The Forum analysis suggests another critical factor is enrollment declines. Nationally, enrollment has fallen by 1.3 percent between 2002 and 2023, the report shows. In Wisconsin, it’s dropped by 7.3 percent in that time. The report said that could actually make the state’s per-pupil spending level look better than if enrollment had held steady over the past two decades.
There are factors the Policy Forum report suggests could alter Wisconsin’s school spending trajectory, like Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ 2023 partial state budget veto, which extended a $325 per-pupil revenue limit increase through the year 2425. The current state budget, signed into law July 3, also increases state funding to schools for special education by more than $500 million over the next two years. And, voters across Wisconsin approved a record number of school district referendums in 2024, which authorizes districts to raise local property taxes above state revenue limits.
“Together, these decisions could provide districts with additional resources that, in future years, could mean that Wisconsin regains some ground or holds steady in comparison with the U.S. average,” the Policy Forum report said.
However, Sommerhauser said, school referendums and new authority for schools to raise property taxes to bring in new money also adds to housing costs and could “reach a point where there’s some fatigue around that among voters.”
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The Report:
Wisconsin ranked 26th among the 50 states in the per pupil amount it spent on public schools in 2023. This was down from 25th in 2020, the latest data available at the time of the Forum’s most recent analysis of this issue.
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Wisconsin’s public school districts got $18,592 of revenue per pupil in the most recent state figures.
It’s an all-time high, even after you account for inflation.
And it’s more than double what they got in 2000.
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Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average (now > $25,000 per student) K-12 tax & spending practices. This, despite long term, disastrous reading results.
Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability
The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?