Susan Crawford has yet to take her seat at the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and there are cases from last year that the prior majority have to clean up. One of the big cases had their decision rendered yesterday.
And here's how we got to yesterday's decision.
The budget lawmakers sent to Evers in the previous two-year session called for a spending increase of $325 a year per student in both 2023-24 and 2024-25. Evers struck the “20” and a dash from the reference for “2024-25.” That changed the end date to “2425.”
Two taxpayers challenged the move with the backing of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business group. Among other things, the suit argued Evers’ move was barred by a prohibition on guvs creating new words by striking out individual letters.
Do I think what Gov Evers did is kind of BS? Yes, and if you put this type of move to a constituional amendment, I'd consider voting for it, because of what it could lead to if the wrong governor was in charge (see Washington DC these days for more insight).
But it's a good outcome for Wisconsin, as it raises the revenue limits for public K-12 schools, allowing for more resources to go into the classroom. And that's badly needing after 15 years of Republicans choking off the schools with voucher theft and many years of $0 for revenue limit increases, even as inflation raised costs for those same schools.
Not surprisingly, Republicans really didn't like the idea of more taxpayer resources being able to be invested in Wisconsin's public schools.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, focused their attention today on the court’s liberal majority. LeMahieu said the court ruled “based on partisanship and politics rather than the rule of law,” and fellow GOP lawmakers predicted the ruling would lead to massive property tax increases for the next 400 years....
“The Supreme Court’s partisan decision today should worry every Wisconsinite. The Governor can now raise property taxes – unchecked by any other branch of government – for hundreds of years,” [Vos] said.
Except it's not true that property taxes have to go up. And somebody should tell Robbin' that "other branches of government" can keep that from happening.
The per pupil cap Evers reworked applies to what schools can spend between state aid and property taxes. In addition to the option of changing the language Evers wrote through future legislation, the amount of state aid put into the formula will heavily influence property taxes.
In his 2025-27 budget, Evers proposed tying the per-pupil spending increase to inflation going forward. Under his proposal, the limit would go up $334 in 2025-26 and $345 in 2026-27. The $3.4 billion in additional state spending on K-12 education he proposed in the budget would largely eat up that increase.
RIGHT. The Legislature could agree with the Governor to increase state aids and/or property tax write-offs to make sure Wisconsinites don't pay more in property taxes toward K-12 schools. In addition, just because the revenue limit is going up by $325, it doesn't mean that local school boards have to sign off on an increase in their revenues by $325, and they can choose not to increase property taxes if they don't want to.
Bottom line is that if property taxes for K-12 schools go up because of the higher revenue limits
that is the fault of the GOP Legislature. Both in failing to use enough of our $4 billion+ surplus to use state funds to cover the extra 2-3% per student that the $325 increase in revenue limits account for, and because they put K-12 community schools in position to need these extra funds to try to catch up to 15 years of insufficient funding.
But that would require the GOP Legislature to do something other than try to squander our surplus on the rich and give away our tax dollars to the donors in the school voucher industry. And I bet they won't change those tactics in this budget, even as voter anger rises against the GOP in general, and against the Republican hatred of education in particular.
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