Evers Pans GOP Tax Cut Package
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 26, 2020
From WisPolitics.com …
In a letter asking lawmakers to send him the GOP tax cut package, Dem Gov. Tony Evers urged legislative leaders to “do the right thing” by boosting school funding.
Evers’ Friday letter to Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, came ahead of GOP leaders signing their tax cut and debt reduction bill yesterday. That action began the seven-day window for the guv to act on it.
The guv wrote he was “disappointed” the package didn’t include elements from a competing proposal he backed that would boost funding for schools. Evers called on the Republican leaders to schedule a meeting with him “to come to a compromise on this issue.”
“I’d like to offer an opportunity for you all to reconsider your decision to move forward without additional funding for our public schools,” he said in the letter.
A Vos spokeswoman directed WisPolitics.com to a tweet from Vos yesterday touting the benefits of the package.
“There’s no reason why it shouldn’t become law,” Vos wrote in the tweet.
The $392.4 million GOP package would spend a chunk of the anticipated $451.9 million surplus the state expects to have by mid-2021. It would cut income taxes, expand a property tax break for businesses and reduce state debt. It was approved largely along party lines last week.
But Evers backed a separate plan to use a portion of the surplus to restore two-thirds funding to the state’s public schools and reduce property taxes, among other things.
In the letter, Evers indicated he planned to take action on the GOP package this week.
A Fitzgerald spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
See the letter here.
See Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article here.
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Olsen Won’t Seek Reelection
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 24, 2020
From WisPolitics.com …
GOP state Sen. Luther Olsen announced today he won’t seek reelection this fall after 26 years in the state Legislature.
Olsen, R-Ripon, was elected to the Senate in 2004 after serving a decade in the state Assembly. He has served on the Joint Finance Committee and chaired the Education Committee. He’s often been viewed as a moderate voice in the GOP Senate caucus.
“I have had the opportunity to work with so many talented people in the Legislature, state agencies, interest groups, and on the national stage,” said Olsen, who turns 69 on Wednesday. “I am confident these people will continue to work to improve education, promote good and efficient government, and look for the best ways to tackle tomorrow’s challenges.”
See the release here.
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JFC Approves GOP Tax Package
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 18, 2020
From WisPolitics.com …
The Joint Finance Committee voted along party lines to sign off on a $392.4 million package that would cut income taxes, provide local governments more state aid to cover an expanded property tax break for businesses and pay down debt.
Republicans yesterday hailed the proposal to use a projected surplus as a win for lower- and middle-class earners with the bulk of the cut going to an income tax reduction. Joint Finance Co-chair John Nygren, R-Marinette, slammed Dems for preferring a proposal from Gov. Tony Evers he said would’ve provided tax relief that skewed more toward the wealthy.
“The contrast here is pretty clear,” Nygren said.
But Dems accused their GOP colleagues of favoring corporations over education for rejecting Evers’ $251.9 million plan for the surplus. He wanted to put $130 million into school aids, which would result in a corresponding reduction in the property taxes that districts can collect in the 2020-21 school year. The rest of the package included provisions such as investing more money into mental health services and aid for small, rural school districts.
Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, noted GOP lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, have previously voiced support for restoring the state’s commitment to fund two-thirds of education. Evers’ proposal would’ve restored the commitment. She said Republicans have often fallen short of that mark, adding the state didn’t have the money.
“You made a promise to our kids,” Taylor said. “You didn’t do it, and you’re not going to do it … when you have another chance. And you can no longer use the excuse that we don’t have the money.”
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau currently projects the state will have a surplus of $451.9 million by mid-2021, largely due to a boost in corporate tax collections. The state also could have more money in its main checking account, because Foxconn is expected to fall short of qualifying for the $212 million in tax credits budgeted for in the current biennium. LFB instead projects the manufacturer to qualify for $50 million to $75 million in credits.
The biggest component of the GOP package is a $247.7 million reduction in income taxes achieved by increasing the maximum deduction.
The maximum deduction for married joint filers is $20,470 for those with an adjusted gross income of less than $23,000. It then drops on a sliding scale as income rises until it zeroes out for those reporting more than $126,499.
Under the bill, that deduction would increase to $23,170 for those with an adjusted gross income of $25,610. It would then zero out for those reporting more than $144,669.
The proposal would result in an average tax cut of $106 for tax year 2020, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
The next largest piece is taking $100 million of the projected surplus to pay down state debt.
The package also would send $44.7 million to local governments to offset lost property tax collections for the expanded break for businesses. Current law exempts manufacturing machinery and computers from the property tax assessed by local governments. The bill would add to the exempt list machinery, tools and pattern used by manufacturers. The additional state aid would go to replace the lost revenue.
The bill also would change future deposits into the rainy day fund. Now, half of any surplus in tax collections is deposited into the account at the end of a fiscal year. Under the bill, excess tax revenues would instead be used to pay down debt if the balance in the account amounted to 5 percent of the estimated expenses during a fiscal year.
The change wouldn’t impact the expected transfers to the rainy day fund during this biennium. The fund is currently expected to grow to $845 million at the end of 2019-20, about 4.4 percent of budgeted expenses for 2020-21.
See Wisconsin State Journal Coverage here.
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Executive Action by Assembly State Affairs
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 13, 2020
The Assembly Committee on State Affairs recommended passage on the following education-related bills this morning:
AB-670 Increasing Retirement Age (Felzkowski, Mary) Increasing the minimum retirement age under the Wisconsin Retirement System; decreasing the minimum break in service for annuitants in the Wisconsin Retirement System who are rehired by a participating employer, and allowing rehired annuitants to elect to not participate in the Wisconsin Retirement System. Am. 1 adopted, 8-5. Passage as amended recommended, 8-6. (The SAA is opposed to this bill).
AB-816 Holocaust Education (Plumer, Jon) Incorporating the Holocaust and other genocides into the state model social studies standards and requiring instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides. Passage recommended, 14-0. (The SAA is opposed to this bill as it creates a new instructional mandate).
Stay tuned. We will keep the membership informed of any developments on these bills.
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Executive Action by Assembly Education
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 13, 2020
The Assembly Committee on Education recommended passage of the following three bills yesterday.
AB-810 School Accounting (Felzkowski, Mary) Creating a computerized uniform school budget and accounting system. Sub.1 adopted, 10-4. Passage as amended recommended, 10-4. (SAA is neutral on the bill. We raised several questions/concerns at the public hearing that were largely addressed in the substitute amendment adopted by the committee).
AB-849 Open Enrollment (Thiesfeldt, Jeremy) Expanding the part-time open enrollment program. Passage recommended, 9-5. (SAA is opposed to this bill).
AB-779 Athletic Participation (Allen, Scott) Participation in interscholastic athletics and extracurricular activities. Passage recommended, 9-6. (SAA is opposed to this bill).
Stay tuned. We will keep the SAA membership informed of any developments on these bills.
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