Could a one cent sales tax increase close the funding gap for public schools in Wisconsin? Tom Beebe with the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools thinks a penny more in the sales tax will help schools maintain programs and services they may otherwise have to have to cut because of a decrease in state aid. “Right now we need to address the crisis created in the last state budget,” says Beebe, who calls the proposal “the most expedient way possible to get the job done as quickly as possible.”
Beebe emphasizes that the “penny for kids” proposal is NOT intended as a long term solution for funding Wisconsin public schools. But he notes that there just isn’t the political will in Madison to tackle that issue: “it’s a lot simpler – believe it or not – to pass an increase in the sales tax than it is to reform the way we actually fund the schools.” Proponents of the idea are collecting signatures on-line.
AUDIO: Bob Hague reports (:65 MP3) AUDIO: Bob Hague reports (:65 MP3)