Walker wants $649 million boost to K-12 education

Political Beat

Rolling out a key plank of his budget, Gov. Scott Walker called for a $649 million boost to K-12 education as part of a plan that would increase per-pupil funding statewide while also targeting more money to Milwaukee Public Schools and rural districts.

Walker-Scott-headshot-2015Walker said the proposal, included in his two-year budget, is part of an overall effort to better prepare Wisconsin’s workforce. He also said it would result in a property tax bill on the average home that is lower in 2018 than it was before he took office in 2011, while pushing state aid for K-12 to an all-time high of $11.5 billion.

“We’re investing in our priorities, and priority No. 1 is education,” Walker said.

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The plan would represent a dramatic uptick in state aid for K-12 education after years of Walker getting hammered by Democrats, who have accused him of funding school choice at the expense of public schools.

Assembly minority leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) and Senate minority leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) knocked Walker, saying he has cut more than $1 billion from public schools since 2011. Shilling said anything “short of a full refund will continue to hurt hardworking families,” while criticizing the state aid going to vouchers.

Walker said under state law, the vouchers would see a similar bump in per-pupil aid as what public schools would receive.

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Barca said he was still looking for details and questioned whether the plan would result in schools “struggling to keep the lights on” getting a smaller increase per student than voucher schools.

“Every child in Wisconsin deserves and our economy needs quality education,” Barca said. “We need a budget to support that.”

Walker’s proposal almost meets the full amount state superintendent Tony Evers had included in his budget request, though it would divvy up the money differently.

-Wispolitics.com is a media partner of BizTimes Milwaukee.

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