Funding Public Education

Don’t Ignore This One
Public school funding needs fixing

Nothing shows the difference between Republicans in control of the Wisconsin Legislature and Democrats in control of the Governor’s office and the Department of Public Instruction than what they propose to do with a projected state surplus. 

The state’s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau announced last month that the state is projected to take in $818.2 million more in tax collections through mid-2021 than previously calculated. After deposits to the state’s rainy-day fund, that state is projected to have $451.9 million in the general fund for the rest of the 2019-21 budget. 

Making good on a campaign promise to fix public school funding, Gov. Tony Evers just announced a special legislative session on February 11th to consider his proposal to take $250 million of the projected surplus to “recommit to two-thirds state funding for K-12 education including investments in school-based mental health services and special education aid, $10 million in sparsity aid and $130 million in property tax relief through equalization aid.”

Evers coupled his announcement with a plea to legislators to stop choosing between tax relief and education funding. “I’ve always said that what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state, and every kid deserves access to high-quality, public education regardless of their age, identity, background, economic status or zip code,” Evers said. “We don’t have to choose between investing in our kids and reducing property taxes-we can do both,” he noted. 

To support claim to bi-partisan support, Evers indicated that since 2011, nearly one million Wisconsin voters voted to raise their own property taxes for local public schools. In 2018, voters approved more than $2 billion in debt and revenue increases for their schools. In addition, Evers reminds us that the Republican’s own Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding recommended renewal of the state’s obligation to fund two-thirds of the cost of public education. 

State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor issued a statement supporting Gov. Evers proposal. “I am grateful for the governor’s plan to provide additional resources for our schools. As I travel across the state, I continuously hear from our educators and parents, and I see the need for the state to provide more support, especially in the areas of special education and mental health resources in our schools. Additional resources are essential to achieving the DPI’s mission of ensuring all of our students receive what they need, when they need it, to be successful.”
Evers’ proposal would mean that local school districts would receive estimated payments for special education costs: Kewaskum - $118, 819, Slinger - $181,951, Hartford JT 1 - $150, 940, Hartford Union High - $93, 882 and West Bend - $537,799 In addition, Hartford Union High would receive an estimated $151,930 in sparsity aid. 
The Wisconsin Association of School Boards quickly issued a statement supporting the Governor’s proposal and the special session to consider it.

WisPolitics came out with a story on Republican legislative leaders’ views about the projected surplus before Evers special session call. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told the Wisconsin Counties Association event that his members plan to pay off debts, cut property taxes and offer “robust” aid to struggling farmers. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald is plugging property tax cuts and an income tax cut. 

Almost immediately after Gov. Evers’ announcement, both Cos and Fitzgerald rejected spending any more money on public schools and reiterating their calls for more tax cuts. 

Ever since the early days of Scott Walker’s administration, public education funding has been on the Republican chopping block. Even with more recent additions to state education funding, we are barely approaching the funding levels we saw in 2009. When you add the cost of inflation, we are still far away from proper funding for public schools. When you add in the hit to local districts caused by school choice vouchers taking money out of local schools to fund private school costs, the damage is even worse. 

Governor Evers is right to call the legislature back into session to address education funding shortfalls, especially those in special education and student mental health areas and to offer a sensible path to some property tax relief. Special education shortfalls are critical, especially since the elimination of school based social workers. In West Bend, for example, the only mental health counseling provided in the schools is provided by not fully trained graduate students on field placements.

Our legislative leaders would do well to actually take up Evers’ proposals next week and not ignore them as they have his past two special session calls to address urgent statewide concerns on the minds of a majority of Wisconsin voters.