- A group of 11 Wisconsin school district superintendents is urging lawmakers to increase school funding.
- The superintendents want the state to use its projected $2.5 billion surplus to boost aid and provide property tax relief.
- Districts have faced budget shortfalls, leading to cost-cutting, potential school closures and a reliance on voter-approved referendums.
- Negotiations between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders over a tax relief package remain at a stalemate.
A group of Wisconsin school district leaders is pleading with lawmakers to increase school funding and provide property tax relief before this year’s legislative session ends.
The superintendents, representing 11 school districts, including Wisconsin’s five largest and six rural districts, said lawmakers should use the state’s proposed $2.5 billion surplus to boost aid to schools. They said rising costs and stagnant state support have forced districts to rely on voter-approved property tax referendums to help meet budget shortfalls.
“Wisconsin urgently needs a bipartisan compromise on school funding,” the district leaders said. “The current stalemate leaves public school districts unable to plan responsibly and pushes local communities to shoulder costs that the state should be sharing.”
Superintendents of the state’s largest districts in Milwaukee, Madison, Kenosha, Racine and Green Bay penned the open letter to lawmakers in late January. District leaders in rural Baraboo, Reedsburg, River Valley, Sauk Prairie, Weston and Wisconsin Dells released the same statement Feb. 17.
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30 October 2025 Madison School Board approves a $668,000,000 budget for 25,557 “full time equivalent” students. A bit more than $26k per student.