Here & Now

Rep. Gordon Hintz: Public Education Funding Must Be Priority

Zac Schultz:

We wanted to hear from the Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald but he was unavailable. He did put out a statement this week saying, “The state Senate remains committed to fully funding K-12 education as Governor Walker proposed.” Adding, “The Assembly education proposal was quote simple not the direction that this budget is headed.” So where is it headed? And will the Democrats in the legislature have some part to play? For that, we turn to Representative Gordon Hintz, a member of the Joint Finance Committee who joins us from Oshkosh. Thanks for your time today.

Gordon Hintz:

Happy to be here.

Zac Schultz:

Now when it comes to education funding, do you prefer the governor’s plan or the Assembly Republican’s most recent proposal?

Gordon Hintz:

Well I think the odd thing is that there’s a disagreement about education at all. We’ve heard a lot of platitudes about the fact that funding our public schools is a priority. If that’s the case, then we should be making the investments that our schools need and other things should be secondary. I think right now, the governor’s pounding away at wanting to maintain a campaign soundbite regarding property tax limits. And then we’re getting last minute plan by the Assembly Republicans which I think is sort of complicating the mix. This is something that shouldn’t be that complicated. I think the Assembly Republican plan acknowledges the fact that we have 148 local school districts that raised their own property taxes to make up for school cuts. But I can’t say I know where it’s going to end up. But if we start with education being a priority, it shouldn’t be that difficult.

Zac Schultz:

Now have Democrats been included in any of these conversation or are you just finding out from the press releases?

Gordon Hintz:

Mostly finding out from the press releases. I did talk to a number of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle morning. And we heard from school district administrators. I think it’s important to point out even under the governor’s funding proposal, a number of school districts including Oshkosh, Neenah, North Fond du Lac, they’re still going to have to make budget cuts. So for as much as the governor’s beating his chest about how much money he’s putting into schools, it doesn’t address the shortfalls that exist from the cuts of the last six years.

Zac Schultz:

Now from your perspective, will this division between Republicans lead to a better budget over all? Is this actually a healthy debate?

Gordon Hintz:

I think that depends on whether we’re going to start with–let’s fund schools if that’s our number one priority and then let’s see what we have revenue left for. I think the problem is schools really aren’t the number one priority. I mean the governor says, “I want to maintain the levee on a house from 2010.” Instead of putting the dollars in the classroom and addressing what’s happening in schools throughout the state. Until that happens, I'm not sure. But I think we’re going to have to see.

Zac Schultz:

The governor has been traveling the state promoting his version of the budget. Just this week Assembly Republicans were out doing the same. Is that locking both sides into their positions or do you think public discussion can actually lead to persuasion on one part or the other?

Gordon Hintz:

Well I think Assembly Republicans are trying to address what I think they see there’s a certain number of districts who are low-spending that are increasingly having to go to local property taxpayers to make up for their shortfalls. I think they’re trying to address it in the formula. I’m not sure it has enough time to get the input from districts throughout the state to be passed. This is the fourth budget for Republican majority and Governor Walker. We’ve had modest revenue growth. We shouldn’t be in the position where we’re having this kind of disagreement. This shouldn’t be a difficult budget, yet I think we’re seeing the mismanagement of the state budget the last few years has put the state in the position it’s in.

Zac Schultz:

The most recent job numbers came out. Are those going to have any impact on the budget going forward?

Gordon Hintz:

Well, it should. I think what we’ve seen is, and that’s what I meant about mismanagement because of how many ineffective, expensive and regressive tax cuts the Republicans and Governor Walker have passed, we haven’t had the money to invest in our research institutions, the UW System, K-12 education. Those long term investments we know are going to be crucial to both our quality of life and to the jobs of tomorrow. The fact that Wisconsin continues to lag, we have seen wages drop, and we’ve lost manufacturing jobs certainly should be a red flag to all legislators to know that what we’ve done hasn’t been working and we need to change directions and reinvest in our state.

Zac Schultz:

Representative Hintz from Oshkosh. Thanks for your time today.

Gordon Hintz:

Thanks for having me.