The state budget and the taxes that help finance it have a huge impact on children and families. The budget provides most of the funding for vital government services, such as education, health care, transportation, child welfare and other safety net programs.
For more detailed analysis, visit the Wisconsin Budget Project website.
It’s a difficult time to get a job, especially a good job. So it’s not surprising that participation in the Wisconsin Works program, W-2, has risen. W-2 helps low-income parents develop a self-sufficiency plan that can include job placements, other work activities, and education and job training. The program works in tandem with...
As noted in “Way #7: Mixed News for Community Health Centers and Dental Health Care” and “Way #9: Extra Cut to Tobacco Use Control Grants”, the budget bill contains cuts to a broad range of public health programs, some of which were lessened by the budget process and some worsened. However, in today’s post we will be discussing the...
In a move that saves very little money, the budget bill eliminates the ability of undocumented but otherwise qualified Wisconsin students to attend college and pay in-state tuition. The change could have a huge impact on students’ ability to attend school. In Wisconsin, undergraduate students residing in the state pay about $8,900 per...
One of the surprising changes to the budget bill was the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) amendment that makes newly unemployed workers ineligible for jobless benefits for the first week of their unemployment. It is expected to reduce benefits paid to unemployment insurance (UI) claimants by between $41 million and $56 million per year,...
Spending for collection of child support by counties will decline by $12.5 million in the 2011-13 biennium. Because counties are being squeezed fiscally from all directions, it’s highly unlikely that they will be able to offset the substantial budget cut. Milwaukee County alone estimated that it would have to cut 38 workers in 2012, or...
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