Open letter to the members of the Joint Finance Committee, co-chairs Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam)
The joint organizations represent folks from 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 JFC cut 612 provisions from the proposed budget.
For years now, the legislature has butchered the proposed budget, shut down compromise, and ignored voters’ common interests, all in the name of ‘scarcity’ to justify their unpopular moves.
Our money is taken from us and never returned.
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.
Times are tough. Wisconsinites are stretched thin to make ends meet and care for their families.
Stripping the budget of these much-needed provisions will perpetuate a system that only benefits the wealthy and well-connected. It will deepen the divide between the haves and the have-nots, exacerbating systemic racism and economic inequality, undermining the fabric of our society.
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. While we’re happy that Sen. Marklein and his wife have claimed they can bridge the childcare shortage for their grandchildren, we’re not sure why the families he serves should have to struggle. No childcare means that childcare providers close, parents can't work, and families suffer.
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.
Wisconsin kids deserve a fair playing field, but they don’t have one under our current funding system.
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 for us to mention some other items that were cut:
- Office of Violence Prevention, following the Abundant Life Christian School incident
- Universal free breakfast and lunch, suicide prevention programs, and a teacher apprenticeship program to address the state’s teacher shortage
- Legalization and taxation of marijuana
- $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
- 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
It has become too routine for the Legislature to gut the proposed budget. This is not how to represent the voters - the very people who decide who will or will not stay in office.
Our ask to the JFC: We urge you to restore these critical provisions in the budget and hold public hearings on any new versions to ensure accountability. Choosing to move forward with a harmful budget proposal will leave a lasting mark on your record that your constituents will remember.
Signed,
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice
All Voting is Local Action
Oregon Area Progressives
Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign
League of Women Voters of Wisconsin
Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed
Green County Child Care Network
WAVE Educational Fund
All in Wisconsin Fund
ACLU of Wisconsin
9to5 Wisconsin
