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July 8, 2005
Doyle vows to find money for schools
MADISON — Gov. Jim Doyle pledged Wednesday to use his partial veto authority to find more money for schools in the budget Republican lawmakers crafted.
If he can’t, he may reject the entire thing.
The Assembly voted Tuesday night to put the finishing touches on a budget that would fix the state’s $1.6 billion shortfall while phasing out state taxes on Social Security benefits, cut the gas tax by a penny and strictly limit property tax increases over the next three years.
The Republican plan also would give schools an additional $458 million in state aid over the next two years on top of the almost $5.3 billion a year they now receive.
But Doyle, a Democrat, originally proposed giving schools $938 million more for the two-year budget, saying the huge increase was needed to meet rising costs while eliminating the need for school districts to hike property taxes.
Republicans have argued the increase was all the state could afford while trying to fix the deficit. State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget committee, said the problem with Doyle’s pledge to find more money for schools in the $52.9 billion budget is simple: Doing so would mean cuts elsewhere.
“If he finds enough money for schools, there’s a hole somewhere else,” said Fitzgerald, R-Juneau.
From The Post-Cresent, July 7, 2005
Posted by Ruth Robarts at July 8, 2005 9:50 AM