Gov. Scott Walker introduced a budget Tuesday which contained serious cuts to state and local programs he said are tough but necessary to balance the projected $3.6 billion deficit.
The most notable cuts in the biennial budget include reductions include a $750 million cut in general aid to public schools over two years.
Walker’s budget would terminate aid going to special programs like Advanced Placement courses, alcohol and drug abuse prevention and intervention, preschool to grade five programs and English for Southeast Asian children to save the state about $30 million annually.
The bill would also lower the amount schools could receive from property taxes per student. The mandate requiring schools to stay open 180 days a year would also disappear under the budget, allowing schools to increase their daily operation hours and decrease the school year length.
For higher education institutions across Wisconsin, Walker’s plan would cut aid $250 million, split evenly between the University of Wisconsin and other UW System schools while requiring System administration to absorb much of the cuts. Likewise, the state’s aid to technical colleges would fall $71.6 million, or 30 percent annually.
Walker also proposed reducing Medicaid expenditures by over $500 million in the next two years, citing Medicaid enrollment increases of 7 percent and expenses that increased $2.2 billion from 2006 to 2010.
“Long-term care expenditures, in particular, are growing much faster than other areas of the budget,” Walker said. “Coupled with the use of $1.2 billion in one-time federal funding – the state is facing a unsustainable budget challenge.”
Undocumented persons at UW System schools would no longer be eligible for in-state tuition, while the Wisconsin Covenant Scholars program started under former Gov. Jim Doyle – offering young people who meet certain academic requirements financial aid for System schools – would stop accepting new enrollees Sept. 30, 2011.
Aid to cities would be cut by $60 million, an 8.8 percent decrease, and counties stand to have $36 million in aid removed, a 24 percent cut.
The bill would remove mandatory municipality and county recycling programs and eliminate aid to local governmental recycling programs.
Law and order practices would also be changed. Total Department of Corrections funding would be decreased by $50 million over two years to reflect the declining rate of crime. Programs allowing well-behaved prisoners to be released early would be repealed, as would parole and probation sentencing after a prisoner serves half of their sentence.
Six DNA analysts would be added, costing around $8 million, while 19 other positions would be added to deal with internet predators.
“We will provide additional resources and positions in our DNA lab to assist our criminal investigations,” Walker said in his address to lawmakers. “And we will make sure that our children – those that are dearest to us – are protected from those who would do them harm.”
Walker also included plans to invest $5.7 billion in transportation systems, including about $420 million for repairs and construction of the Zoo Interchange and the I-94 corridor from Milwaukee to Kenosha.
Close to $200 million would be provided to create the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the public-private entity Walker plans on creating to replace the Department of Commerce.
To improve efficiency, regulatory functions within state agencies would be consolidated in the Department of Regulation and Licensing, which would be renamed the Department of Safety and Professional Services.
Walker said lawmakers were elected to make tough decisions. Instead of using more gimmicks to reduce the deficit, Walker said he would balance the deficit through spending reductions.
“Specifically, our budget reduces all funds spending by $4.2 billion, or 6.7 percent, and decreases the structural deficit by 90 percent from $2.5 billion to $250 million – the lowest structural deficit in recent history. That’s over $2 billion we are saving from future obligations and for future generations,” Walker said.
The Joint Finance Committee introduced the budget later Tuesday, officially beginning the process of public hearings and eventual Legislative debate.
