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Citizens sound off on several budget items at JFC hearing

Citizens today pressed JFC members on a wide range of budget items, including boosting funding for K-12 and increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates. Lawmakers heard testimony from several Wisconsin Public Education Network members, who wore green shirts saying “Go Public” and

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Source: Dem Bakken opts against guv bid

Dem Mark Bakken, a Madison businessman who co-founded Nordic Consulting and then left to launch the venture capital firm HealthX Ventures, has decided against a bid for guv, according to a source with knowledge of his decision. Bakken’s name surfaced

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Circus World makes case for being managed by state

Baraboo Mayor Mike Palm says today’s a much different time than 2013, when lawmakers rejected a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker to bring the Circus World Museum under state management and give it a more certain financial footing. First there’s

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Evers ‘pleased’ with Walker’s DPI budget proposal

State Superintendent Tony Evers said today he’s pleased with Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to add $649 million toward K-12, though he’d like some changes in the budget. That includes Walker’s proposal to allow permanent licenses for teachers and administrators

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Citizens sound off on several budget items at JFC hearing

Citizens today pressed JFC members on a wide range of budget items, including boosting funding for K-12 and increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates. Lawmakers heard testimony from several Wisconsin Public Education Network members, who wore green shirts saying “Go Public” and decried the growth in school vouchers. Some of them said

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UW students ask lawmakers to remove fee opt-out proposal from budget

UW System students today slammed Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to let students opt out of paying some student fees, saying the move would lead to significant cuts for crucial campus groups. That includes the leaders of the UW-Madison student groups Badger Catholic and Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics, who testified together

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UW-Platteville asks JFC members to approve new engineering building

UW-Platteville leaders and community members asked JFC members to approve a new engineering building that Gov. Scott Walker is proposing to defer. UW-Platteville Chancellor Dennis Shields kicked off today’s hearing and asked lawmakers to approve the building of Sesquicentennial Hall, as did several leaders on campus and in the community.

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School leaders ask JFC to keep Walker’s proposed K-12 funding boost

Public school leaders today praised Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed K-12 funding increase and asked Joint Finance Committee members to support it. They spoke on the UW-Platteville campus at JFC’s first public hearing, where lawmakers also heard concerns over funding for senior programs, transportation funding, Walker’s self-insurance proposal and his effort

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School district officials: Open enrollment breeds competition

In the nearly two decades since open enrollment began, districts with higher student populations like Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay are among the those that have lost the most dollars as students transfer to other schools, an analysis from WisPolitics.com shows. The other districts most negatively impacted by open enrollment

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Source: Dem Bakken opts against guv bid

Dem Mark Bakken, a Madison businessman who co-founded Nordic Consulting and then left to launch the venture capital firm HealthX Ventures, has decided against a bid for guv, according to a source with knowledge of his decision. Bakken’s name surfaced earlier this year as a potential candidate. But he joins

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FRI AM Update: JFC completes agency briefings; weekly radio addresses

Exclusively for WisPolitics Subscribers Advertisement The Madison Club From WisPolitics.com … — The Joint Finance Committee’s agency briefings wrapped up last night. The last item on the agenda was Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed elimination of the Labor and Industry Review Commission, an independent agency that reviews worker disputes. LIRC Chair

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Senate committee approves proposal on federal balanced budget amendment

A Senate committee today on a 3-2 party-line vote OK’d resolutions requesting a constitutional convention on a balanced budget amendment. The GOP members of the Committee on Financial Services, Constitution and Federalism also tweaked a bill that would govern how a Wisconsin delegation would operate for the proposed convention. One

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Whitnall school board sends letter to community on Holtz’s email use

The Whitnall school board in a letter to district families last night said it has contacted the Milwaukee County District Attorney about former superintendent Lowell Holtz’s possible “misuse of district resources.” But Holtz’s state superintendent campaign accused the district of hypocrisy and “using district resources to a political end.” The

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Super PAC supporting Nicholson raises $2 million from Uihlein

Solutions for Wisconsin, the super PAC supporting Nicholson, announced today Illinois businessman and GOP mega donor Dick Uihlein has ponied up $2 million for the group in an effort to get the former Marine into the race. The group released a statement with Uihlein saying he wanted to avoid “a

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Circus World makes case for being managed by state

Baraboo Mayor Mike Palm says today’s a much different time than 2013, when lawmakers rejected a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker to bring the Circus World Museum under state management and give it a more certain financial footing. First there’s the announcement this year that Ringling Bros. would shut down

Read More »

Evers ‘pleased’ with Walker’s DPI budget proposal

State Superintendent Tony Evers said today he’s pleased with Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to add $649 million toward K-12, though he’d like some changes in the budget. That includes Walker’s proposal to allow permanent licenses for teachers and administrators by eliminating their expiration dates. Evers told the Joint Finance

Read More »