Browsing: State Budget

How federal grants are depriving us of our money, liberty and trust in government – and what we can do about it. This book by the Badger Institute urges states to push back.

An empowered treasurer could be an independent voice for fiscal sanity

Institute and Tax Foundation moving forward with analysis of state tax structure and policy recommendations for 2019 budget.

Private contractors help states grab more U.S. dollars at the expense of serving children and the poor

Federal regulations force school districts to spend that money or face funding cuts

Wisconsin’s huge investment hinges on the ever-evolving world of display technology

And how tax reform and transportation upgrades can help Wisconsin take full advantage

It’s budget time in Madison. Get out your wallet.

More than it used to be, but Mayor Barrett fails to count all the state’s funding to the city or how much other communities give

Litscher: “We’re in a slow creep”

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…