the Senate
By John Forester(Don't Use) | May 18, 2011
In a victory for the SAA, the State Assembly yesterday passed Senate Bill 2, as amended by the Assembly Education Committee, on a 60-35 vote. Many thanks to all of you that contacted your Assembly Representatives in support of the SAA position.
SB-2 now goes back to the Senate for concurrence in the Assembly amendments. A positive outcome is not assured, however. The Senate could refuse to accept the Assembly amendments. And remember, the Senate version of SB-2 has not been removed from the Budget Bill. Powerful interests are lobbying to pass that version as part of the budget.
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Legislative Alert: Urge Lawmakers to Reinvest in Public Education
By John Forester(Don't Use) | May 13, 2011
The SAA is very glad new state revenue projections show that $636 million in additional revenue is now available to restore some of the massive cuts to public schools proposed in Governor Walker’s biennial budget plan.
However, Governor Walker and the Co-Chairs of the powerful Joint Finance Committee have announced that they are not interested in softening the cuts to schools. Rather, they would like to use the money to pay down state debt.
I urge all SAA members to call or email your legislators and the members of the Joint Finance Committee as soon as possible to encourage them to restore some resources to K-12 public education.
Encourage lawmakers to:
1. Soften the huge reductions in allowable school revenues proposed in the Governor’s budget.
2. Restore part of the massive $840 million cut in total state school aid over the biennium. Make sure you highlight the budgetary and human impact the Governor’s budget plan will have on your district. Emphasize the budget gap that remains after applying the WRS and health insurance savings. Also, highlight the impact in the 2nd year of the biennium.
3. Oppose the expansion of private school vouchers and independent charter schools in the budget. The Governor’s school privatization proposals are funded by siphoning public resources away from public school children and transferring those resources to private entities.
Time is of the essence friends. We anticipate that the K-12 public education portion of the budget will be taken up by the Joint Finance Committee the week of May 23rd. It is vital that we act now.
If you have not yet contacted legislators on the budget, do it now. If you have contacted your legislators already, do it again. Our level of success on the budget will be determined by the quality of your response in the next few days.
Please send your letter using the information discussed above to the members of the Joint Finance Committee as soon as possible. You can email the JFC members easily using the Key Committees section on our website. Just below that, in the Elected Officials section, I have also provided links to the Senate Directory, the Assembly Directory and Who Are My Legislators. I also encourage you to copy your letter to your legislators and to the SAA.
For your information and convenience, I have provided a link to the SAA Budget Priorities.
Topics: CapitolReports, Legislative Action, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »