Tonight, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will officially release yet another budget that slashes state aid to public education in Wisconsin.
Before he does, let's take a stroll down memory lane. Back in 2010, then-candidate Walker made a big and bold promise to Here and Now's Frederica Freyberg that he wouldn't cut state aid to the public schools or the university system.
In fact, first Walker mocks former Governor Doyle for calling himself the "pro-education" governor when he cut hundreds of millions out of public education:
Freyberg: How do you avoid steep cuts in education? Obviously the biggest piece of the state budget...
Walker: Well, and ironically, the governor, Jim Doyle, who called himself the pro-education governor cut hundreds of millions out of public education.
Then Walker discusses how he would allow school districts to buy into the state insurance plan and reinstate the "QEO" or the Qualified Economic Offer, which existed between 1993 and 2009 and allowed school districts the option of automatically renewing the existing union contract if they agreed to increase total compensation (salary + benefits) by 3.8% per year:
Walker: For me, its not about pouring more money in, its allowing school districts at the local level to better spend the money they have, giving them back reasonable caps on wage and benefit compensation for school district employees, making sure there are no more state mandates that are unfunded or under-funded and pulling back on those that are there.
Freyberg then follows-up and asks Walker if that will prevent cuts to public education:
Freyberg: Does that prevent cuts, in your mind, to public education?
Walker: Well, I think it allows us to keep on track... the key for us, you know there are costs to continue and many school districts will point to that, but I think that allows us to keep intact the commitment the state has made to public education all across the state of Wisconsin.
Now, of course, neither of these things proposed by Walker were warmly accepted by the teachers union before the election, but restoring the QEO, which has essentially been the status quo for the last 20 years and letting school districts go to the state insurance system are a far, far cry from what Walker proposed after the election: Walker not only went back on his promise to keep state aid "intact," he made the deepest cuts to education in state history. And while it is true that most states had to make some cuts to education, Walker's cuts back in 2011 were the deepest in the nation.
Fast forward to 2015: While nearly every state in the country is restoring education funding that they had to cut because of the budget crunch caused by the Great Recession, in Walker's Wisconsin they have to continue to cut education funding to make up for the budget-busting tax cuts Walker has handed-out like candy to Wisconsin's wealthiest citizens.
Sadly, the teachers unions in Wisconsin can't oppose these cuts with the same vigor as they once could because they are a shadow of their former selves-- the victims of Bait and Switch I.