Here & Now

Here & Now for May 26, 2017

Frederica Freyberg:

I'm Frederica Freyberg. Coming to you tonight from a different set, while our larger studio is being used for the fundraising auction. Tonight on “Here and Now,” a “First Look” at how things are going for expanded school choice in the Wausau area. After that, a “Closer Look” at the ongoing trauma of gun violence in our state’s largest city, Milwaukee. Then, “Capitol Insight” of a proposed cut of what’s known as the state’s forestry mill tax. And our “WisContext” segment, gearing up for deer tick season on a holiday weekend. It’s “Here and Now” for May 26th.

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Frederica Freyberg:

The statewide school choice program has been in place for four years now. For the first time Governor Scott Walker did not propose an expansion of choice in his budget. So the issue is not getting as much attention as in years past. But public and private schools are still adjusting, trying to determine if the number of schools using vouchers has stabilized or will continue to grow. Two years ago we visited Wausau to look at what expansion of the choice program would mean there. And wanted to check back in. As you might expect, Here & Now’s Zac Schultz found that public and private schools have completely different views on how choice is working.

Bill Zuelsdorff:

Eight, now take eight away. How much do I have?

Zac Schultz:

Two years ago, Principal Bill Zuelsdorff in Trinity Lutheran School didn’t have any voucher students. They had just joined the choice program and ended up with 15 in the fall.

Bill Zuelsdorff:

The first 15 that we had the first year probably two-thirds of those were students we already had here. So we didn’t really grow that much. That’s five. Six. Yep.

Zac Schultz:

In year two, that has grown to 27 choice students. 18% of their total enrollment.

Bill Zuelsdorff:

Some of the families I have are new families that would be in public schools but really probably the majority of our choice families are families that were already here.

Mike Martin:

Just from a raw number standpoint, we’re postured to grow.

Zac Schultz:

A mile away, Newman Catholic School President Zac Schultz has seen choice grow from 13 to 94 students in just four years.

Zac Schultz:

It’s about 14,000 plus students in what’s called the Wausau metropolitan area. And we have 94 of those students right now.

Kathleen Williams:

Well it's certainly a negative impact on us.

Zac Schultz:

Kathleen Williams is retiring as superintendent of Wausau public schools this year and she’s not changed her mind on the dangers of the choice program.

Kathleen Williams:

People look at it at the surface, no big deal. It is a big deal.

Zac Schultz:

This year, 82 students that live in the Wausau school district are attending private school with a voucher. The state caps the number of kids that each district can lose at 1%. For Wausau, that’s 86 voucher students. But that cap will increase to 2% next year. Meaning they could lose 172. The nearby D.C. Everest School District has lost 37 voucher students. At the 2% cap, they could lose 118. Add it all up and next year, there’s 290 vouchers available in the Wausau area.

Mike Martin:

I probably have about 2,000 Catholic kids in the public school system right now. One of my challenges, how do I get them back into Catholic education.

Frederica Freyberg Bill Zuelsdorff:

We definitely have a lot of seats we could fill yet. And if it’s going to be through the choice program, that would be a good option.

Kathleen Williams:

The key is how that impact is going to grow.

Zac Schultz:

Kathleen Williams is concerned about the increasing cost of choice. In particular because Wausau public schools are paying for those vouchers. And they’re required to raise property taxes to do so.

Kathleen Williams:

Those people who are scrutinizing their tax bills are going to say, “Hey, you know, the Wausau School District is charging more money.”

Zac Schultz:

Originally, school choice was funded directly by the state. But in the last budget, the Republican majority shifted that so each voucher student counts towards the public school’s enrollment. The school district taxes their local property taxpayers for that student’s voucher cost. And the state withholds that amount from the school’s last state aid payment and sends the money to the private school.

Kathleen Williams:

That's the significant danger in my mind. We may be losing those tax dollars and those students, but I think the greater impact is the fact that most people don’t understand the local implications of that. That our taxpayers are funding choice.

Zac Schultz:

Last year, Wausau schools increased their property tax levy by $428,000 to pay for those 82 vouchers. That works out to an extra $16 a year for the owner of a $150,000 house. But that homeowner would not know it by looking at their tax bill. Because it’s hidden in the public schools tax line.

Kathleen Williams:

How many times have you heard the term, we need to be transparent? Well then, let’s be transparent. Let's let everybody fully understand where their dollars are going.

Zac Schultz:

Those choice dollars have become a critical part of the choice school’s budget. Each voucher is worth around $7,300 for grades K-8 and $7,500 for high schoolers.

Mike Martin:

That’s about a $700,000 amount of money coming into Newman to help educate those students. That’s real money in my lexicon.

Zac Schultz:

For Trinity Lutheran, it adds up to $190,000 this year.

Bill Zuelsdorff:

It's a good chunk, yes. Our budget is a little over a million dollars, so about 10%.

Zac Schultz:

Neither Trinity nor Newman had to hire additional teachers, since so many of those students were already in house. But how they’ve used the money shows how politically unstable the choice program is viewed.

Bill Zuelsdorff:

We have to have this plan that this may not always be here, and what happens then?

Zac Schultz:

Neither school has given their teachers a raise due to the extra income.

Mike Martin:

We would not tie teacher salaries to that part of enrollment.

Zac Schultz:

At Newman, they have a list of upgrades to the facilities.

Mike Martin:

One of them is offsetting some of the costs of the new roof we put on the high school here.

Zac Schultz:

At Trinity, the church congregation gets the break.

Bill Zuelsdorff:

What the choice program has done is helped us pay those regular expenses we have so the church does not have to put in as much.

Zac Schultz:

Everyone is aware the next election could shift power in Madison. And lead to changes in choice. But Trinity and Newman hope by then the program will be so established, it won’t be so easy to roll back.

Bill Zuelsdorff:

The longer the program is going and as long as it’s showing to be a positive thing, I think that’s less likely to happen.

Mike Martin:

The ship has already sailed in the sense it is so popular now that it’s probably here to stay.

Frederica Freyberg:

The Joint Finance Committee has not yet taken up the portion of the budget that deals with K-12 education and choice. On other items, the legislature’s Republican-controlled budget writing committee late this week did vote to approve Governor Walker’s proposal to make Wisconsin the first state in the nation to require some adults to work and take drug tests to receive Medicaid. The same would hold for some Food Stamp recipients. The committee also acted on UW funding. WPT is part of the UW System. Joint Finance rejected the governor’s tuition cut but voted to freeze tuition again. In all, the Republican budget would increase UW funding by $36 million over two years, most of it tied to performance measures. Majority Republicans call it a major investment. Democrats on the budget committee call it an effective cut by not funding the tuition freeze.

Gordon Hintz:

Our future growth in new businesses, in new start-ups where we know we get the majority of our new jobs is directly tied to the investment that we make in the UW System. It is an economic generator. What is the place that has the highest job growth in Wisconsin over the last five years? It’s in Dane county. Why is that? Because we have a highly educated population.

Dale Kooyenga:

At the end of the day I think you owe us a plan as far as what’s going to give? Are property taxes going to go up? Are income taxes go up? Are we going to cut other things like Medicaid because we cannot afford Medicaid additions plus the $1.1 billion? I mean I think it’s responsible to have both sides of the ledger and the end of the day, here’s where we sit. If we’re sitting with six years consecutively now of frozen tuition.

Frederica Freyberg:

The city of Milwaukee's health department has released a draft of its “Blueprint for Peace.” The newly released program focuses on prevention while looking a root causes of violent crime. Another plan offered by select city council members there focuses on enhanced police enforcement. The “Blueprint” authors say prevention and enforcement are not mutually exclusive. But this discussion around how to combat crime and stop gun violence highlight how the city is grappling with the problem. While well-meaning work goes on, in tonight’s “Closer Look,” we hear from the mother of a recent victim. She reached out to us after we got to know her in the course of our reporting work on gun violence in Milwaukee.

Nora Sheridan:

It's nice. They have a really nice garden over here.

Frederica Freyberg:

We first met Nora Sheridan two summers ago as she and her sister strolled the Milwaukee neighbor where they experienced a very difficult childhood.

Woman:

Just think, how long ago was that, 1968?

Frederica Freyberg:

We interviewed the sisters as part of reporting on escalating gun violence in the city. Their family was featured in a 1968 documentary representing poverty and broken families going back generations in Milwaukee.

Man:

It’s just nerve wracking. You ain't got no peace in the home now.

Frederica Freyberg:

One question was, could the multi-generational conditions be one reason for current day spikes in violence? Nora Sheridan thought the answer was yes.

Nora Sheridan:

The black family is being destroyed. The majority of the black family does not have a father.

Frederica Freyberg:

She was speaking about gun violence as a worry for the larger community. This spring, the devastation ripped her own world apart.

Nora Sheridan:

He said that your son–he said, “Do you have a son Rainier?” And I said, “Yes, I do.”

Frederica Freyberg:

Detectives called Nora Sheridan home from work to break the news that her 36-year-old son Rainier had been shot and killed. They thought it happened outside her house. And that he had stumbled inside to call for help. The noodles he was cooking for lunch, she was told, were still cooking on the stove.

Nora Sheridan:

He said that when he arrived to the hospital, he died at the hospital.

Frederica Freyberg:

Rainier's mother says he lived at home with her and was in a good place. Working a good-paying job at a chemical plant in Milwaukee.

Nora Sheridan:

They were so pleased with his performance that he was employee of the month for consecutively. And at the funeral, they shut down a department just to come to the funeral.

Frederica Freyberg:

What his mother wants to know is who shot her son and why. Milwaukee police can only say they are currently seeking a motive and searching for suspects.

Nora Sheridan:

Because I need to know the truth. I, I want justice and I want justice for him. I want the people or person who did that to him to be held accountable for killing him. That’s what they did. They took him from his children. They took him from his sisters. They took him from his brothers. They took him from me. You know, and right now I'm starting to get angry. I just want justice for him.

Frederica Freyberg:

Sheridan wonders, was it a car theft gone wrong, burglars, what else.

The not knowing, she says, makes his loss even worse. Entire neighborhoods in Milwaukee already keep their draperies closed day and night trying to hide out from violence. Hers included. The extra security of her home surveillance camera captured images only after the fact of responding police.

Nora Sheridan:

We need to stop all this. All these shootings. Every night I hear someone shooting. I don’t know whether I should hit the floor, call 911. Sometimes I'm afraid if I call 911 that they will tell who, or the police will show up at my door and they’ll find out who, who the person who called and they might retaliate against me. I’m not the only one that feels like that. Other people in the neighborhood feels that way too. So, we just–something needs to be done about all these shootings around here, period.

Frederica Freyberg:

Still, Sheridan says she is not afraid to stay in her house, even though someone shot her son there. Their home, she says, makes her feel close to him.

Nora Sheridan:

Every second, every minute, every hour I think about him. Everything that I do in this house I think about him.

Frederica Freyberg:

She says despite this, she’s able to sleep at night because of something an officer told her.

Nora Sheridan:

When I asked him where did they find him, they said he was in my bedroom. And I feel comfort there for some reason. I feel comfort there.

Frederica Freyberg:

The most recent numbers show so far this year 35 people have been murdered in Milwaukee. Most of them shot to death. In 2016, there were 141 homicides. Again, mostly the result of gunfire. Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposes eliminating the state portion of the property tax. For the average homeowner that would mean about a $27 savings. But in all, the tax raises about $180 million over the biennium. And it goes specifically to fund state forestry programs like tree management, invasive species research, even toward fighting forest fires. Part of the revenue also helps pays debt on Wisconsin’s stewardship land program. Under the budget plan, that revenue for forestry would come from the state’s general fund instead. In tonight’s “Capitol Insight,” support and opposition to this change. We start with the Wisconsin Realtors Association, and Tom Larson who favors the tax cut. Thanks for being here.

Tom Larson:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

We just said that it was an average savings about $27 for the average homeowner, it seems small. Why do you support this elimination?

Tom Larson:

The important part is it actually takes something off the property tax. Wisconsin has among the highest property taxes in the country. We’re ranked fifth in the United States. And every opportunity we have to take something off the property tax lowers the burden for both property owners and businesses.

Frederica Freyberg:

And speaking of businesses or larger commercial properties, that’s who this would benefit much more, though, right, than the average homeowner with that $27. Is that the intent?

Tom Larson:

Remember, the property tax has to be uniform. So we apply the same mill rate across the board and depending on the value, the impact would be greater. The higher the value, the higher the impact.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you say about people who say that’s the intent? Helping, you know, the large property owners.

Tom Larson:

Well, I think the intent is to help the average homeowner. Any time you do property tax relief, it helps a broad swath of people. It helps homeowners. It helps business. It helps the middle class. It helps the lower class, the upper class. The benefit is widespread.

Frederica Freyberg:

What about concerns over the loss of that revenue to maintain the forest, even things like fighting forest fires?

Tom Larson:

Well, as you mentioned, the program is funded in whole through general purpose revenue, like every other state program. So, the forestry program is a priority for the legislature. It’s a priority for the governor. They are just shifting revenue sources. So, I don’t anticipate that changing.

Frederica Freyberg:

People are concerned, though, that shifting revenue sources and making it GPR-funded puts it at risk because there are so many other competing things needing that general tax revenue money.

Tom Larson:

As long as it remains a priority for the legislature and the governor, it will continue to be funded, maybe to the same levels that it currently is today.

Frederica Freyberg:

And maybe at the same levels, but if it’s not, you know, as a realtor and representing the realtor’s association, don’t property values kind of depend on the quality of public spaces and those kinds of things?

Tom Larson:

It does. It depends on quality of life, good schools, low crime rate, clean environment, and the forestry program is a key component of Wisconsin's quality of life.

Frederica Freyberg:

And you don’t think it’s in jeopardy?

Tom Larson:

Not that I've–not that I've heard. Again, there’s broad support for the state’s forestry program. And shifting it over to general purpose revenue does not mean there is not that same level of support.

Frederica Freyberg:

I know you especially like this because it chips away at the property tax which you say is overly burdensome in Wisconsin. What are other kinds of ways we could seek to reduce that property tax burden?

Tom Larson:

Well as I mentioned, Wisconsin is very high, ranked, our national ranking is very high in property taxes. But we’re low in other revenue sources like the sales tax. We are ranked 37th in the country. If the legislature and governor decided they wanted to raise additional revenues and further lower the property tax burden, they could increase something like the sales tax to do that.

Frederica Freyberg:

As a realtor or representing the association, how does the property tax affect property sales, for example?

Tom Larson:

It has a direct impact on affordability. There was just some polling done that looked at renters. And asked them what was the primary reason why they didn’t become homeowners? And it’s affordability. And property taxes pay, play a big part in that. It’s often the mortgage. But also the property taxes. And the lower we make that property tax burden, the more attainable home ownership will be for a lot of other people.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Tom Larson, thanks very much.

Tom Larson:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, more on the forest mill tax. Up next, opposition to cutting the state property tax and its revenue for forests. Fred Clark is executive director of the Forest Stewards Guild. Thanks a lot for being here.

Fred Clark:

Great, thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

What's the history of this tax?

Fred Clark:

The forestry mill tax was created actually in the state constitution in 1924 at a time when Wisconsin forests were just beginning to recover from about a 50 year period of clear cutting and overharvesting. And it was really the wisdom of legislators at that time to recognize that we needed to invest in our forest resources so they could recover and we could protect the soil, protect the water, and begin to rebuild our forestry economy.

Frederica Freyberg:

And obviously you believe that tax has been successful in doing that.

Fred Clark:

It's been hugely successful. And in fact, Wisconsin has become a leader among states in the country in investing, in our 17 million acres of forests. Investing in both the private sector and public forest lands in a way that’s really been a national success story.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why not just fund that work managing forests with general purpose revenue?

Fred Clark:

Well, the general fund in the state is not a bottomless well. And you know, public schools, parks programs, and other important programs in the state that are funded from general revenues see their budgets swing up and down from year to year. The dedicated funding provided in the constitution by the forestry mill tax assures that we have fire control and forest health and forest products experts that are available to sustain that resource year in and year out. Every Wisconsin citizen actually benefits from that investment.

Frederica Freyberg:

Your concern is that if it switches to GPR, that something else will be more of a priority than this?

Fred Clark:

I mean, it will have to be. And understandably. The legislature has a difficult job to do every two years to balance our budget. You’re already hearing the debate about how we will pay for roads, how we will pay for public schools that badly need those resources. By the governor’s proposal, adds $180 million additional draw to the general fund that legislators are going to have to figure out how to pay for.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, we’ve talked about how this would benefit the average homeowner by a savings of about $27 a year. Who would benefit the very most from the elimination of this tax off the state property tax?

Fred Clark:

Well, certainly the people paying the largest property tax bills, including commercial property owners. And including some of the highest value property owners will benefit from seeing the mill tax go away on their tax bill. Who benefits the most from having it are rural homeowners and rural residents who live in the forested parts of the state who benefit from fire control, who benefit from forest protection and the very robust forest-based economy that we have.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, I understand the tax also helps pay part of the debt on the state stewardship fund?

Fred Clark:

Correct.

Frederica Freyberg:

So that would go away. What’s your reaction to that?

Fred Clark:

The Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund has continued to receive bipartisan support. It’s an important investment in conservation lands. The forestry mill tax actually helps pay for about $13 million of the cost of bonding for that program. So this is paying the bill for the land conservation that we agree is important in this state. If that goes away, additional draw on the general fund, maybe more kicking the can down the road with additional bonding, which is really not going to help us in the long run.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is it your expectation this actually will happen, as the governor would like to see?

Fred Clark:

Well, it’s not unanimous by any means. There are Republican legislators I know are in opposition to this proposal. Representative Jeff Mursau who’s chair of the Environment and Forestry Committee in the Assembly has been strongly vocal in opposing this provision right now. So has the governor’s own council on forestry. The 18 people he has appointed to advise him on forestry issues is formally in opposition to this provision. They believe a more appropriate move right now would be an audit of the forestry account, to see where those funds are being used and if appropriate, make changes.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We need to leave it there. Fred Clark, thanks very much.

Fred Clark:

Thanks Frederica.

Frederica Freyberg:

We move from forestry and taxes deeper into the forest itself and the annual health threat posed by this insect. The deer tick and the Lyme disease it can carry. On the eve of a holiday weekend when many of us will be taking to the woods for camping, we paid a visit to UW-Extension entomologist and deer tick specialist P.J. Liesch.

P.J. Liesch:

When it comes to the tick forecast this year, it’s always a little bit hard to predict.

Frederica Freyberg:

While year to year predictions can be difficult, due to things like changes in weather and moisture. UW-Extension entomologist P.J. Liesch has come to know that in Wisconsin it’s always good to be cautious about deer tick exposure.

P.J. Liesch:

Even if the ticks aren’t necessarily booming in Wisconsin this year, we are one of the hot spots of tick activity in the U.S. So folks do need to be on the lookout and be taking precautions to prevent tick problems. First and foremost, if you are in an area with good tick habitat, such as dense wooded areas where we are right now, if you simply avoid those areas, that may be one important way to help avoid bumping into ticks in the first place. Another important thing to do would be to wear long sleeve clothing. If you have long sleeve pants on, and especially lighter colored clothing that may be easier to spot the dark colored ticks on. That’s one precaution we can do. And then there’s a number of EPA-approved repellents such as Deet, and certain other repellants that when applied correctly and properly, can help prevent ticks from getting on to you.

Frederica Freyberg:

Before you head out to the lakes and woods for the holiday weekend, here’s another look at the deer tick. To learn more on the topic, visit our news partners at WisContext.org. Now for a look at other Wisconsin budget news. A new research center named after former governor Tommy Thompson may soon be coming to UW-Madison. The proposed center would fund academic research on public policy and government. It would also connect faculty members with lawmakers in an attempt to improve public policy. The center would be funded with $3 million of public money in the 2017-2019 state budget as well as private funding. The center already has the support of Governor Walker, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, and several other state representatives. Not everyone is a fan of the project however. Democratic Representative Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh is worried the center would produce conservative-leaning research, despite claims that the center would be non-partisan. Next week, “Here and Now” will be pre-empted for our annual fundraising auction. We will return on Friday night June 9. Until then, I’m Frederica Freyberg. Have a great holiday weekend.

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Funding for “Here and Now” is provided in part by Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.