Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend, the town of Vernon and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
State Budget Watch: Governor asks students to sign a pledge…......did the governor keep his?
Last month, I predicted that one of Governor Doyle’s programs, the Wisconsin Covenant would lead to a big tax increase in the next state budget. Under the Wisconsin Covenant, eighth-graders sign a pledge to meet certain goals in order to receive a financial aid package to a UW-System school. I blogged:
“The Wisconsin Covenant was one of the many reasons I voted against the last state budget. It is yet another ornament on a Christmas tree filled with goodies the state simply can’t afford. The state creates another massive program based on a promise, and then turns once again to the taxpayers to hand over the funding. That the Wisconsin Covenant has turned into one more tax increase shouldn’t come as any surprise.”
The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that funding for Wisconsin Covenant has, indeed, been promised, but is not forthcoming:
“In introducing his budget last week, Gov. Jim Doyle said he had "identified" $25 million for a state program aimed at ensuring a college education for students who stay straight and study hard. But what the Democratic governor’s budget proposal doesn’t do is either spend that money or set it aside for the Wisconsin Covenant program. Instead, the money in the phantom appropriation for the college guarantee program would be returned, unspent, to the state’s main account at the end of the two-year budget in June 2011.”
Governor Doyle’s Wisconsin Covenant, at this point, seems to be an empty promise.
Read more in the Wisconsin State Journal.
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