Wisconsin Weekly Update

This week, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors approved a budget that actually decreases the property tax levy and holds true many of the promises of Supervisors to not raise taxes. However, Milwaukee County’s neighbors to the north and west, Ozaukee and Waukesha Counties respectively, are proposing budgets of 7.2% and at least 4%. ‘Tis budget season in Wisconsin and people here are used to seeing their very real, very tangible property tax bill increase.

Across the state, there is a movement to amend our State Constitution much like Colorado did in 1992. Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, has proven effective there, limiting state spending and growth while growing employment. The premise of TABOR is simple: it limits state and school spending to the previous year’s level, plus the rate of inflation, plus the rate of population growth. Wisconsinites are clamoring for tax relief and TABOR represents a possibility of countering the traditional increases in the rates of spending in Wisconsin (at any level). Friday, the sponsor of Wisconsin’s TABOR and the architect of Colorado’s will be speaking in the Milwaukee area (call (414) 899-9112 for details).

And with tax bills coming in only 4 ½ short weeks, people will be seeing red and ready for something new.

The Department of Public Instruction has also just approved a plan to police choice and voucher schools participating in Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. The rules appear to have bipartisan support, but in reality, it only waters down the program. Choice in Milwaukee has proven a success only because it was free of bureaucratic intrusion. Additionally, there is a movement in Madison to conduct a study of the program, with state and private resources, to ensure that the program is working as designed – two points: 1. How many times does the program need to be studied? There have been innumerable studies by universities, foundations, and think tanks. And 2. Even if Choice shows that it is producing the same results as Public Schools, the program ought to be regarded as a success. It will show that the same level of education and success in education can be achieved at a lower cost than current per student expenditures.

The good news is that Milwaukee and Wausau have figured out a way to attract “young, single, college-educated” people (according to Census figures just released). This means that there exists a real opportunity to ignite the debate on Social Security in Wisconsin. For many, Social Security reform is a pie in the sky, an intangible object that only affects older Americans. But with the immigration of this new caste of people in key areas of the state, the debate must and will begin – both from candidates and our elected officials. This is the generation that reform will most effect.

And as per usual, CSE is making headway and inroads across Wisconsin.