Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile, legislative budget writers now get down to the task of fashioning their version of the document. Republicans hold a majority in both houses, but may stray from the Governor’s version of the plan. Republican state senator Luther Olsen is a member of the Joint Finance Committee and joins us now. Thanks very much for doing so.

Luther Olsen:

Good to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is the sense of where Republicans might depart from say the UW, transportation or K-12?

Luther Olsen:

Well, you know, this is the Governor’s budget, and every two years he comes out with his priorities, what he thinks is important for the State of Wisconsin and people. The Legislature, now it’s our turn to go through it page by page, line by line, word by word, find out what’s really in there, and then we’re going to have hearings around the state and listen to what folks say that they think we should do. Because in all honesty, we are the people. We represent the people, and the people are going to have a say in what they think the budget should look like. And so we’re going to look at the issues. I think probably the big three are looking at the UW System, K-12 education and transportation. I think that’s where the money is. That’s what people are concerned about, as I see right now. A lot of other little things, but that’s the big three.

Frederica Freyberg:

So on the UW, that’s getting a lot of play. It’s a very big number. What is your sense of that $300 million cut to the university, paired with the new kind of public authority?

Luther Olsen:

Well, I mean, one of the worst things we could do is give them the $300 million cut and not give them flexibility. I think that would be really disastrous for the University. Giving the flexibility and the authority I think will help the situation, but I was with Chancellor Blank, the other day at a meeting, and she said, You know, I can make some cuts right away, but I can’t make that size of a cut the first year.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is it your sense that budget writers may pull back on that number?

Luther Olsen:

Well, I think what we’re looking at– And everybody is sort of hoping that in the middle of May or first part of May, Bob Lang from the Fiscal Bureau is going to come out and say you’ve got some more money. You’ve got $200 million, $300 million, $400 million, whatever. Everybody is looking at that saying save us because we don’t really want to make these cuts. If you’ve got more revenue, I think we’ll be looking at situations like K-12 and UW.

Frederica Freyberg:

On the K-12, it leaves it flat. What’s your reaction to that?

Luther Olsen:

Well, it doesn’t really leave it flat. Over two years each student revenue is cut $135. So a lot of schools are saying, you know, we could probably handle a flat, but when you cut $150 the first year, then when you get $165 more the second year, that’s $135 cut in two years and they’re not prepared to handle that, from what I understand.

Frederica Freyberg:

And then the cap is off choice and that has its effect on K-12 as well.

Luther Olsen:

Yeah. Well, it’s– it isn’t– If you lose a child, you lose some money, which normally happens anyways. But it’s another way for schools to lose students. And when you lose a few students, you really can’t cut costs much, but you lose revenue.

Frederica Freyberg:

But you think that choice, not having a cap is a good thing.

Luther Olsen:

Well, the reason I never really was hot on choice is because it was always GPR funded. And it was going to be $900 million entitlement if everybody going to a private school was funded, which I just– We couldn’t afford a public system and a private system at the same time. Now the Governor’s changed that a little bit. We’ll look at it. I know schools aren’t happy, but at the end of the day if you don’t have a child, you probably– you aren’t going to get the money. So it’s a better situation than we were before.

Frederica Freyberg:

What about increasing the gas tax instead of this bonding?

Luther Olsen:

Well, you know, first of all, I just don’t think Republicans have it in their DNA, or shouldn’t, that we borrow and spend. We always complain about the Democrats, where they tax and spend. Well, we shouldn’t borrow and spend. So I think we’re going to have to look at a number of situations, figure out are we going to reduce projects, raise revenue and have the right amount of borrowing. Because we shouldn’t be straddling the next generation with the debt to fix our roads now, because when they’re around, they’re going to have to fix roads and they’ll still be paying the debt service on what we’re doing.

Frederica Freyberg:

So would you rather see something like an increase in the gas tax?

Luther Olsen:

Well, it would be great if the people from Illinois paid for our roads, but that isn’t the case. We’re going to have to look at it. I think it’s going to be a package of a number of different things. I know some of our folks said there’s no way they’re voting for a gas tax, which means– And they don’t want to do borrowing, so we’re going to have to sharpen the pencil and say this project’s off the board until we can afford it. And it’s going to be a very dicey situation to get enough for any of those things. People who have projects in their districts don’t want to have them go on the cutting floor.

Frederica Freyberg:

Senator Luther Olsen, thanks very much.

Luther Olsen:

Thanks very much. Pleasure to be here.