Walker Says K-12 Funding Will Stay ‘Largely Intact’ In Budget

Gov. Scott Walker says he’ll try to keep funding for K-12 public schools “largely intact” in the budget he unveils next week.

Walker announced this week that his next budget will cut $300 million from the University of Wisconsin System. It’s a substantial cut, but it would still leave the overall budget hundreds of millions of dollars in the red.

One potential target for more cuts is public school aid, which is by far the biggest piece of the state’s general fund budget. Walker was asked whether he’d cut that funding to make the budget balance.

“We’re going to try to keep it largely intact,” said Walker. “We’ll begin talking more in detail about that on Tuesday. We think we can have a positive impact on helping our schools.”

Walker did promise $13 million in new aid for rural schools, but that’s a drop in the bucket for the state’s Public Instruction budget, which totaled $5.5 billion this fiscal year.