• Provides $200 million in grants and borrowing authority to implement the Technology for Educational Achievement (TEACH) initiative. TEACH will put technology into every school in the state, as well as provide support for technology initiatives in the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Technical College systems, private colleges and public libraries.

• Creates the Youth Options program which will allow high school juniors and seniors to attend technical college campuses full-time to earn their high school diplomas as well as credits toward a degree or certificate.

• Consolidates the School-to-Work program in the Department of Workforce Development and increases financial support for career counseling centers and the youth apprenticeship program.

• Expands the charter school program to allow UW-Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Area Technical College and the city of Milwaukee to create charter schools.

• Creates a public school choice program that increases educational options for parents and students by giving them the choice of which public school district to attend, beginning in the fall of 1998.

• Maintains the state's commitment to fund two-thirds of school costs by providing increases in state school aid of $239 million for the 1997-98 school year and an additional $212 million for the 1998-99 school year.

• Provides $12.8 million over the biennium to expand the number of grade levels and add an estimated 37 school districts to the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program, which reduces class sizes for schools that serve low-income neighborhoods.

• Provides $2.5 million to increase aid for public library systems by 21.5% over the biennium.

• Increases the low-spending revenue limit exemption for school districts from the 1996-97 level of $5,600 per pupil to $5,900 in 1997-98 and $6,100 in 1998-99.

• Beginning in 1998-99, allows school districts to increase their revenue limits to recognize 20% of their summer school enrollment.

• Provides $666,000 to expand the P-5 program (which provides additional resources for districts with large numbers of low-income students) in Milwaukee, Kenosha, Racine and Beloit.

• Provides an adjustment to the allowable increase in revenue limits from $206 per pupil in the 1997-98 school year to an estimated $211 in the 1998-99 school year.

• Holds school districts harmless from declining enrollment which exceeds 2% in the 1997-98 school year, and modifies the provision to authorize a 75% hold harmless in 1998-99.

• Provides the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System with the authority and fiscal flexibility necessary to increase faculty compensation by the amount necessary to recruit and retain high quality faculty.

• Provides $5.2 million over the biennium to increase Wisconsin higher education grants (WHEG) to students attending the University of Wisconsin System by an average of 20%.

• Provides $4.8 million over the biennium to increase financial aid to students attending the Wisconsin Technical College System and Wisconsin's private colleges.

• Increases the redevelopment potential and environmental quality of contaminated property by expanding liability exemptions for sites that are cleaned up to Department of Natural Resources standards.

A325 • Creates a new Wisconsin Land Council to recommend state land use goals, coordinate state programs that impact land development, develop a technology infrastructure to support information dissemination and decision-making, and seek cooperation between state, local, federal and tribal governments regarding land use policy and planning issues.

• Creates a Safe Drinking Water Fund to provide subsidized loans and loan guarantees for improvements to municipal and private drinking water systems.

• Increases municipal recycling grants by $31 million over current law through calendar year 2000.

• Enhances the competitiveness and environmental responsibility of Wisconsin businesses by authorizing environmental performance agreements that emphasize continuous improvements in production processes and associated waste generation.

• Streamlines environmental permit issuance and implements time limits on permit processing.

• Increases funding for water quality protection efforts by $15 million related to the priority watershed program, new nonpoint source performance standards and the soil and water resources management program.

• Seeks to improve service to the public through automating campground reservations, hunting and fishing license issuance and recreational vehicle registration.

• Enhances recreation and winter tourism opportunities by increasing local snowmobile aids by 57% over the biennium through a new GPR appropriation, a new $10 sticker for non-resident snowmobiles and growth in existing revenue sources.

• Reduces agrichemical licensing fees and surcharges due to a surplus in the agrichemical cleanup fund.

• Provides $9.2 million GPR to fund an additional 1,192 Community Options Program (COP) slots over the biennium.

• Provides an increase of $146 million over the biennium to meet the increased needs for child care that will result from the statewide implementation of W-2.

• Provides a 21% increase in the grant payments for Community Service Jobs and Transition placements under W-2 to recognize that people in these two categories have additional barriers to work.

• Provides $34.4 million GPR over the biennium to fund the state assumption of responsibility for the operation of child welfare services in Milwaukee.

• Provides $3.6 million GPR over the biennium to support a women's health initiative, to assure that the particular health needs of women are met.

• Provides for an increase in the cigarette tax of 15 cents per pack. The anticipated revenue from this increase, $82 million over the biennium, will help to fund the health initiatives in the budget.

• Provides $2.0 million GPR over the biennium for grants to school districts and local communities for tobacco education.

• Provides $2.6 million GPR over the biennium to increase services to the victims of domestic abuse.

• Adds dental sealants for children as a new Medical Assistance benefit. By the end of the biennium the costs of this new benefit will be outweighed by the savings in other dental costs for children.

• Provides $15.7 million GPR in FY99 to institute the new Badgercare health insurance program for children and their parents. This program will cost $67.1 million all funds annually and will make health insurance available for all low-income children and their parents who are not covered by Medical Assistance.

• Provides $3.0 million GPR over the biennium in increases for benefit specialists and elder abuse services, two programs of importance to senior citizens.

• Provides the resources necessary to enforce Wisconsin's sex predator law to ensure continued public safety.

• Provides additional state funding and staff for critical drug enforcement programs in the Department of Justice.

• Increases funding for programs that assist victims of crime.

• Provides additional support to local law enforcement by adding state crime lab resources, including full funding of the state's DNA analysis program and funding for critical surveillance equipment and additional crime lab analysts.

• Provides funding for 2,157 new prison beds and 1,830 contract beds to help relieve prison overcrowding.

• Authorizes the Department of Corrections to contract with private providers for prison beds in other states.

• Provides capital funding to construct a 600-bed probation and parole and AODA facility in Milwaukee.

• Provides capital funding to construct another 1,000 prison beds at a site or sites to be determined in the future.

• Provides funding for the VINE System (Victim Information and Notification Everyday) to inform victims of offender location, parole eligibility date, mandatory release date and offender's date of release from prison.

• Increases from three to six the number of private business partnerships authorized to provide prison employment opportunities in Wisconsin prisons.

• Increases funding for youth aids by providing an additional $8.5 million to counties.

A326 • Doubles funding for youth diversion programs designed to divert youth from gang activities in Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Brown Counties and in the City of Racine.

• Provides the resources for the next phase in developing Wisconsin's integrated justice information system to enhance the information sharing capabilities of local law enforcement, the courts, the public defender, district attorneys and the correctional system. The budget also provides nearly $7 million to further improve the information technology infrastructure of the public defender and the district attorneys.

• Ensures the continued success and stability of the Circuit Court Automation Program (CCAP) by providing 23 positions and additional funding to the courts to continue to provide circuit courts with information technology targeted at improving the efficiency of court operations throughout the state.

• Eliminates nearly 50 attached boards, councils and commissions that the Lieutenant Governor's study recommended be sunset.

• Funds all state obligations related to implementation of the Special Investment Performance Dividend court order and also funds benefit supplements to ensure there will be no discontinuity in the receipt of existing pension benefits by pre-1974 retirees.

• Provides improvements in programs and benefits for Wisconsin's veterans, including extending eligibility to include peacetime veterans, creating a new personal loan program which increases maximum loan limits and expanding the purposes for which loans can be made, restructuring and strengthening the primary home loan and home improvement programs, and expanding the tuition fee reimbursement program.

• Provides funds to reimburse 100% of costs in the National Guard Tuition Grant Program.

• Provides funds for the State Elections Board to convert and implement a system for electronically reporting and accessing election campaign finances, as recommended by a Governor's blue ribbon commission on campaign reform.

• Creates a small section within the Department of Administration to conduct performance audits and increase financial auditing of state agencies.