The state Assembly passed the 2013-’15 budget in a near party-line vote Wednesday, sending the next major decision on issues ranging from private school vouchers to forcing out a nonprofit investigative journalism group from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus to the state Senate Thursday.
The Assembly, which passed the budget by a 55-42 vote, acted quickly after Democrats declined to offer any amendments or debate on the proposal. State Rep. Andy Jorgensen, D-Fort Atkinson, said the Democrats chose to vote quickly because the budget was already “too flawed to fix,” according to a statement.
The approved budget, which accounts for approximately $68 billion, would freeze tuition at UW System schools for the next two fiscal years and would also force the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, which currently operates out of Vilas Hall on UW-Madison’s campus, to seek alternative locations for its offices.
The WCIJ is an organization devoted to expanding the amount and improving the quality of investigative journalism in Wisconsin, according to the organization’s website. It currently works in conjunction with the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, offering services such as paid internships and career guidance for journalism students in return for free office space.
The idea to remove the WCIJ was first proposed in the final Joint Finance Committee hearing on the budget and immediately drew harsh criticism from the journalism school, particularly from Greg Downey, the school’s director. Downey said the legislature’s proposal to expel the WCIJ raised questions about “academic freedom” and the legislature’s targeting of organizations said to have a “liberal media bias.”
“[Walker] has to see that this is an inappropriate addition to the budget,” Downey said. “Not necessarily because the journalism school and the Center are doing great things together, but because it’s just on principle wrong to micromanage the university in that way.”
The approved budget would also decline federal money to expand the state Medicaid program as well as institute a program allowing qualified families whose children currently attend low-performing public schools to receive publicly funded vouchers to send their children to higher-performing private schools.
State Republicans are generally in favor of the budget decisions. They say the refusal of Medicaid money will allow the state to operate without pressure from the federal government while simultaneously covering state citizens at or below the federal poverty level and allowing those above the poverty level to make their own insurance choices.
Additionally, Republicans cite the expansion of the state’s school voucher program as a way to help students achieve the best education possible.
State Democrats are generally opposed to the budget, saying it fails the middle class and spends money in unnecessary places. Democrats cite the higher cost the state will incur by refusing the federal Medicaid money as well as the fewer number of state citizens who will be covered under the budget’s current plan.
Additionally, Democrats say the expansion of private school vouchers will take money away from already struggling public schools, making it harder for the schools to improve for the remaining students.
The budget will move on to the Republican-controlled state Senate Thursday for discussion. If the state Senate passes the budget in its current form, it will move on to Gov. Scott Walker. If the state Senate makes any changes to the budget, the budget will go back to the state Assembly for approval on the new proposals.
