The State Budget Didn't Just Cut Costs, It Redistributed Wealth

Had a great conversation with Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) on Friday about what it was like to go through the budget making process at the state level.

“It was like going from the frying pan into the fire,” he said.

The caveat was that it wasn’t his first time making the budget. After all he had been a county supervisor and was on the Finance Committee, but the state budget involved billions and not millions of dollars.

“There were so many priorities. One thing you are cognizant of during the process is what the governor wants to accomplish. But you also have to be aware of what you are taking away and what you are shifting to others,” he said.

In working through the details, Wanggaard said he realized there were a number of unintended consequences of these decisions and how they were addressed through the budget. But he also mentioned there would likely be other unintended consequences that will also need to be addressed.

He pointed to restoring funding for roads in Caledonia, giving some money back to Racine Unified for reimbursement of 21st Century (which will ultimately be phased out), recycling, restoring funding for the Wisconsin Justice Information System, Senior Care, and the bus system in Racine.

I asked about the cuts made to Racine Unified. And I heard what many have said before – the district is failing, test scores are down, and parents need choices. This may be true, but my kid goes to those schools. She’s not failing. Her teachers didn’t fail her. I didn’t fail her. No, you didn’t, he said. But other parents aren’t as engaged.

We need to figure out how to engage those parents, Van said.

I agree wholeheartedly, but why does the discussion stop there? I think there is an opportunity here to look at what our expectations are of parents. What should they be? And if a parent falls short of our expectations, how should we address those concerns? And what about the students who did do well on the standardized tests and will likely graduate? Why is my child’s education at risk because of the actions of others? And the No Child Left Behind Act doesn’t remove the mandate to teach every child.

As Van spoke, I also couldn’t help think of the phrase – wealth redistribution. Many proponents of the state budget have pointed to how the budget puts dollars in the hands of business owners that provide much needed jobs.  That’s the way to prosperity. Now, I agree -- this country does need jobs, the budget was unsustainable, but we didn’t just cut costs in the budget. Our state legislators redistributed the dollars I give and you give – to ultimately give to businesses.

Isn’t that redistributing wealth? My daughter’s teachers, the guy that fixes the potholes on Interstate 94, plows my road, the police officer, and firefighters in my community have now given up their wealth so that it can be redistributed, in trickle up fashion, to businesses. But if trickle down didn’t work the last 30 years, why do we need trickle up to make trickle down occur?

Don’t get me wrong. After having been unemployed, I’m very aware of the value of a job. I hope this trickle up thing works. But with 14 percent unemployment in Racine (and that’s only a count of those actively seeking a job), I’m skeptical about whether those jobs will come to Racine.

If our goal is job creation and 15 percent of all of the people without high school diplomas don’t have jobs and 32 percent of the kids in RUSD aren’t getting a high school diploma, how many of those jobs will go to the population we want employed? Or does wealth distribution not apply to them?