FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2017
Contact: Joe Fadness
[email protected]
ICYMI: Gov. Walker and Wisconsin Republicans Support Historic Investment in Wisconsin’s K-12 Classrooms
[Madison, Wis.] – In case you missed it, the Wisconsin State Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee on Monday voted in favor of a historic investment in our state’s K-12 classrooms.
Gov. Walker first proposed spending more in classrooms than ever before as part of his budget proposal, in addition to tax cuts and additional bold conservative reform.
Read more here or find excerpts below:
Wisconsin committee OK’s education budget
Associated Press
August 28, 2017
… The heart of Gov. Scott Walker’s education funding proposal adopted by the Joint Finance Committee with no Democratic support would raise per-pupil aid by $200 this year and $204 next year for all schools, at a cost of about $505 million. The plan was adopted as the committee nears completion of the seven-week-late budget. …
The committee also voted to:
— entice schools to consolidate by providing additional state aid of $150 per student in the newly created district for five years. The payment would gradually be reduced after that.
— limit schools to holding votes on exceeding property tax levy limits to regularly scheduled election days, no more than twice a year. A special election could be held if a district experiences a natural disaster, including a fire.
— make grant money equal to $125 for every ninth-grade student available to purchase a laptop or other personal computing device or related equipment.
— require a teaching license to be given to anyone with a bachelor’s degree who passes an alternative teacher preparation program that meets certain criteria. College or university faculty would also be permitted to teach at a public high school without getting a license or permit from the state. Both changes are designed to address teacher shortages.
— increase the score a student must receive on the state-mandated civics test from 60 points to 65 points.
— approve $1 billion in funding for state building projects, including $75 million for a new crime lab and regional law enforcement facility in the Milwaukee area. The committee added a number of building projects the governor didn’t fund, including about $192 million in seven projects across the University of Wisconsin System, $7 million for a geriatric prison facility and $1 million for unspecified improvements to the basement of the Capitol.
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Paid for by Friends of Scott Walker
