URGENT: Tell you Legislator to Maintain Funding for the Wisconsin Media Lab!

The Joint Finance Committee will vote on the proposed cut to the Educational Communications Board tomorrow! The Governor's budget would reduce ECB's appropriation for programming, which is used to support the Wisconsin Media Lab, by $625,000 annually such that funding for that appropriation would be $337,500 in 2015-16 and $343,000 in 2016-17.

The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has released their paper on the proposed changes to the program. The Committee will use the paper to debate the issue and ultimately vote on one of the alternatives offered by the LFB. One of the alternatives proposed by LFB is that the Committee could delete ECB's programming appropriation as well as the statutory language specifying that the development and dissemination of instructional materials be one of ECB's duties. This option would delete all state funding for the Media Lab.  You can view the LFB paper here.

Contact your legislator TODAY and ask them to maintain funding for the Wisconsin Media Lab! Tell them why the Wisconsin Media Lab is an important resource for the school library and technology community. 

HOW DO I CONTACT MY LEGISLATOR?

The first step in contacting your legislator is knowing who your legislator is. The easiest way to do this is the tool found on the Legislature’s home page, athttp://legis.wisconsin.gov. In the right-hand side of that page is a link that says Find My Legislators!  Type your address in the box below that link to get the names of your state representative and senator.

• Phone. You can contact your legislator by phone, in the district, or at his or her Capitol office in Madison. You can find these phone numbers on the members’ home pages. To find these, go to the Legislature’s home page, at http://legis.wisconsin.gov, click on “Assembly” or “Senate,” and then click on “Representatives’ Home Pages” or “Senators’ Home Pages.”
  In addition, you may leave a message for your legislator’s Capitol office or indicate your position on legislation through the toll free Legislative Hotline, at 1-800-362-9472.
• E-mail. The e-mail addresses of members of the Wisconsin Legislature all have the same format. For members of the Assembly, the form is Rep.Jones@legis.wisconsin.gov; for members of the Senate, the form is Sen.Adams@legis.wisconsin.gov.
• Mail. You can reach your legislator by mail at one of the following addresses:
• Representatives whose last names begin with a letter from A to L:
• P.O. Box 8952, Madison, 53708-8952
• Representatives whose last names begin with a letter from M to Z:
• P.O. Box 8953, Madison, 53708-8952
• All Senators:
• P.O. Box 7882, Madison, 53707-7882