Green Bay News

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is sending Congress a $4 trillion budget Monday that seeks to raise taxes on wealthier Americans and corporations and use the extra income to lift the fortunes of families who have felt squeezed during tough economic times.

He would also ease tight budget constraints imposed on the military and domestic programs back in 2011, and unveils new initiatives including an ambitious $478 billion public works program for highway, bridge and transit upgrades.

The administration said the budget represented a strategy to strengthen the middle class and help “hard-working families get ahead in a time of relentless economic and technological change.”

“This country’s better off than it was four years ago, but what we also know is that wages and incomes for middle class families are just now ticking up,” Obama said in an interview broadcast on Monday’s “Today Show” on NBC.  “They haven’t been keeping pace over the last 30 years compared to, you know, corporate profits and what’s happening to folks in the very top.”

Even before the massive budget books landed on lawmakers’ desks, Republicans were on the attack, accusing the president of seeking to revert to tax-and-spend policies that will harm the economy while failing to do anything about the budget’s biggest problem – soaring spending on government benefit programs.

Obama’s fiscal blueprint, for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, proposes spending $4 trillion – $3.99 trillion before rounding – and projects revenues of $3.53 trillion.

That would leave a deficit of $474 billion. Obama’s budget plan never reaches balance over the next decade and projects the deficit would rise to $687 billion in 2025.

The administration contends that various spending cuts and tax increases would trim the deficits by about $1.8 trillion over the next decade, leaving the red ink at manageable levels.

Congressional Republicans say the budgets they produce will achieve balance and will attack costly benefit program like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

GOP Rep. Paul Ryan, the new chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, accused the president of exploiting “envy economics.” Interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Ryan said, “This top down redistribution doesn’t work.”

Obama, interviewed by NBC before the start of Sunday’s Super Bowl game, said he believed there were areas where he can work with Republicans, who for the first time in his presidency control both houses of Congress.

“My job is not to trim my sails and not tell the American people what we should be doing, pretending somehow we don’t need better roads, that we don’t need more affordable college,” Obama said.

Obama’s budget emphasizes the same themes as his State of the Union address last month, when he challenged Congress to work with him on narrowing the income gap between the very wealthy and everyone else.

While Republicans have let it be known that they have very different ideas about budget and tax priorities, Democrats voiced support for Obama.

“If we are serious about rebuilding the disappearing middle class we need a budget which creates millions of decent-paying jobs,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and is the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

Obama’s six-year $478 billion public works program would provide upgrades for the nation’s highways, bridges and transit systems, in an effort to tap into bipartisan support for spending on badly needed repairs.

Half of that money would come from a one-time mandatory tax on profits that U.S. companies have amassed overseas that would be set at 14 percent.

Higher taxes on the wealthy and on fees paid by the largest financial institutions would help raise $320 billion over 10 years which Obama would use to provide low- and middle-class tax breaks.

His proposals: a credit of up to $500 for two-income families, a boost in the child care tax credit to up to $3,000 per child under age 5, and overhauling breaks that help pay for college.

Obama also is calling for a $60 billion program for free community college for an estimated 9 million students if all states participate. It also proposes expanding child care to more than 1.1 million additional children under the age of 4 by 2025 and seeks to implement universal pre-school.

Obama’s budget will propose easing painful, automatic cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies with a 7 percent increase in annual appropriations, providing an additional $74 billion in 2016, divided between the military and domestic programs.

Many Republicans support the extra military spending but oppose increased domestic spending.

Another centerpiece of the president’s tax proposal is an increase in the capital gains rate on couples making more than $500,000 per year. The rate would climb from 23.8 percent to 28 percent.

Obama wants to require estates to pay capital gains taxes on securities at the time they are inherited. He also is trying to impose a 0.07 percent fee on the roughly 100 U.S. financial companies with assets of more than $50 billion.

MADISON (AP) – A fisherman who lost his way in whiteout conditions on Lake Mendota is rescued.

Dane County sheriff’s officials say the Madison man was out on the ice near Governors Island late Sunday afternoon, but couldn’t find his way back to shore because of the wind and low visibility.

A deputy used a snowmobile to search for the man and was able to locate him and bring him to shore. WKOW-TV says Madison police also helped with the rescue.

STOCKHOLM (AP) – The U.N. weather agency says 2014 was the warmest year on record, though the temperature difference with 2010 and 2005 is so small that it’s impossible to say for sure which of the three years was the hottest.

The World Meteorological Organization’s analysis Monday mirrored findings two weeks ago by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and also included data from the Met Office in Britain.

The Geneva-based WMO said surface temperatures were 0.57 C (1.03 F) above average last year. That’s slightly warmer than 2010 and 2005, but the difference was within the uncertainty margin of 0.10 C (0.18 F).

With 14 of the 15 hottest years recorded this century, WMO chief Michel Jarraud said warming is expected to continue as atmospheric levels of heat-trapping CO2 rise.

GREEN BAY- This is Hammer.

A 9 week old lab/hound mix, male.

Click on the video to learn more about Hammer.

GREEN BAY – February is heart month and the American Heart Association urges you to join other women in their fight against heart disease, our nation’s number one killer.  Amanda Fredrick shared her story on Good Day Wisconsin.  She had open heart surgery at the age of 31.   She knew she was born with a heart defect but her doctors had told her she wouldn’t have to worry about heart problems until she was near 50.  After she had her two children, she began noticing signs of distress. Beginning in September of 2013 she failed several stress tests. By March she was told she would need open heart surgery.  Fredrick hopes her story encourages other women to listen to their bodies, know the signs of heart problems, and ask for help.

Annie Bongiorno is the Director for the American Heart Association in the Fox Cities.  She talked about the upcoming National Wear Red day on Friday, February 6th. She says more than 275 women’s lives have been saved each day since the Go Red campaign began.  She encourages women and men to wear red on Friday and take action by living healthier.

Get Your Numbers: Check your blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose.

Own Your Lifestyle: Stop smoking, lose weight, be physically active and eat healthy.

Raise Your Voice: Advocate for more women-related research and education.

Educate Your Family: Make healthy food choices for you & your family.

Donate: Show your support with a donation of time or money.

Individuals, businesses, civic organizations, and groups are encouraged to sign up as an official supporter at wearedday.org.

Share your photos on your favorite social network using the tag #GoRed.

Upcoming local events:

Fox Cities Go Red For Women Luncheon on May 7

Green Bay Go Red For Women Luncheon on May 20

GREEN BAY- We had some fun on the weather deck this morning with a local groundhog.

Bay Beach Bobbie came to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in the summer of 2014. She was hit by a vehicle.

Bobbie made her own Groundhog Day prediction. She saw her shadow with Pete on the deck, which means we will have 6 more weeks of winter.

Click on the video to see the cute segment with Lori Bankson of the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary with Pete.

ESCANABA, Mich. (AP) – Authorities say a power outage is affecting most of the city of Escanaba and surrounding communities in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

WLUC-TV reports the outage Monday morning follows an explosion at an Escanaba Power Plant substation. No injuries are reported. Crews from the Escanaba Power Plant, the Upper Peninsula Power Co. and other agencies are working to restore power.

There’s no immediate word of how long the outage might last.

This weekend’s winter storm is causing dangerous conditions, including high waves on Lake Michigan.

The Coast Guard says people need to stay off walkways near the lake, as well as rocky terrain, beaches and piers.

Even though the storm continues to move out of the area, people need to remember that heavy surf and high waves on Lake Michigan will generally take an extra day, at least to calm down.

NEENAH- Neenah Police are calling an overnight incident that involved the SWAT team a hoax.

Police got a call around 11 p.m Sunday that a person was shot in a home in the area of Henry and Adams Streets.

Officials say the caller also said another person was in jeopardy of also being shot.

The SWAT team was called to the scene and couldn’t find any evidence of a shooting.

Officers talked to the homeowner and learned no one has lived there for several months.

Neenah police say it appears to be a hoax and are working to find out who made the call.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Neenah Police Department or Winnebago County Crimestoppers.

MANITOWOC COUNTY – Snow plows have been working since the early morning hours Monday to clear roads in communities along the lakeshore.

Officials say blowing and drifting snow is an issue.

The city of Manitowoc issue a snow emergency Sunday night warning residents not to park on city streets at plows began to move through at midnight.

Fox11’s Pauleen Le spent the morning checking out the road conditions.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Southeastern Wisconsin is digging out from more than a foot of snow.

Dozens of schools in Racine and Kenosha counties are closed Monday, including those in the public school districts. A blizzard warning for the region was canceled as the snow and strong winds came to an end overnight Sunday.

While Racine and Kenosha counties were among the hardest hit with the first significant storm of the season, counties to the north and west are also dealing with plenty of snow. Six to eight inches fell in southern Sheboygan, Jefferson and Washington counties.

Snowplows are working around the clock to clear 11 inches of snow from the 7,000 miles of streets in Milwaukee.

Forecasters say one to two inches of additional snow is expected Tuesday evening.

BOSTON (AP) – A winter storm is bringing its fury to the Northeast on Monday, causing the cancellation of flights, classes and major court cases a day after it dumped up to a foot-and-a-half of snow on the Chicago area and blanketed much of the Plains and Midwest.

The weather system moved slowly eastward overnight through the Ohio Valley into Pennsylvania and western New York state. Then it went into New England, where residents had celebrated the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl victory days after digging out from a massive storm that brought from 1 to 3 feet of snow to some areas.

Here’s the outlook:
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THE STORM

The snow storm, which had brought 17.5 inches of snow to O’Hare International Airport by early Monday, was expected to deepen off the southern New England coast, bringing accumulations of 9 to 16 inches to Boston and nearly as much to Hartford, Providence, southern New Hampshire and Vermont.

“For New Englanders, we’re used to this during the winter,” said Matt Doody of the National Weather Service. But he cautioned that both the morning and evening commutes would be messy.

Snowfall totals in New York state were to vary from 6 to 10 inches in Buffalo and Binghamton and 8 to 14 inches in Albany.

The Philadelphia area could receive up to an inch of snow and a little ice before rain washes it away. Forecasters expect about 3 to 5 inches to fall in the Lehigh Valley and 5 to 11 inches in the northern part of Pennsylvania.

Northeast Ohio, including Cleveland, could get 4 to 9 inches and Toledo and the northwest part of the state were headed for 3 to 7 inches.

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TRAVEL AND OUTAGES

More than 2,300 flights were canceled Monday with about a seventh of them at Boston’s Logan Airport. On Sunday, more than 2,000 flights were canceled in the Midwest, the vast majority of which were in or out of Chicago’s two airports.

Public officials throughout New England announced parking bans ahead of the storm so crews could keep the roads clear.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said state government is planning a regular work day on Monday but he encouraged commuters to take public transportation.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said the state Department of Transportation had 2,250 trucks, 235 rental trucks and 200 additional trucks on stand-by along with 5,400 equipment operators ready to clear roads.

Amtrak planned to operate a normal schedule but with some modifications. It said it would have extra crews available to remove downed trees or make infrastructure repairs.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said residents should be ready for a snowy and icy commute. The city may get 2 to 4 inches of snow and ice is possible.

The Illinois Department of Transportation dispatched 350 trucks to clear and salt Chicago-area roadways ahead of Monday’s morning rush hour, and the city said late Sunday that it was sending out 150 more pieces of heavy equipment for road work.

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DELAYS, CANCELLATIONS AND OUTAGES

The snowstorm is delaying two of the nation’s biggest court cases – the murder trial of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez and jury selection in the federal death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Proceedings were expected to resume Tuesday.

Across the country, hundreds of public schools canceled classes due to the danger of children traveling. Many parochial schools and colleges did the same.

The weather led to power outages, including roughly 10,000 ComEd customers in Illinois on Sunday evening. That number had been cut to 5,500 by midnight CST. The weather also cut power to nearly 8,000 northern Indiana homes and businesses.

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DEATHS, INJURIES

Ohio officials said a Toledo police officer died while shoveling snow in his driveway Sunday and the city’s 70-year-old mayor was hospitalized after an accident while he was out checking road conditions.

The officer, who was not named, died of an apparent heart attack. City and medical officials say Mayor D. Michael Collins was hospitalized after he had a heart attack and his SUV crashed into a pole.

In Nebraska, a truck driver and a 62-year-old woman were killed in separate traffic accidents on snowy roads. In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said a 64-year-old man with a history of cardiac problems was found dead Sunday in his garage after shoveling snow.

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SNOW DOES’T STOP SUPER BOWL FUN

Several of the Chicago area’s top tourist attractions closed early Sunday because of the weather, including the Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and Brookfield Zoo. But officials with Comcast in Chicago said they had extra technicians on call to help resolve outages ahead of the Super Bowl.

The city’s pizzerias expected heavy demand for deliveries during the game. And bars hosting Super Bowl parties said they wouldn’t let the weather spoil their plans.

Kathi Kreger, manager at Brendan’s Pub, a Patriots’ bar on the city’s North Side, said locals would still trudge through the snow for the festivities.

“We’re used to this,” she said.

In the southeastern Wisconsin city of New Berlin, meanwhile, sports bar Matty’s Bar & Grill was prepared for a strong turnout, despite the weather.

“Here in Wisconsin, with the snow, we’re pretty used to it,” general manager Mark Lombardo said. “Lots of folks have the big four-wheel trucks. The snow doesn’t really slow them down.”

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Associated Press writers Scott McFetridge in Des Moines, Iowa; Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Verena Dobnik in New York; and David N. Goodman in Detroit contributed to this report.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) – If history is any guide, the handlers of groundhog Punxsutawney Phil likely will forecast six more weeks of winter.

Pennsylvania’s famed groundhog is due to emerge from his lair in front of thousands of revelers around dawn Monday.

A German legend has it that if a furry rodent sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last another six weeks. If not, spring comes early.

In reality, Phil’s prediction is decided ahead of time by a group called the Inner Circle on Gobbler’s Knob, the tiny hill in the town for which he’s named about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Records going back to 1887 show Phil has predicted more winter 101 times while forecasting an early spring just 17 times. There are no records for the remaining years.

GREEN BAY- The snow has ended and some areas ended up with some pretty impressive snow totals.

Manitowoc- 6 inches

Fond du Lac- 5 inches

Sheboygan- 5 inches

Ripon- 5 inches

Oshkosh- 4 inches

Brillion- 2.5 inches

Milwaukee- 11.5 inches

GREEN BAY- The snow has ended and now we’re left with very cold conditions.

We’re waking up to a very cold morning with wind chills below zero.

Expect winds of 5 to 12 mph Monday (first NW then WSW).

Today’s high will reach the mid teens.

Director of Meteorology Pete Petoniak will have more throughout Good Day Wisconsin.

MANITOWOC (AP) – A more humane, less costly alternative to throwing drug addicts into prison is a key goal of a Lakeshore area social justice group.

Members of RUTH – Responding with Understanding, Truth and Hope – are working to create opportunities for criminals like Vicki Nicholls, 48, to spend less time behind bars and lead productive lives.

With multiple state and federal convictions related to illegal drug use and using false IDs to pill shop for prescription pain medications, Nicholls faced six years in prison, HTR Media reported.

Instead, the Green Bay resident and mother of Tiffany, 14, and twins, Tabitha and Hunter, 7, took advantage of the Brown County Adult Drug Court and was incarcerated for just seven months.

But for Nicholls, and other drug court participants, the shorter jail time came with a multitude of restrictions and requirements: hundreds of hours of community service, alcohol-drug counseling sessions, complying with random daily drug testing and numerous meetings with supervising judges, probation agents and drug court coordinator.

“It’s not an easy program for an addict,” said Nicholls, who became addicted to Vicodin and Percocet following the birth of her twins.

“I was living in controlled chaos,” she said. “I wasn’t used to somebody telling me, ‘These are your boundaries.’ You have to really want to do this program or you’re sure to fail.”

The motivation of re-uniting with her children after seven months versus six years was Nicholls’ fundamental motivation to comply with the requirements imposed by Circuit Court Judge Donald Zuidmulder.

She said she is surviving “by my teeth with rental assistance and food stamps. My charges really hinder my getting a job … I just keep trying, applying everywhere … I’ve never collected unemployment because I haven’t worked anywhere long enough to qualify,” Nicholls said Wednesday.

A member of RUTH, part of the WISDOM, a statewide network of congregation-based community organizations, drove Nicholls to the Manitowoc County Courthouse so she could share her hopes of other Wisconsin counties implementing TAD – Treatment Alternatives and Diversions programs.

RUTH members say support is building among local politicians and court officials but, presently, Manitowoc County does not have any TAD programs including, in addition to adult drug, family dependency treatment, juvenile drug, veterans treatment, mental health, DWI (driving while intoxicated) or risk reduction treatment court.

Members of RUTH are ardent supporters of an overarching WISDOM initiative, “11×15 for Safer & Healthier Communities.”

It calls for actions that would reduce the state prison population from about 22,000 to 11,000 by the end of 2015.

A WISDOM document from fall 2014 states the campaign has helped achieve a 300 percent increase in state funding for treatment alternatives to incarceration with bipartisan support.

A previous report from the organization said prison is four times more costly than treatment – approximately $32,000 per year for putting someone behind bars compared to about $7,500 for annual costs associated with participants in a TAD program.

A brochure states the campaign “demands bold action from the Wisconsin Legislature and Administration to:

• Keep people from entering prison.
• Treat current prisoners justly.
• Help those returning from prison to re-enter society successfully.”

Supporters acknowledge a halving of the state prison population, at any point in time, won’t be possible without progress on numerous criminal justice reform fronts.

“Our quality of life is not predicated on how many are sitting in our jails but how many are rehabilitated,” said RUTH’s Dick Lemberger, who draws a clear distinction between being “smart” on crime versus “soft.”

“We all know someone who has been incarcerated,” said Jerry Schubring, who serves as a mentor to ex-cons as part of the Manitowoc Salvation Army’s Prison Aftercare Program.

A WISDOM document states, “A majority of those in Wisconsin’s jails and prisons suffer from mental illness and-or addictions. These are public health issues and are best addressed with public health solutions.”

When it comes to illicit drug users facing repeated jail sentences Schubring said, “We are punishing these people over and over again … we have to rehabilitate them so they won’t go back to prison.”

Wisconsin spends some $1.2 billion annually on the Department of Corrections, approximately the same as on the University of Wisconsin system.

Lemberger believes it is “immoral” how prison dollars take away from other possible expenditures.

RUTH member Darlene Wellner, one of the local Prison Aftercare Program founders, laments how prison dollars take away from other possible expenditures, including education.

A retired social worker from Lakeshore CAP, Wellner supports WISDOM’s call to stop treating all 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system.

Other WISDOM affiliates are focused on other aspects of corrections reform including putting restrictions on the use of solitary confinement as ineffective, immoral, dangerous and expensive.

MINOCQUA- A 13-year-old boy was taken to the hospital after falling through the ice in Minocqua.

Officials say it happened Sunday afternoon in the channel between Lake Kawaguesaga and Lake Minocqua.

Officials got a call about a child in the water holding onto the ice.

The boy told officials he was on a snowmobile when he fell through the ice.

We don’t know the boy’s condition.

SHOREWOOD, Wis. (AP) – The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office says a 64-year-old Shorewood man has been found dead after shoveling snow.

A statement from the office says the man had a history of cardiac trouble and was found in his garage and pronounced dead Sunday around 3:50 p.m.

His name was not immediately released. The office says an autopsy will not be performed.

KIMBERLY (AP) – Snuggled in a hand-tied fleece blanket, a female veteran with terminal cancer prepared for takeoff Christmas Eve from Austin Straubel International Airport on what likely would be her last flight home.

And she smiled.

Aubree Leitermann, 10, of Kimberly, also smiled later that evening, knowing she had warmed the woman’s heart with a blanket she made.

“I saw a picture of her with my blanket and it was … her favorite color,” she said.

Aubree has made more than 150 blankets for veterans using Express Air Medical Transport service out of Green Bay and Tampa, Florida. The Mapleview Intermediate School fifth-grader got the idea while listening to her great-aunt Jill Hanson, flight coordinator with the transport company, share stories about the veterans they serve.

Express Air Medical Transport service flies recovering veterans home as well as veterans going home to die, said Brian Saunders, pilot-in-training and director of the company’s Midwest sales and marketing.

“You’re doing your part for the family and for them,” Saunders said.

Aubree wanted to do the same. “We just thought (the blankets) would help them feel safe and comfortable and feel more happy on their flight, too,” she told Post-Crescent Media.

Aubree initially made four blankets in November.

“We took a picture of her with one blanket and a jar (asking for donations) and posted it on my Facebook page,” said Aubree’s mother, Nicole Leitermann. “I said, ‘Aubree would make more blankets if we got more donations.’ And the next morning people starting giving her more money.”

A $250 donation came from Robin Heier, 32, of Kimberly, who works in customer service and is a member of Thrivent Financial. He was so impressed with his niece’s idea, he wanted to do more through Thrivent’s Action Team program, which awards $250 to members wanting to start a project.

“It was nice because it kind of gave us a springboard knowing we could get … the ball rolling,” Heier said. “All the funds went to purchasing the materials, the fabric itself … which we just got last week. To see her so passionate has really been something special to be a part of.”

Financial donations continue to trickle in from across the country from people viewing Aubree’s Blankets for Veterans Facebook page.

A blanket takes 45 minutes to make, but Aubree hasn’t done it completely on her own. Her mother and father, Steve, work together to assemble blankets. Friends from Footworks Dance Company in Darboy and extended family also help.

Once a blanket is completed, a tag is attached that reads: “Thank you for your service to our country. Here is a small token of appreciation for you to enjoy.”

Aubree is humble about the project.

“She’s just happy to do it,” Hanson said.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – As Gov. Scott Walker is set to propose a $19 million increase in money for rural schools, education officials say it doesn’t go far enough to help struggling districts in less populated parts of the state.

As state aid to schools has dropped in recent years – including a $1.2 billion cut four years ago – schools have struggled to make ends meet. Rural schools have faced their own challenges, with fewer students spread out over a larger distance.

The plight of Wisconsin’s 259 cash-strapped rural schools was the focus of a bipartisan task force that traveled the state last year, hearing concerns from teachers, superintendents, parents and students.

Its report and myriad recommendations came too late for the Legislature to act on last year. But Walker is picking up on two of its suggestions – spending more on transportation and broadband access.

Walker is calling for spending $6 million more to expand broadband access, something rural school advocates have said is a particular need.

“That will at least help us catch up to where we need to be,” said Jeff Jacobson, superintendent of Dodgeville School District.

Walker also said he would propose $5 million more to help pay for transporting students more than 12 miles to school.

The transportation issue is a particularly difficult one for rural schools, said Jerry Fiene, executive director of the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance.

An urban school district might spend just $50 per student a year on transportation, while a rural school might spend $1,500 per student, he said. That takes money out of the classroom, Fiene said.

Kurt Lindau, superintendent of the remote Winter school district – the state’s geographically largest located about 250 miles north of Madison – said the district spends roughly $300,000 a year on transportation. He said the additional aid to pay for getting students to school would free up more money to be used in the classroom.

Walker also said he would propose adding $8.4 million in spending for districts with a small number of students who are scattered over a large geographic area. That is known as sparsity aid.

While more sparsity aid and money for transportation will help, more important is whether Walker will loosen revenue limits that restrict how much money schools receive from property taxes and state aid, Lindau said.

His district has seen flat enrollment levels in recent years, but because of low revenue limits last year the district cut a bus route to balance its budget, Lindau said.

“A few-student decline has a pretty substantial impact on a $4 million budget,” Lindau said.

Fiene also said that for districts with declining enrollment, increased funding for transportation and technology may be nice, but it may not be enough to balance a budget. He said many schools face declining enrollment, which in turn means loss of state aid. With revenue caps set, districts have to rely on property taxes to break even.

“(Declining enrollment) can be a real downward spiral,” said John Forester, lobbyist for the Wisconsin School Administrator’s Alliance. “I think rural school administrators look at the fiscal challenges they face and conclude that the children they serve are being short-changed.”

State Superintendent Tony Evers said he was pleased with Walker’s willingness to address concerns of rural schools, but said he hoped to speak with Walker about the need for more money, and spending authority, for schools.

Walker said last week that school aids would remain “largely intact” in his budget, but he didn’t go into detail. With the state facing a projected $2 billion budget shortfall, school leaders are worried that Walker will look to cutting the roughly $5 billion a year schools get now.

Rep. Rob Swearingen, R-Rhinelander, who chaired last year’s rural schools task force, declined to comment on which of its recommendations he may propose. Swearingen said he wanted to wait to see what Walker puts in his budget to be released Tuesday.

Swearingen last year called for more funding for broadband access and transportation – which Walker is backing – as well as forgiving student loans for certain rural teachers and tweaking the funding formula to use a five-year enrollment high as opposed to the current three-year average.