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.
I have always said that what’s best for our kids is best for our state. I’m adding nearly $100 million more in per-pupil aid for our schools compared to the budget passed by the legislature. pic.twitter.com/w14zKhNhc5
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) July 3, 2019
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.
It’s amazing to me that a coalition group like the Wisconsin Association of School Boards – that wants to be perceived as non-partisan in the Capitol – is encouraging the governor to skirt legislative intent with a veto.
— Scott Fitzgerald (@SenFitzgerald) July 2, 2019
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.
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