Gov. Evers calls another special session for more money for schools
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin lawmakers are once again facing a call from the governor to send him even more money for public schools and the UW System.
Gov. Tony Evers on Monday called a special session of the legislature for Tuesday.
The State Assembly was already scheduled to be in Madison to try and override the governor’s vetoes. They are expected to ignore the governor’s call.
“Under my special session plan, we’re going to invest $240 million into per-pupil aid — that’s money that can go directly into the classroom to help support kids in every school district in our state. And we’re also investing $200 million in special education aids, which will help ensure our schools won’t have to divert funding just to support every kid in the classroom,” Evers said in a video explaining his special session order. “Finally, we’re also calling for investing $110 million into higher education and our University of Wisconsin System, which is a key economic driver for our state, so they can continue to be a critical asset in helping our state and economy recover from this pandemic.”
The governor along with Democrats in Madison have said for months that there is not enough money for education in the new state budget.
Republicans say that’s simply not true.
The new $87 billion, two-year spending plan from Republican lawmakers includes $3.2 billion in new money for public schools and the UW System. Most of that is federal dollars, but it is new money nonetheless.
Eric Bott with Americans for Prosperity in Wisconsin was quick to point-out those same numbers on Monday.
“More money is flowing to K-12 schools than ever before,” Bott said on Twitter. “The legislature should reject this spending hike and instead send another tax cut to Evers’ desk.”
Tuesday’s special session is the third the governor has declared in 2021. The Republican-controlled legislature ignored all three. Gov. Evers also called four special sessions in 2020, and one special session in 2019. Lawmakers also ignored all of those as well.
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