Wisconsinites Deserve a Budget that Serves us All

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin represents folks in northern Wisconsin to Milwaukee from rural, suburban and urban areas. We work on a variety of issues, including voting rights, conservation, labor, and more. We engage Wisconsinites of all ages, races, and backgrounds.

As voters, we expect accountability. Ahead of the budget, nearly 1,000 Wisconsinites showed up and spoke out in overwhelming support of funding for education, healthcare, childcare, and more. Instead of listening to those who vote them into office and pay their salaries, the leaders of the Joint Finance Committee cut 612 provisions from the proposed budget.

The JFC stripped $480 million from the proposed budget that would have supported Wisconsin families and childcare providers. This will likely result in 25% of programs shutting down when they can’t raise enough tuition to keep teachers to care for and educate the children. The impact will be felt disproportionately in rural communities.

This is the fourth consecutive budget that proposed expanding Medicaid – a wildly popular proposal. The legislature keeps rejecting this measure, despite the fact that Medicaid expansion would save the state roughly $1.7 billion over the next two years, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum. Wisconsin is one of only 10 states that haven’t accepted the federal expansion. The Legislature's unwillingness to invest in Medicaid, paired with federal Medicaid cuts, will worsen Wisconsin's rural healthcare crisis and cause more rural hospitals to close.

The JFC stripped a number of provisions that would support Wisconsin kids, including increased revenue limits for school districts. Revenue limits create significant disparities between districts, with some allowed to spend nearly twice as much as others. They also rejected efforts to close the special education funding gap. This could be closed by providing public school students the same 90% sum sufficient reimbursement that’s ALREADY provided to private school students who receive a “special needs” voucher.

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: Wisconsin has a budget surplus of $4.3 billion. The idea that our state lacks the resources or money for well-funded schools, public health, child care, elections, public safety, or clean water is a convenient narrative for corporations, billionaires, and the lawmakers who prioritize them over the people.

Take Action Now!

Contact your state Senators and Assemblypersons and tell them restore critical provisions that voters want in the budget that were cut. 

You can use the following script in order to contact your state Senators and Representatives in your district. 

"My name is (your full name) and I live in (your community). I am calling (or emailing) to urge (Rep/Senator's name) to restore critical provisions in the Biennial Budget that were cut by the Joint Finance Committee. The people of Wisconsin deserve a budget that serves us all, not one that serves only corporations, billioniares and the lawmakers who prioritize them over the people. It’s sad to see state legislators following the same playbook as Congress—underfunding our communities and leaving working families to fend for themselves. It is imperative that the following items be restored:

• Office of Violence Prevention, following the Abundant Life Christian School shooting incident
• Universal free breakfast and lunch, suicide prevention programs, and a teacher apprenticeship program to address the state’s teacher shortage
• $125 million grant program to address PFAS contamination
• $200 million to replace lead pipes and fund additional efforts to reduce lead poisoning
• Mental health programs and tax relief for veterans
• Paid family and medical leave
• Fully funded elections 
• Bilingual sample election ballots
• Early canvassing of absentee ballots (Monday preprocessing), grants to local governments for election costs, and funding for in-person absentee voting
• Automatic voter registration process for eligible voters
• Homelessness prevention initiatives
• $35 cap on insulin costs
• Medicaid expansion

Failing to restore critical provisions betrays the voters you were elected to represent. Pass a budget that serves ALL Wisconsinites. Thank you for your attention and consideration."