Browsing: State Budget

On Jan. 24, 2017, Mike Nichols, WPRI president, and Dan Benson, editor of the Project for 21st Century Federalism, testified in Madison before the Assembly Committee on Federalism and Interstate Relations. Here is a transcript of their presentation.

In the past 30 years, metro Madison grew 45%; metro Milwaukee grew just 11%. What caused the difference in outcomes for two cities separated by only 75 miles? The answer lies in Wisconsin politics.

The funding disparity between UWM and UW-Madison reflects that the two institutions have sharply different histories and are in many ways two different animals.

One of the benefits of having 50 states, our so-called laboratories of democracy, is that we can examine different states’ policies and learn from them.

It’s amazing, the things we get worked up about — and the things we don’t.

Allow local districts to count students from their districts attending independent charter schools and then transfer the state and local revenue generated by each pupil to the charter school.

The new program will create an additional expense to the state. However, it is possible that the loss in GPR may be offset by the positive fiscal impact of reducing declining enrollment trends in private schools.

After a first read of Gov. Scott Walker’s recent vetoes, I am reminded of the scene in “Gladiator” in which Joaquin Phoenix takes stock of the Coliseum’s crowd and, eventually, gives into public sentiment and lets Russell Crowe live.

What was the most surprising part of the education package passed by the Joint Committee on Finance? 

Manitowoc — Kaye Schulz worked at the old Mirro Co. here, mostly as a lathe operator, for almost 35 years. When she…

One of my favorite quotes is from the French economist Frederic Bastiat. In his essay “Ce qu’on voit et ce…

To refloat the state budget and to save education, he had to break the power of the unions By Richard…

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a commentary contrasting the tough budget introduced by Governor Walker with the soft, easy on-the-eyes budgets we’ve seen out of Washington.

A funny thing happened on the way to electing yet another big-spending, lawyer-laden, special-interest-loving Legislature last fall: Voters in four…

Let’s peel away the hyperbole to see what Gov. Walker really did in his first budget. By George Lightbourn Great…

Scott Walker is Reagan-like in his bold steps to remake Wisconsin government By Richard Esenberg Madison has fallen. All of…

There could not have been a sharper contrast between the tension in Madison and the calm in Washington, D.C.

The lessons from Indiana’s playbookBy Christopher Ruhl After more than six years in office, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has earned…

Peter Barca, a usually levelheaded Democrat, articulated what has been wrong with state government.

The voters exact vengeance upon the disdainful Democrats. Before the vote on Nov. 2, humorist P.J. O’Rourke quipped that it…