· We have balanced the books and controlled spending for the past eight years.
· We have actually reduced the per capita state tax burden ... One of only a handful of states in the nation to do so.
· We cut income taxes ...
· We eliminated inheritance and gift taxes ...
· We retained a 60% exclusion of the capital gains tax ...
· We have cut the unemployment compensation tax three times.
· And this year I am proposing to cut the income tax rate once again.
We are the only state taking $1 billion off the property tax ... And cutting income taxes at the same time.
Once again, Wisconsin is actually doing what everyone else is only talking about.
In eight years of solid economic growth and tax cuts, the only tax that has eluded our grasp is the property tax.
Not anymore.
Today we take the final step in our hard-fought battle for property tax relief.
Today we tell the taxpayers of Wisconsin ... We did it.
And we never could have done it without cost controls.
Eight years ago I stood before this legislature and said we needed to control local spending before we could control property taxes.
Seven years ago I stood here and said we needed to control local spending before we could control property taxes.
Six years ago I stood here and said we needed to control local spending before we could control property taxes.
I think you get the picture.
After seven long years -- and thanks to the leadership of people like Senate Majority Leader Mike Ellis ... Senator Joe Leean ... And Representative Ben Brancel -- we finally won the cost control battle.
Why are cost controls so important?
Take a look at state school aid increases since I have been Governor.
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Every year I have been in office, direct state aid to local schools has increased ... A total of more than $1 billion in the last eight years.
Schools make up the largest portion of your property tax bill.
So, logic would tell you -- if the state keeps putting more and more money into schools -- eventually you should see your share of the costs go down.
This hasn't happened ... As any property taxpayer in the state can tell you.
Why hasn't it happened? Because there were no controls on local school spending. The more money the state put in ... The more money schools spent.
What a difference cost controls make.
1990 ... 1991 ... 1992 ... Each year the state put more money into schools ... And each year property taxes kept going up.
But look at 1993. Cost controls begin.
1994 ... 1995 ... And here's my favorite -- 1996.
If we had established cost controls in 1987 -- when I first asked for them -- property taxpayers in this state would be paying 25% less than they are right now.
Cost controls work ... And I want to see them made permanent.
I applaud the State Assembly for voting to make them permanent with the leadership of Speaker David Prosser and Majority Leader Scott Jensen.
If we are truly serious about property tax relief, we cannot do it without cost controls.
They are simply common sense.
Facts and figures do not lie:
This is where we were headed without cost controls.
In 1993, when cost controls went into affect.
In 1994, when we froze the levy.
Here's today, as the state assumes two-thirds of school funding.
The process that started with cost controls in 1993 means that Wisconsin property taxpayers will pay $1.5 billion dollars less in property taxes by the time they receive their 1996 property tax bills.
They will see an average reduction of 26% from their 1995 school property tax bill ... And every school district in the state will see property tax relief.
This means a reduction of $302 for the average Wisconsin homeowner ... A $388 reduction for the average small business owner in Hayward ... A $946 reduction for the average farm owner in Iowa county.
Let me show you a map that shows you where the school levies are going down.
This is the largest tax cut in state history.
This is the billion dollar budget challenge that has turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for Wisconsin ...
The opportunity to put money back where it belongs, back in the pockets of Wisconsin taxpayers ...
The opportunity to build a better education system for our children ...
And the opportunity to build a better state government for the future ... A new government for a new century.
Technology
Our partner in this new government is going to be technology ... Which is why we are creating a new $40 million information technology fund.
New technology will revolutionize state government.
It will also help revolutionize our schools:
· We are going to use the technology fund to subsidize state loans to school districts for distance learning projects.
· We are setting up a $4 million competitive grant program called pioneering partners to buy new technology for schools.
· And we are investing $400,000 of the new technology fund in the uw system to expand interactive video capabilities between campuses ... Saving money and opening untold opportunities for all the citizens of this state.
Education
Creating opportunities instead of standing in the way. That's the role state government should play ... And this is especially true when it comes to education.
My approach to this budget was very simple: our schools and our property taxpayers come first. Whatever is left goes to the rest of state and local government.
And from here on out, all state budgets will be developed the same way: our first priority is funding the future ... Our schools. Everything else comes after that.
And this funding is going to be fair ... It is going to be equitable.
We are developing a new distribution formula that will make sure students -- no matter where they live in the state -- have equal opportunities for a quality education.
Every school district in the state will receive more state aid ... And our poorest school districts will receive additional state aid plus new flexibility to bring their per pupil spending closer to the state average.
The taxpayer investment in education in this state is huge.
It is the single largest item in the state budget ... In this budget alone, education moves from being 29% to 40% of the total budget.
And education is quite simply the key to Wisconsin's success in the future.
What we do in education affects every single person in this state.
And we are going to make education accountable to the people of this state.
That is why I am proposing a new Department of Education.
You know, this proposal is being called a power grab.
Well, that's partly right.
What we are doing is giving power back to the parents ... The teachers ... And the taxpayers of Wisconsin.
We are changing the mission of the State Education Department.
This new Department will be a new voice of leadership committed to education reform, committed to meeting the demands of the 21st century.
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This new Department will be a voice for the parents and teachers and taxpayers of this state ... Not a voice for the education establishment.
We are investing an additional $1.2 billion in the future of our schools ... In the future of our children.
We cannot invest that $1.2 billion in an establishment that is mired in the past.
We are changing education in this state. We are changing to meet the needs of the future.
Our school-to-work and youth apprenticeship program is a perfect example of this.
Working with private business -- the people who will be hiring our students in the future -- Wisconsin formed a partnership that is heralded as a model for the rest of the nation.
We didn't need a bunch of bureaucrats in Madison to tell us this was the right thing to do. We saw a need ... We reached out to the private sector ... And we created something that will prepare our children for good jobs and solid futures.
This is the kind of new thinking we need for education in this state ... And this is why we need a new Department of Education.
We need a Department that will lead the charge for new ideas ...
· Ideas such as expanding the Milwaukee school choice program so poor parents have the same opportunity to choose that other parents do.
· Ideas like expanding public school choice statewide. Parents should decide where their children go to school ... Not bureaucrats.
· We are expanding charter schools statewide ... Giving every school in the state the opportunity to innovate and be the very best.
· And we are allowing private contracting statewide ... Giving every school in the state the freedom to hire the very best ... The best teachers, the best administrators, the best principals.
We are also taking steps to make sure our schools are safe and secure places to learn:
· We are setting up violence-free school zones. If you commit a felony near a school or at a school event, you will pay the price.
