(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers will announce whether he plans to run again after the budget process is complete, he told the Wisconsin Counties Association on Tuesday morning.
Evers said he believes he proposed a “realistic budget” and that after the “huffing and puffing” to start the budget process, Evers said that it will come down to negotiations on three or four important topics.
Evers said one of those important topics is state funding for K-12 schools.
Evers proposed an increase in funding for K-12 education that includes $80 million for literacy coaches and tutors statewide.
Evers pitched what he called $1.3 billion in property tax relief sending more than $1 billion in aid to local governments that agree to freeze property taxes and preventing property tax increases by spending more on K-12 funding and sending property tax credits to taxpayers through the school levy tax credit.
“We also have to give them a chance not to have to go to referendum every two years,” Evers said.
Republican leaders have said Evers’ budget includes more than $3 billion in tax increases to go with the state’s expected $4.3 billion surplus at the end of the fiscal year while increasing overall spending from below $100 billion to more than $119 billion.
