LATE NEWS! New Budget Hearings - first week in June:

• Friday, June 1, Hearings in Menasha and Fond du lac [time and locations]
• Thursday, June 2, Hearings in Ripon and Kaukauna [time and locations]
• Full schedule of hearings

Scott Walker's budget is an attack against the hard-working, dedicated families in our state. The plan will devastate our communities. It is filled with cuts to education, basic services like police and fire protection, health care, workers' rights and more.

Walker's budget demonstrates his misplaced priorities. While his plan guts education, slashes health care and could cause cuts to public safety, Walker protects corporations, the wealthy and his special interest friends. And, Walker's budget actually increases taxes on lowest income earners.

It's time to stand up for Wisconsin. Tell your legislators and Scott Walker that you oppose the Walker budget. Tell them you support Wisconsin families and our future!

Here are some simple ways you can get involved to stop the Walker budget:

• Sign the petition
• Contact your legislator
• Find and attend a budget hearing in your area
• Donate to help keep our TV ad on the air to get our message out
• Write a letter to your local newspaper

If you have children in school, if you have elderly loved ones, if you ever get sick, if you depend on police and fire protection to keep your family safe, then Walker's extreme budget bill will negatively affect your life.

Scott Walker has proposed cutting state aid to education by $834 million. It is the largest reduction to education funding in our state's history. If these devastating cuts become reality, our public schools will see:

• Up to 5,000 teacher lay-offs.
• $550 per student reduction.
• Larger class sizes and less individualized attention for students.
• Cuts to vital programs like art and music.
• The elimination of funding for advanced placement, science and technology classes.

Wisconsin technical colleges are also adversely impacted by Walker's budget. The plan calls for a 30-percent cut to state aid for technical colleges. It also prevents these education institutions from expanding to deal with growing enrollments and increased need for job training.

And, Walker is also targeting the University of Wisconsin System with $250 million in state aid cuts. This will likely lead to 20-percent tuition increase on the UW-Madison campus and the end of the Wisconsin Covenant Scholarship Program.

The budget plan proposed by Walker and supported by Republican lawmakers even targets the needs of our most vulnerable citizens including children, seniors and the sick. Under Walker's plan:

• Up to 70,000 people could lose their health care.
• $500 million will be cut from health care for kids, families and seniors.
• $15 million will be eliminated from the Senior Care prescription drug program.
• The enrollment in Family Care will freeze, leaving 5,000 seniors on a waiting list without alternatives to nursing homes.

Scott Walker's plan will also cut aid to counties and local governments for basic services that protect our homes, families and the environment. The $98 million cuts are so drastic that it could lead to reductions in police and fire protection for your community. And, the budget plan also turns back the clock on years of recycling efforts. Walker wants to eliminate all state aid for recycling programs in our neighborhoods; effectively destroying years of dedicated efforts to improve the future for the next generation.

Walker's misguided plan will adversely impact working parents. For those who depend on child care while they're at work, the Governor's budget calls for cuts to child care funding. This will leave a huge gap in the budgets of thousands of Wisconsin families. On top of those cuts, working families can also expect to see their taxes rise under Walker's plan.

The hard-working public workers who have agreed to pay more for their benefits and pensions are still being threatened by Scott Walker. Despite the workers' concessions, Walker wants to take away their rights to bargain for health care, retirement benefits and workplace safety. This would reverse 50 years of collective bargaining in Wisconsin and eliminate the right to unionize for thousands of teachers and nurses.