Wisconsin State Republicans denied $450 million for the Equalization Aid education fund — a financial assistance program that provides money to public school districts — in a recent counterproposal for the unexpected $2.5 billion budget surplus spending breakdowns, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Gov. Tony Evers prioritized $450 million for Equalization Aid, $200 million toward special education reimbursement and $550 million for the School Levy Tax Credit in an email proposal Feb. 10, according to a WisPolitics.
“The governor’s been clear that any bipartisan bill on property taxes must include investments to ensure our K-12 schools receive the resources they need and were promised in the state budget,” Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a press release.
Speaker of the House Robin Vos, R-Racine County, and State Senate Majority Leader Devin Lemahieu, R-Oostburg, acquiesced to Ever’s requests for $200 million for special education reimbursement and increased the School Tax Levy Credit amount to $500 million, according to a Feb. 16 proposal letter.
The proposal letter also backed down from requesting Evers’ 400-year line-item veto, which expanded a two-year school spending increase to a four centuries long increase, according to WPR.
Lemahieu said Feb. 11 that Senate Republicans would not agree to any money for school funding until the veto was repealed, according to CBS 58. Vos had already back-pedaled from previous claims that the veto needed to be repealed in order to move forward from Evers’ requests, according to WPR.
In his joint proposal with Vos, though, Lemahieu yielded in exchange for a $500 income tax rebate for every Wisconsinite.
“[The veto] creates a strong disincentive for school districts to find efficiencies while creating an increased property tax burden on taxpayers,” the proposal said. “In the spirit of compromise and out of the urgent need to return this surplus to the taxpayers, we will agree to your [Evers] outlined bottom line.”
Republicans also agreed to an individual $300 income tax deduction for educator expenses, FoodShare funding, positions to ensure low fraud and error rates to comply with the HR1 bill and $30 million in disaster relief funds, according to the proposal.
Negotiations are still under way, but Republicans are pushing for an agreement to be made by the end of this week, according to WPR. Evers has not publicly commented on Republicans’ counterproposal at this time.
