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Are Republican Leaders Planning to Break Their Word?
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 10, 2016
You have probably heard Assembly Republicans making the argument that Assembly Amendment 3 to Assembly Bill 751 makes school districts whole on the revenue cap 3 years after new voucher students enroll in the voucher program. I would like to make three points in response:
- By making this argument, proponents are acknowledging that there is a significant first-year problem for affected school districts. In fact, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) estimates the first-year loss in revenue cap authority under AA 3 would be $14.2 million spread across the 142 affected school districts. And this penalty is being imposed at a time when school revenue limits have been frozen for both years of the current state budget.
- Their argument is based on the LFB analysis of one cohort of voucher students. But, a new and likely larger cohort of voucher students enrolls in the voucher program in 2016-17; another and likely larger group in 2017-18; and so on. The bottom line is affected school districts will likely face a significant first year problem year after year.
- Finally, during the 2015-17 state budget process, Republican leaders pledged that they would dramatically increase the use of private school vouchers without adversely impacting educational opportunities for public school children. Given the on-going first year impact of AA 3, if adopted, you have to ask, “Are they planning to break their word?”
Stay tuned.
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