Can Wisconsin fund school districts with the $7 billion budget surplus, instead of referendums?

Two topics merged into one with Wisconsin’s billions in budget surplus and how schools get funded, as the La Crosse School Board this week voted to go back to a referendum for a new school.

Helping us navigate the two topics on La Crosse Talk PM is UW-Oshkosh Public Administration professor, Dr. Mike Ford.

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La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.

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We began the show having a bit of fun about why Ford last joined the show — if you recall the Joe Gow porn video scandal. After that, we got into Wisconsin’s budget surplus, which the Legislature has been mostly sitting on for over two years, and what the state should and shouldn’t do with it.

That led into a conversation about school funding, as La Crosse taxpayers could vote in the spring election to build a new elementary school.

We also talked about how taxpayers pay for voucher school students and how Republicans in the Legislature are trying to propose a new way to pay for vouchers — but not use that same model to pay for public education.

Lastly, we spent some time on school boards, in general, and how local elections have become more politicized, despite being nonpartisan.