Members of the state’s budget committee met Tuesday to hear testimony from state agencies on Gov. Scott Walker’s recent budget proposal.
Secretary of the Department of Administration Michael Huebsch defended the budget against concerns about education, unnecessary spending and fiscal cuts during his allotted time.
Democratic state legislators voiced their concerns with the cuts to the educational system. State Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, expressed her disappointment with the budget, which she says does not invest in students.
“I’m just extremely concerned about the children of color … and about urban centers,” Taylor said. “What’s the plan to deal with the crisis that exists in literacy … the crisis in graduation rates and achievement gaps? That’s the void in this budget, and that’s despicable.”
State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, questioned various aspects of the cuts to the UW System, from the potential decrease in the quality of education to Walker’s proposed change to the Wisconsin Idea, which Huebsch, like Walker, called a “drafting error.”
The DOA Secretary maintained the proposed cuts to the UW System budget represent a small fraction of the overall budget.
“They spend over $6 billion, and this is a 2.5 percent reduction,” Huebsch said. “That is not a reduction that any family or any business in this state has been immune to. That is something that they have all had to reflect.”
The committee will hear testimony from each state agency throughout the week before amending and recommending the budget to the Legislature for passage.
