Republican state lawmakers may use an accounting trick to reduce a budget cut to public schools after revenue estimates fell short of what they’d hoped.
Even though the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said it does not expect any extra tax revenue, Republicans said they still want to eliminate a cut to public schools proposed in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget. How they’d get there is complicated. Leaders said they could delay a payment to the school levee credit until the 2017 budget.
Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance Director Todd Berry said if lawmakers go that route, it would mark the return of an old budget gimmick.
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“It can keep the school districts happy and not technically have to pay for the happiness,” Berry said.
The downside is Wisconsin’s deficit would look slightly worse on its financial statements.
To make the numbers work, Republicans might also have to change the date of a school aid payment from June to July. Though just a matter of days, it would be enough to shift the payment from a fiscal year when the state has money to one in which it doesn’t.
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