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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The real effects of the Wisconsin state budget on children
As federal aid ran out, advocates called on lawmakers to fund the Child Care Counts program using state dollars, as Evers proposed. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner) This summer Democratic and Republican legislators along with the Gov. Tony Evers participated in closed-door negotiations to come up with the 2025-27 state budget. All of the parties involved are touting the budget as a historic advance for children and patting themselves on the back for compromising with each other and the work they accomplished. In other words, they played well in the sandbox together. While yes, the state budget has never included funding for child care in its history, as we were one of only six states that didn't, crowing about it now is kind of like touting the fact that you've just changed a diaper for the first time when your child is 2 years old. It's not something to brag about, and the new state budget is nothing to brag about either. On the surface, as you read the claims about historic investments in child care and K-12 schools, you might think the budget really solved some big problems. Take Evers' statement celebrating 'Over $330 million to support Wisconsin's child care industry and help lower child care costs for working families, a third of which is in direct payments to providers.' That means only $110 million is to continue the direct investment to all 4,700 eligible regulated child care programs. The original amount for this program was $480 million. Child care is receiving less than 25% of the requested amount. You might have surmised from Evers' victorious statement that parents will see a decrease in tuition costs with the new budget. However, the opposite is going to be occurring, and tuition increases will start in August. The $110 million will cause child care rates to increase next month because the new state investment is less than a third of what Child Care Counts, funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, originally provided. The purpose of that money was to stabilize a field that had been declining for decades. It increased teachers' wages while holding down tuition costs for parents. It worked. The data showed a decline in closures and it raised the average child care educator's wage from $11 an hour to $13 an hour in Wisconsin. (In our state, over 50% of early child care teachers have some college education or degree, with an average of 10 years experience.) This month the ARPA funds run out, and for the past few years, knowing the federal funding would be ending, families, child care providers, and businesses have been advocating for the state to fill the gap and to subsidize child care. We know that for every $1 a state invests in early childhood education, the rate of return is between $10-$16. Not only does quality early child care give children an opportunity for greater success as adults, it also supports our workforce, families and the economy. Regardless of the research and well-being of children, the gatekeepers of our tax dollars on the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee deleted Evers' $480 million direct state investment budget request for child care. Instead, child care funding was determined behind closed doors with Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein and Evers in one corner and Rep. Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin Lemahieu in the other. It should be noted that no one in that space is considered an expert in child care policy. What came out of this room was a compromise for the sake of compromise. The $110 million for child care won't come from state dollars. It's the interest that has accrued on the federal ARPA funds. It will be allocated directly to child care providers over the next 11 months, until June of 2026. It comes to about 70% less than the original amount paid through CCC. This is why, starting in August, there will be significant closures of child care centers and home daycares in rural areas of the state — already considered a child care desert. Tuition will increase at the child care operations that try to stay open. So no, working families will not 'see a decrease in childcare costs' as stated by Evers. And when the $110 million ends next year, there is nothing to replace it. The Wisconsin Legislature will gavel out in March and not gavel in until January of 2027, as legislators will be campaigning the rest of 2026. There won't be an opportunity to pass emergency legislation funding child care. Rates will increase again and closures will continue. The remainder of the $330 million in child care funding in the new state budget is for several new programs. A $66 million state investment for 4-year-olds to access 'school readiness' in their child care program. This will help parents as the state will pay for their 'preschool' time, but it replaces tuition for part of the school day. Child care programs that have school districts with all-day, free 4K will likely find it almost impossible to compete with public schools when they still need to charge for the remainder of the day plus wrap-around care. In addition, there is a $28 million pilot project to deregulate the child care field, which ends in July 2027. This move comes directly from the Republicans' playbook. The pilot project will incentivize providers to increase their ratios, meaning more children per teacher, lower quality and safety for children and more stress on teachers. Another harmful policy in the new budget is that 16-year-olds are now allowed to be assistant teachers and count as adults in the ratio. Coupled with the pilot project mentioned above, this means a classroom of 14 toddlers can be supervised by one 18-year-old and one 16-year-old. This reduces the quality, safety, care and education for the children in our programs. Recall that while these decisions were being made behind closed doors, there were no experts in child care policy in the room. This policy was made without consideration of our state accreditation program, YoungStar, and our national accreditations. Any program that participates in the pilot project will no longer qualify to be accredited. And in Wisconsin, accreditation is not just a certificate to state you are following high safety standards, but our YoungStar program is tethered to our Wisconsin Shares (subsidy for child care). Programs with a five or four-star rating receive a bonus subsidy rate. It can mean a considerable loss of funding for providers to participate in the new pilot project. The politicians who wrote the budget deal behind closed doors neglected to consider the increased cost or loss of insurance for providers when we increase the teacher-to-child ratio and when we allow 16-year-olds to count as adults. The same group of non-experts also decided to allow policies that, in 2023, were already proposed and had failed to become law due to the overwhelming outcry from families, providers and the medical field against a policy that reduces quality and safety for our children. The state is throwing millions of dollars in the garbage for these policies, which won't benefit child care programs and will cause actual harm to Wisconsin children. Enacting policies like these without holding hearings raises the question: Who is representing us? The public already overwhelmingly said no to these policies two years ago. Furthermore, funding for child care is one of the top priorities that the JFC heard from voters throughout the state at budget listening sessions. Surveys show that the majority of both Republican and Democratic constituents support funding early child care. The only real compromise made in this budget was the compromise of safety and quality of our youngest children in the state. So how did school-age children fare in the state budget? Again, we are reading about record-setting investments in schools, along with the biggest investment our state has ever made for children with disabilities. Evers proclaimed that the new budget 'secures the largest increase to special education reimbursement rate in state history.' You might think, great, finally children with disabilities will receive the support and resources they need. But you would be wrong. Evers' budget request was for a 60% reimbursement for children with disabilities. After all, 90% reimbursement is the amount that Wisconsin voucher and charter schools have already been receiving for children with special needs. Unfortunately, the new budget allows public schools a maximum of 42% in 2026 and 45% in 2027 reimbursement, which is a far cry from the 60% request — the rate of the 1980s. Yes, the increase in this budget is technically the largest increase in recent years, but it is still miles away from the finish line. To make matters worse, the budget also provided a $0 per-pupil increase in general aid funding to public schools; however, a provision was placed in the budget paperwork that guaranteed voucher and charter schools would receive additional funding for their general aid in the budget. I can't recall a year when no new general funding was provided in a budget to public schools in Wisconsin. Last year Wisconsin saw a record number of public schools go to referendum to squeeze additional funding from their communities to compensate for the lack of state and federal funding. Under the new budget, we will see another record number of schools going to referendum next year. We will also likely see more schools close, specifically in rural, poorer areas where the communities cannot be squeezed any more than they already have been. As you can imagine, this budget will only continue to widen the education gap in quality between the wealthy and the poor. Not to be all doom and gloom, there was one category of children that fared quite well with the new budget: our juvenile offenders. The budget will invest $1 million per juvenile offender. Yes, $1 million per kid. Remember when it was mentioned that investing in our youth early on saves us tenfold later on? The children in our juvenile justice systems are children who were not given the opportunity for quality early child care, children who were raised in poverty, children who have been abused, children who experience trauma, children with mental health issues. The children in our juvenile systems are those who have been failed by our state. Their families could not afford child care, so they were shuffled from one person to another. They lived with violence and addiction in their homes. And when they got to school at age 5, they were already on a trajectory of despair; the school systems cannot afford to provide all the services and support these children need, especially for those who have suffered trauma at an early age. Our new state budget only prioritizes these children once they are ready to be locked away. Unfortunately the hype about Wisconsin making record investments in our children is terribly overblown. Instead, the truth of the matter is that we are putting in the minimum, and this budget keeps us on the lowest tier as a state for investment in our public schools and our young children compared to other states. Meanwhile, we continue to be among the biggest spenders on our juvenile offenders. Our political leaders have misled us. I don't think most Wisconsinites care whether their representatives can compromise or not. I think we would all rather have elected politicians who will actually represent us with integrity. Represent us with values that prioritize our children, families, workforce and our economy. This is our common humanity. We can stop generational poverty. We can stop children from going hungry, we can support children who have been abused and neglected, and we can give children a chance in life. But we just made the choice not to do that. Correction: An earlier version of this commentary misstated the amount of Gov. Tony Evers' budget request as 90% instead of 60%. We regret the error. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Joint Finance Committee to meet Friday after a weeklong pause to continue work on state budget
Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), a member of the Joint Finance Committee, urged Republicans to work to ensure families have access to child care. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner) The Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee is planning to return to its work on the state budget Friday. It will be the committee's first meeting since early last week when work halted due to a breakdown in negotiations between Republican Senate and Assembly leaders and Gov. Tony Evers. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said then that his caucus objected to the amount of spending being considered in the budget negotiations. Two members of his caucus — Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) — have both publicly expressed their concerns about the budget being negotiated by Evers and Republican leaders, presenting a challenge in the Senate where Republicans hold an 18-15 majority. To pass a budget without winning Democratic votes, as they did last time, Senate Republicans can only lose one vote. Assembly Republicans have been calling this week for their Senate colleagues to come back to the negotiating table and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said he was still in conversation with Evers and, according to WisPolitics, is optimistic the budget could be completed next week. Assembly and Senate Republicans met in a joint caucus Thursday. The committee plans Friday to take up 54 sections of the budget, including ones related to the University of Wisconsin system, the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the Department of Children and Families, Department of Health Services and the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Tourism as part of its work wrapping up the budget. The budget would then need to pass the Senate and Assembly before it could go to Evers for consideration. Child care is a critical piece, as Evers has said he would veto the budget without investment in the state program to support child care providers known as Child Care Counts. The COVID-era program was launched using federal funds to subsidize child care facilities and help them pay staff and keep costs down for families, but the funds will run out in July and the program would end without state money. Republican lawmakers have said they oppose 'writing checks out to providers.' Democratic lawmakers joined child care providers Thursday morning to echo calls for investing state money to continue the Child Care Counts program. Brooke Legler, co-founder of Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed (WECAN), said Republican lawmakers' proposals are inadequate to meet the crisis and Republican arguments opposing subsidies don't make sense. 'They subsidize farmers. They subsidize the manufacturers,' Legler said. 'Last [session] when they denied the funding for Child Care Counts … they gave $500 million to the Brewers, so I have an issue with them saying they can't subsidize.' Legler said that if lawmakers don't make the investment in child care, they need to be voted out of the Legislature next year. 'The $480 million needs to happen, and if it doesn't, then we need to help Sen. [Howard] Marklein and Rep. [Mark] Born find new jobs in the next election,' Legler said. 'This is not OK, and we need to stop this from happening.' Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), a member of the Joint Finance Committee, urged Republicans to work to ensure families have access to child care, saying the state's economy relies on parents being able to work and that children are better off when they have a reliable, safe place to stay and learn. 'We cannot allow these critical centers to close their doors and opportunities to be lost to our children forever,' Johnson said. 'If the families don't have quality, dependable child care, if they have to remain at home, or even worse… these are all options that we don't want to face… and these are all options that our children don't deserve. Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said her caucus is prepared to work on the state budget and she has 'continually' been in conversation with Evers and is open to conversations with LeMahieu. 'As of right now, I have not heard from Sen. Devin LeMahieu yet, but my phone is on,' Hesselbein said. When it comes to negotiations happening behind closed doors, Hesselbein said it's 'probably normal.' 'I've talked to other majority and minority leaders in the past, and this is kind of how it's happened in the past,' Hesselbein said. In order for Democrats to vote for the budget, she said, they would need to see significant investments in K-12, special education funding, child care and higher education. 'These are the three things we've talked about — improving lives, lowering costs for everyday people,' Hesselbein said. The UW system with the support of Evers has requested an additional $855 million in the budget. Vos said last week his caucus was instead considering $87 million cuts to the system, though Evers recently said that they were discussing a 'positive number' when it comes to the UW budget. Democrats were critical of the K-12 budget that the committee approved earlier this month for not investing in a 60% reimbursement rate for special education and for not providing any general funding increases to schools. Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), a member of the Joint Finance Committee, told reporters on Wednesday that a budget agreement between Evers and Republicans won't necessarily guarantee Democratic votes. 'I think all of us are going to have to make our own decisions about whether or not the budget is one that we can support or that meets the needs of our districts, and that's as it should be,' Roys said. The committee will also take action on the nearly $50 million for literacy initiatives that has been stuck in a supplemental fund since 2023 and withheld by lawmakers because of a partial veto Evers exercised on a related law. The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday the partial veto was an overstep of Evers' powers, striking it down and restoring the language in the law passed by the Legislature. The money is set to expire and return to the state's general fund if not released by Monday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
01-07-2025
- Business
Wisconsin's Democratic governor reaches budget deal with Republicans to cut taxes, fund university
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature announced a deal Tuesday on a new two-year budget that cuts income taxes, increases funding for the Universities of Wisconsin despite a threatened cut and raises taxes to pay for transportation projects. The deal in the battleground state, where Evers and Republicans have a long history of not working together, emerged the day after the deadline for enacting a new budget. However, there is no government shutdown in Wisconsin when the budget is late. The Legislature is scheduled to pass it this week. Evers called the deal 'a pro-kid budget that's a win for Wisconsin's kids, families, and our future.' Here is what to know about Wisconsin's budget deal: Evers and Republicans agreed to $1.3 billion in income tax cuts largely targeting the middle class. More than 1.6 million people will have their taxes cut an average of $180 annually. The deal would expand the state's second lowest income tax bracket and make the first $24,000 of income for people age 67 and over tax-free. It also eliminates the sales tax on electricity, saving taxpayers about $156 million over two years. Republican legislative leaders praised the deal as providing meaningful tax relief to the middle class and retirees. 'This budget delivers on our two biggest priorities: tax relief for Wisconsin and reforms to make government more accountable,' Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a statement. And Senate Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu praised it as a compromise that cuts taxes but also stabilizes the state's child care system and strengthens schools by increasing special education funding. The Universities of Wisconsin would see a $256 million increase over two years, the largest funding increase for the UW system in about two decades. UW Regents had asked for an $855 million overall increase and Republicans in June floated the possibility of an $87 million cut. The deal also imposes a faculty minimum workload requirement and calls for an independent study on the system's future sustainability. There will be $200 million in additional tax revenue to pay for transportation projects, but Evers and Republican leaders did not detail where that money would come from. The agreement increases funding for child care programs by $330 million over two years, a third of which will be direct payments to providers. The money will replace the Child Care Counts program started during the COVID-19 pandemic. That program, which provides funding to child care providers, expired on Monday. Evers, Democrats and child care advocates have been pushing for additional funding to address child care shortages throughout the state. Funding for K-12 special education programs will increase by $500 million. State employees, including at the university, would get a 3% raise this year and a 2% raise next year. The budget deal was reached after Republicans killed more than 600 Evers proposals in the budget, including legalizing marijuana, expanding Medicaid and raising taxes on millionaires. It is the first time the Legislature has missed the June 30 budget deadline since 2017. All three prior budgets passed by the Legislature since Evers has been governor were on time, until this one. Republicans have held the majority in the Legislature since 2011. Republicans negotiated more with Evers on this budget than the previous three when their majorities in the Senate and Assembly were larger. Democrats gained seats in November and are pushing to take majority control of at least one legislative chamber next year. Amid the ongoing talks last week, Assembly Republicans urged bipartisanship to reach a deal. The Legislature's budget-writing committee is scheduled to vote on the plan Tuesday. The full Legislature is set to meet starting Wednesday to give it final passage. Republicans hold a narrow 18-15 majority in the Senate, and with two GOP senators previously saying they planned to vote against the budget, some Democratic votes were expected to be needed to pass it. Once the budget clears the Legislature, Evers will be able to make changes using his expansive partial veto powers. But his office said Evers would not veto any budget provisions that were part of the deal he reached with Republicans. Evers, who is midway through his second term, has said he will announce his decision on whether to seek a third term after he has signed the budget. He has 10 business days to take action on the spending plan once the Legislature passes it.
CBS News
01-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Wisconsin's Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Republicans reach budget deal to cut taxes, fund university
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature announced a deal Tuesday on a new two-year budget that cuts income taxes, increases funding for the Universities of Wisconsin despite a threatened cut and raises fees to pay for transportation projects. The deal in the battleground state, where Evers and Republicans have a long history of not working together, emerged the day after the deadline for enacting a new budget. However, there is no government shutdown in Wisconsin when the budget is late. The Legislature is scheduled to pass it this week. Evers called the deal "a pro-kid budget that's a win for Wisconsin's kids, families, and our future." Here is what to know about Wisconsin's budget deal: Evers and Republicans agreed to $1.3 billion in income tax cuts largely targeting the middle class. More than 1.6 million people will have their taxes cut an average of $180 annually. The deal would expand the state's second lowest income tax bracket and make the first $24,000 of income for people age 67 and over tax-free. It also eliminates the sales tax on electricity, saving taxpayers about $178 million over two years. Republican legislative leaders praised the deal as providing meaningful tax relief to the middle class and retirees. "This budget delivers on our two biggest priorities: tax relief for Wisconsin and reforms to make government more accountable," Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a statement. And Senate Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu praised it as a compromise that cuts taxes but also stabilizes the state's child care system and strengthens schools by increasing special education funding. The Universities of Wisconsin would see a $256 million increase over two years, the largest funding increase for the UW system in about two decades. UW Regents had asked for an $855 million overall increase and Republicans in June floated the possibility of an $87 million cut. The deal also imposes a faculty minimum workload requirement and calls for an independent study on the system's future sustainability. Republicans will be voting on a plan Tuesday that would close the 127-year-old Green Bay Correctional Center by 2029 as Evers proposed. However, it's not clear what other elements of Evers' prison overhaul plan Republicans will endorse. That part of the budget was not under the negotiated deal with Evers, which means he could make changes to it with his powerful partial veto. There will be $200 million in additional tax revenue to pay for transportation projects, but Evers and Republican leaders did not detail where that money would come from. The agreement increases funding for child care programs by $330 million over two years, a third of which will be direct payments to providers. The money will replace the Child Care Counts program started during the COVID-19 pandemic. That program, which provides funding to child care providers, expired on Monday. Evers, Democrats and child care advocates have been pushing for additional funding to address child care shortages throughout the state. Funding for K-12 special education programs will increase by $500 million. State employees, including at the university, would get a 3% raise this year and a 2% raise next year. The budget deal was reached after Republicans killed more than 600 Evers proposals in the budget, including legalizing marijuana, expanding Medicaid and raising taxes on millionaires. Democrats said Republicans were forced to compromise because they didn't have enough votes in the Senate to pass the budget without Democratic support. Democrats gained seats in November under the new maps drawn by Evers and narrowed the Republican majority in the Senate to 18-15. Two Republican senators said they planned to vote against the budget, resulting in Senate Democrats being brought into the budget negotiations with Evers and Republicans. "What we are seeing playing out in this budget is the consequence of Wisconsin's new fairer maps — legislators working together to find compromise and make meaningful progress for the people of Wisconsin," Democratic Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin said in a statement. Republican budget committee co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein said, "This budget has involved an awful lot of compromise." The deadline for finishing the budget was Monday, but unlike in other states and the federal government there is no shutdown in Wisconsin. Instead, the previous budget remains in place until a new one is signed into law. The Legislature's budget-writing committee was voting on the plan Tuesday. The full Legislature is set to meet starting Wednesday to give it final passage. Once the budget clears the Legislature, Evers will be able to make changes using his expansive partial veto powers. But his office said Evers would not veto any budget provisions that were part of the deal he reached with Republicans. Evers, who is midway through his second term, has said he will announce his decision on whether he will seek a third term after he has signed the budget. He has 10 business days to take action on the spending plan once the Legislature passes it.
01-07-2025
- Business
Wisconsin governor, GOP reach budget deal to cut taxes, fund university
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature announced a deal Tuesday on a new two-year budget that cuts income taxes, increases funding for the Universities of Wisconsin despite a threatened cut and raises taxes to pay for transportation projects. The deal in the battleground state, where Evers and Republicans have a long history of not working together, emerged the day after the deadline for enacting a new budget. However, there is no government shutdown in Wisconsin when the budget is late. The Legislature is scheduled to pass it this week. Evers called the deal 'a pro-kid budget that's a win for Wisconsin's kids, families, and our future.' Here is what to know about Wisconsin's budget deal: Evers and Republicans agreed to $1.3 billion in income tax cuts largely targeting the middle class. More than 1.6 million people will have their taxes cut an average of $180 annually. The deal would expand the state's second lowest income tax bracket and make the first $24,000 of income for people age 67 and over tax-free. It also eliminates the sales tax on electricity, saving taxpayers about $156 million over two years. Republican legislative leaders praised the deal as providing meaningful tax relief to the middle class and retirees. 'This budget delivers on our two biggest priorities: tax relief for Wisconsin and reforms to make government more accountable,' Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a statement. And Senate Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu praised it as a compromise that cuts taxes but also stabilizes the state's child care system and strengthens schools by increasing special education funding. The Universities of Wisconsin would see a $256 million increase over two years, the largest funding increase for the UW system in about two decades. UW Regents had asked for an $855 million overall increase and Republicans in June floated the possibility of an $87 million cut. The deal also imposes a faculty minimum workload requirement and calls for an independent study on the system's future sustainability. There will be $200 million in additional tax revenue to pay for transportation projects, but Evers and Republican leaders did not detail where that money would come from. The agreement increases funding for child care programs by $330 million over two years, a third of which will be direct payments to providers. The money will replace the Child Care Counts program started during the COVID-19 pandemic. That program, which provides funding to child care providers, expired on Monday. Evers, Democrats and child care advocates have been pushing for additional funding to address child care shortages throughout the state. Funding for K-12 special education programs will increase by $500 million. State employees, including at the university, would get a 3% raise this year and a 2% raise next year. The budget deal was reached after Republicans killed more than 600 Evers proposals in the budget, including legalizing marijuana, expanding Medicaid and raising taxes on millionaires. It is the first time the Legislature has missed the June 30 budget deadline since 2017. All three prior budgets passed by the Legislature since Evers has been governor were on time, until this one. Republicans have held the majority in the Legislature since 2011. Republicans negotiated more with Evers on this budget than the previous three when their majorities in the Senate and Assembly were larger. Democrats gained seats in November and are pushing to take majority control of at least one legislative chamber next year. Amid the ongoing talks last week, Assembly Republicans urged bipartisanship to reach a deal. The Legislature's budget-writing committee is scheduled to vote on the plan Tuesday. The full Legislature is set to meet starting Wednesday to give it final passage. Republicans hold a narrow 18-15 majority in the Senate, and with two GOP senators previously saying they planned to vote against the budget, some Democratic votes were expected to be needed to pass it. Once the budget clears the Legislature, Evers will be able to make changes using his expansive partial veto powers. But his office said Evers would not veto any budget provisions that were part of the deal he reached with Republicans. Evers, who is midway through his second term, has said he will announce his decision on whether to seek a third term after he has signed the budget. He has 10 business days to take action on the spending plan once the Legislature passes it.
