Here is the report from the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau which determined that the state will end the year with a
balance of $121.4 million. (
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf). Please note the date on the memo: January 31, 2011. This memo has NOTHING to do with the passage of the bill.
Where then is the $137 million dollar deficit coming from? If you continue to read the memo, it shows nearly 1/2 of this deficit comes from programs Walker has pushed through, including a $67 million for a tax incentive plan that benefits employers and $48 million for private health savings accounts.
This is just from the fiscal point of view. This has nothing to do with money. This about the fact that a single bill is busting unions and ruining education in Wisconsin.
If you care at all for the future of the state, you can't cut education. There was an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about a year ago which went over the data from high school and college graduations in the state. Most students in the top 10% of their class left the state, for either college or careers. The article went on to discuss how incentive needed to be created to keep these students in the state, because the state's financial situation would soon deteriorate as well.
When you cut education budgets, you are really just shooting yourself in the (metaphorical) foot twenty years down the line.
A link to the Capital Times Article which more eloquently goes over the financial situation I eluded to above:
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opin...c8b2aaaf6.html