In political gridlock, $50 million to read legislation returns to Wisconsin surplus

When Gov. Tony Evers signed the law in 2023, he overcame a legislative review of how children in Wisconsin learned to read, he said 5,000 to fund mandatory changes. Million dollars have been allocated.

But $50 million has never been released, and Republicans and Democrats spent last year pointing their fingers at each other about who should be responsible.

In 2024, Congress sued evers about changes made to the bill through partial veto. As Congress awaits oral debate and a decision by the state Supreme Court, the governor is awaiting a decision on whether he administers funds for the law committee and has charter school compliance from the law. , money is tied up.

And as that ruling will not come by the end of the fiscal year, the funds will return to the state’s massive surplus, and state legislator Joel Kitchens of R-Sturgeon Bay has been confirmed to WPR.

Kitchen, who co-authored the reading method known as Act 20, wanted to introduce a bill to release money for reading by June 30th.

“Our lawyers have said the bill won’t compromise on pending lawsuits, but some are worried that it will do so,” Kitchens said. “So it doesn’t look like a bill will be introduced. There are serious concerns that they will not take control before the funds expire.”

Act 20 is a bipartisan bill, proposed by Republicans who worked with the State Department’s Department of Leadership for details.

When it was passed, Congress created another nearly $50 million expenditure invoice for implementation.

Then there began to be differences of opinion about how the money would be used and who would use it.

In Wisconsin, governors can use partial veto on expenditure invoices. Evers’ use of that power in February 2024 prompted a lawsuit in April seeking to withhold $50 million from the DPI.

Evers and DPI will file counterclaims without money and will not be able to implement new laws from 2024-25.

In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the GOP extended its constitutional powers by blocking Evers’ actions related to the state Department of Natural Resources. However, the court did not control the DPI’s $50 million.

Attorney General Josh Cowl bypassed the Court of Appeals with the High Court and asked the rules on the matter. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear about Act 20, but no oral discussion is scheduled yet.

State Principal Jill fundamentally said the district has committed to changing how students learn to read with the understanding that the state legislature will donate $50 million to support those efforts. .

“This delay is a complete betrayal of our students and a failure in leadership,” the general said. “Legislative leaders have disappointed both our kids and our schools. I don’t want to hear another elected civil servant complaining about the outcome of literacy.

During a recent council committee hearing, Kitchen worked on financing for Article 20.

“We negotiated this transaction for months and months, but he (Ever) went back to his words and said DPI should get money and use the way he wants without monitoring. “Kitchen’s said. “It’s a shame that the funds for Act 20 have not been announced, but that’s certainly not our fault.”