After being denied the chance to have one of several statewide budgetary hearings held in Madison, city officials took matters into their own hands Wednesday evening by hosting their own public hearing to educate Madisonians on the effects of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said residents needed an opportunity to voice their concerns about how the bill would affect their daily lives, saying the state’s decision to withhold a meeting from the second largest city in the state was unrepresentative.
Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Dan Nerad said his main concern as a result of the state budget is the needs of future generations of children not being met.
Nerad added the lack of proper education could be attributed to the take home pay cuts educators throughout the state are being forced to accept.
He said there would be a reduction of approximately 6 percent of take home pay next year per teacher, which means a total decrease of $11.5 million statewide.
“Those who have crafted these bills have to understand that having resources to educate our children matters, and in fact should be a main priority,” Nerad said. “I believe as a community, we cannot settle for this.”
Madison Area Technical College President Bettsey Barhorst said her institution is hurting from the proposal to strip 30 percent of state aid from technical schools and community colleges.
Barhorst said there does not seem to be any logic behind promising 250,000 new jobs but then cutting the very resources through which these jobs are created.
Other county representatives, such as Dane County Board Chair Scott McDonnell, expressed concerns about the effects the lack of funding would have all throughout the city of Madison and other nearby areas.
McDonnell said he is most concerned about the elimination of funds that provide food stamps, medical assistance and other federal rights that he said citizens are entitled to.
He also said the proposed budget slashes would create the potential cut of 11 attorneys throughout the county who prosecute for lack of child support payments. Without this funding, McDonnell said children would not receive the paternal money they deserve.
Among the citizens in attendance, Tom Eggert, a Madison resident and a lecturer in the University of Wisconsin School of Business, voiced his desire for equal sacrifice in the state.
Eggert said he was angry that it does not seem millionaires and billionaires throughout the state have been asked to give up much throughout the budget repair process.
He also said he was disheartened that only the lower and middles classes have been forced to sacrifice what he said was a great deal.
Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney said education and equal opportunity were key factors in assuring the younger generation stays out of the county jails in the future.
Mahoney said the only way the state can ensure this is to continue to provide basic education and the chance for jobs and self-esteem for the next generation.
“I would like to encourage everyone to continue to work even harder than you’re working now to ensure that all the progress we’ve made in not only Dane County, but all 72 counties, will not be setback,” Mahoney said.
