State of State speech unlikely to provide budget specifics

MADISON — Gov. Scott Walker's fifth State of the State speech this week comes as he's ramping up exploring a run for president and amid questions about how he's going to solve Wisconsin's $2.2 billion budget shortfall while delivering on tax cut promises.

Walker, who began his second term in office last week, won't reveal much in Tuesday's prime-time speech to a joint meeting of the Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly. Most of the details about budget plans and the first two years of his second term will come three weeks later, he said, when he releases his tax and spending plan on Feb. 3.

The biggest question facing Walker and Republicans — that is, other than his possible run for the White House — is how to solve the budget problem. Complicating that task is Walker's insistence on not backing down from campaign promises to cut property taxes, even as his own state Department of Transportation is calling for raising taxes and fees by $750 million.

"It's going to be tough to cut all the taxes we'd like to cut all at once even further," Walker told a meeting of the Wisconsin Bankers Association last week. "So our No. 1 priority is property tax."

Democrats, who are a minority in the Legislature and therefore unable to stop Republicans, said Walker needs to focus on helping the middle class, not furthering his own political agenda.

"Rather than becoming distracted by Washington politics, we need to address the immediate challenges here at home," said Senate Minority Leader Sen. Jennifer Shilling, of La Crosse. "Wisconsin's $2.2 billion budget deficit and the fact that we continue to lag behind our neighboring states in terms of job creation and family wages are signs that we need a clearer plan to grow the economy."

Walker did say he'd use the State of the State, which historically is long on rhetoric and short on news, to reveal some new information about his promised plans to merge and consolidate state agencies.

"Any restructuring of state agencies or operations demands serious planning and thought," Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Rep. Peter Barca said, adding it should focus on providing stronger services and a better deal for taxpayers.

Other priorities and "big ideas" Walker says he plans to outline in the State of the State include passing a school accountability bill and ensuring schools don't have to follow Common Core academic standards if they don't want to.

While the Legislature waits the governor's budget, lawmakers are moving ahead quickly with several major proposals. Chief among them is the accountability bill that would force failing public schools to become independent charter schools. It would also kick failing private schools out of the taxpayer-funded voucher program.

That bill, the first one introduced this year in the Assembly, is on a fast track, up for a public hearing the day after Walker's State of the State. Walker last week said he thought the bill was heading in the right direction, but didn't fully endorse the measure, either.

Critics, including Democrats and the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance, have voiced concerns about the proposal, saying it is focused on punishing schools rather than improving those that are struggling.

The bill is also meeting resistance in the Senate, where Republican Sen. Paul Farrow has said he wants to see changes.

And while Republicans were talking in December about moving quickly on making Wisconsin a right-to-work state — where private-sector workers would not be forced to join a union or pay dues — no bill has been introduced yet. Walker has urged Republicans not to take it up early in the session, calling it a distraction from his agenda.

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