Thread by @folkbum

1/24 Two reminders as we head into today. 1, the @wisgop attempt to do @WsconsinMC's bidding is based on a faulty premise and general dislike of The Poors, and 2, the GOP education budget is flat-out racist.

https://twitter.com/GovEvers/status/1419709812116439042

2/ We know the GOP is doing WMC's bidding, because WMC announced the agenda for today even before the Assembly leadership did. Great work here by @mellconklin: urbanmilwaukee.com/2021/07/26/gop…

3/ Further, the attempt to override @GovEvers's veto on the $300 pandemic UI extension is based not on the realities of the Wisconsin job market, but on a desire to punish people who have lost good-paying jobs. @MikeBradleyMKE had a good thread yesterday:

https://twitter.com/MikeBradleyMKE/status/1419719983270141954?s=20

4/ But here's one picture that shows the @wisgop and @WisconsinMC are just wrong. Wisconsin's labor force participation has rebounded to its pre-pandemic levels *and* it did so faster than the rest of the US.

5/ States dropping the UI bonus have *not* seen a faster recovery in the job market or labor participation. This has been borne out in several studies; here's one story: cnbc.com/2021/06/23/end…

6/ But as long as the Assembly is meeting, @GovEvers says, it can do something about the horrible education budget it passed earlier this year. That budget is, 100%, racist. A "Critical Race Theory" examination of the situation bears this out.

7/ CRT is a way of interrogating systems of power: were these systems established by White people, and do these systems benefit--explicitly or inadvertently--White people today? Wisconsin's budget-writing body, the Joint Finance Committee, was indeed established by White people.

8/ And its make-up today--at least, the 8 @wisgop members who control the agenda and, ultimately, the purse strings of state--is VERY White. The 8 GOP members who make up the majority are White, and represent overwhelmingly White districts. ballotpedia.org/Joint_Finance_…

9/ That's right: 8 (of 132) legislators control the budget for the entire state of Wisconsin, and none of those 8 represent any significant non-White population in the state. (The @JFCDemocrats are a much more representative group, but there are only 4 of them.) With me so far?

10/ Those 8 white GOP legislators wrote the K-12 education budget to give more money to schools. That's why you'll see Republicans saying things like "We gave school districts more money!" ***BUT*** ...

11/ ... as @rconniff points out here wisconsinexaminer.com/2021/06/19/gop…, the increase in state funding was *not* accompanied by an increase in school districts' revenue caps. This is complicated, but it means actually almost ZERO of the dollars added will be spent in classrooms.

12/ Most of the dollars will be refunded to property tax payers.

So, we have a system of power (the JFC), controlled by Whites accountable only to Whites, wielding that power. Does this power benefit--intentionally or not--White people in the state?

13/ OF COURSE IT DOES.

The additional spending for K-12 schools is taken from Wisconsin's general fund. That fund is built from income tax and sales tax, as @WiBudgetProject describes in a pretty picture. wisconsinbudgetproject.org/budget-toolkit…

14/ Who pays income tax and sales tax? EVERYBODY. Whites *and* BIPOC. Everybody needs shoes. Everybody gets a Happy Meal sometimes. Everybody works. The revenue for the general fund comes from all Wisconsinites regardless of race.

15/ You see where this is going, right? The @wisgop on the Joint Finance Committee has taken this general fund revenue and given it to school districts with the directive that the money be given to property tax payers in the district. Who owns property in this state? Whites.

16/ Whites are at least three times more likely to own the homes they are living in than BIPOC in Wisconsin. We are, in fact, at the bottom of the national rankings for home ownership by people of color. wortfm.org/wort-89-9fm-ma…

17/ Whites are also much more likely to own investment and commercial real estate.

What this all boils down to is this--and I'm going to make this its own tweet if you want to RT just one from this thread:

18/ The @wisgop on Wisconsin's Joint Finance Committee engaged in a scheme to redistribute tax revenue from BIPOC to Whites in the state by rigging the K-12 education budget in favor of property owners over students and schools.

19/ BUT IT GETS WORSE. Among the Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee? @SenStroebel Senator Duey Stroebel. Stroebel is not merely a homeowner; he is a landlord with scores of rentable units in multiple properties. terrace-realty.com

20/ Wisconsin Assembly Speaker @repvos @SpeakerVos Robin Vos is also a landlord owning multiple properties. GOP landlord-legislators have been called out before for benefitting themselves in legislation. jsonline.com/story/news/inv…

21/ And this year they did it again. How much money will be flowing into @SenStroebel's pockets because of the property tax cut forced by the K-12 education budget he had a hand in writing? How much to @repvos?

22/ So today, while Vos and other Assembly Republicans try to punish The Poors by stripping an unemployment benefit from them, they will also be gaveling in and out the special session called by @GovEvers to right the wrongs of their K-12 budget.

23/ (I didn't even get into the weeds of how many majority non-white school districts, like Milwaukee and Beloit, have lower revenue caps than wealthier, whiter neighboring districts.)

24/24 And whether they intended it this way or not, the @wisgop education budget is, simply, racist. A system of power established by Whites, controlled by Whites accountable only to Whites, acting to benefit Whites in the state. Period.