State Affairs Pro

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Assembly Democrats’ $1.3 billion proposal to spend down the state’s surplus “wasn’t serious,” but he was “open to” spending more on special education. Democrats on Monday proposed to increase general school aid by $445.9 million and raise the special education reimbursement to 60%. “The challenge the Assembly Democrats have is it’s been so long since many of them have been involved in governing,” Vos said, adding, “It basically took the entire surplus and put it into funding special ed – which, frankly, I’m open to that idea, to some extent,” Vos said at a WisPolitics luncheon any potential deal would have to include property tax relief. But he said there should be a 50-50 split between state investment and tax relief. He also said he would be open to backfilling the current budget to reach the 42% and 45% special ed reimbursement targets the Legislature planned to meet but fell short of after cost projections were revised.