Earlier this week the Joint Finance Committee approved the largest amount of K-12 school funding in Wisconsin history.  The Committee approved $639 million in new education funding,the biggest increase in over a decade . This historic investment in schools will help every school in Wisconsin, with at least $200 in additional funding per pupil in each of the next two years.

The Joint Finance Committee also tackled a forthcoming issue for Racine Unified Schools (RUSD). As you may know, RUSD was listed as "Failing to Meet Expectations" on the Fall 2016 state report cards. A second "failing" report card in 2017 would trigger the Opportunity Schools Partnership Program (OSPP) which would require a 3rd party operate between 1-5 schools in the next school year. The state budget will give RUSD another year to right the ship and improve, so long as they are compliant with Act 10. If RUSD is still "failing to meet expectations" in the Fall of 2018, OSPP will go into effect and the villages will be able to determine if they want to continue with RUSD or forge ahead with their own school districts.
 
The Committee still plans to complete its action the first week in September, tackling Transportation, Tax Relief and the few remaining issues.

 

Wisconsin businesses exported $11.2 billion in goods and services worldwide in the first half of 2017. According to the Governor's recent announcement, with $1.8 billion in products shipped to 134 countries, state agricultural exports in the first half of the year rose by 8.8 percent over last year.  One reason for the steep increase is significant increases in shipments to Mexico and China.  Exports to Mexico jumped by 17 percent to $1.6 billion and imports to China increased 19 percent to $825 million. 

On August 25, my son Josh and his wife Amy welcomed their 3rd daughter, my 3rd Grand-daughter.  Welcome Daphne Jaye!