Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ use of his broad veto power last summer to lock in K-12 school funding for the next 400 years was unconstitutional, Wisconsin’s largest business group argues in a new lawsuit.
Attorneys with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, representing taxpayers Jeffery LeMieux, of Green Bay, and David DeValk, of Kimberly, challenged the “imaginative veto” Evers issued in July before signing the state’s current two-year spending plan. Attorneys have asked to bypass the lower courts and have the Wisconsin Supreme Court take up the matter directly.
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Under the budget Evers signed, schools would be allowed to raise revenue by $325 per student per year until 2425. Given current public school enrollment levels, that’s more than a $260 million increase per year.
To make the change, Evers used his partial veto to strike words and a hyphen in a section of the budget that referred to when the change in the revenue limit Republicans approved would apply. As a result, the phrase “for the 2023-24 school year and the 2024-25 school year” became “for 2023-2425.”
Attorneys for WMC claim the veto violates a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1990 that banned the use of the so-called “Vanna White” or “pick-a-letter” veto to delete phrases, digits, letters and word fragments to create new words and phrases.
“No Wisconsin governor has the authority to strike individual letters or digits to form a new word or number, except when reducing appropriations,” Scott Rosenow, executive director of the WMC litigation center, said in a statement. “This action is not only unconstitutional on its face, but it is undemocratic because this specific partial veto allows school districts to raise property taxes for the next 400 years without voter approval.”
Rosenow also argues that appropriation bills, such as the state budget, must be approved by the governor in whole or in part and vetoes cannot be used to increase an appropriation amount or extend a proposal’s duration beyond what was outlined by the state Legislature.
“In no uncertain terms, 402 years is not less than or part of the two-year duration approved by the Legislature — it is far more,” Rosenow said. “The governor overstepped his authority with this partial veto, at the expense of taxpayers, and we believe oversight by the Court is necessary.”
In addition to Evers, the lawsuit also targets Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly.
Evers has issued dozens of partial vetoes in each of the three biennial budgets he has signed as governor, though his effort to lock in K-12 school funding for the next 400 years has been by far his most notable.
Evers said at the time the move, which Republicans heavily criticized and are likely to seek to undo in future budgets, provides schools with “predictable long-term increases for the foreseeable future.”
“Republicans’ latest lawsuit aims to strip over $300 from every student at every public school in Wisconsin every year for the foreseeable future even as millions of Wisconsinites are being forced to raise their own property taxes to help our schools make ends meet,” Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a post on the social media platform X.
The change cannot be undone unless a court strikes it down or a future Legislature and governor agree to amend it.
Republicans, who control the state Assembly and Senate, do not have enough votes to overturn a governor’s veto.