State Watch

Wisconsin governor uses sweeping veto power to shift $87M to schools

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Wednesday added an additional $87 million to state schools in part of a series of budget vetoes, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The move brings the total increase in school funding to nearly $600 million over two years, according to the Journal Sentinel, which reported Evers’s vetoes also restored funding for Milwaukee’s child welfare system and canceled plans for a new prison.

Evers tweeted celebrating the additional funding secured for education in the state.  

In a memo, he slammed the budget passed by the state’s Republican-held legislature, saying that he thought about vetoing it entirely due to the lack of school funding, according to the Journal Sentinel.{mosads}

“Unfortunately, this budget that I have now signed is, in many ways, insufficient,” Evers wrote.

“This is, in large part, due to the unfortunate lack of interest by some Republicans in the Legislature to work together and engage in constructive, bipartisan dialogue, and instead devoting far too much time to huffing and puffing. … I believe the people of our state would have been better off in this budget if we could have found more common ground, even if it meant each of us not getting everything we wanted,” he added. 

State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) accused state groups of pushing Evers to “skirt legislative intent with a veto” in a tweet. 

Evers made 78 specific budget vetoes in total, according to the Journal Sentinel, which called it a demonstration that the governor of Wisconsin holds some of the most sweeping executive powers in the country.

Tags Tony Evers Wisconsin

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