For example, in 2024, Madison voters approved a record $507 million capital improvements referendum. One of the largest items in that referendum was $85 million for a new, bigger building to house Sherman Middle and Shabazz High schools. Yet, that building is at only 50% of capacity, and projections are for enrollments to go down. Before asking taxpayers for half a billion dollars, it would have made sense to do an attendance area study first to determine how existing schools could be more efficiently utilized. But that study is only being conducted now — after the referendum was passed by the voters.
At the same time that voters approved the capital referendum, they also OK’d an ongoing $100 million operating budget increase, most of which will go to pay for staff. But over the last decade, while the district experienced an 8% decline in enrollment, it increased the staff by around 2.6%, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
And, as an aside, we need to ask why the district is losing students in the fastest-growing big city in Wisconsin. Over the past decade, while those enrollment numbers fell, the city’s population increased by roughly 15%.
Finally, those referendums came with no promises of accountability. Gothard should have explained how actual student performance would be enhanced because of those investments. As it is, test scores continue to lag the rest of the state, truancy levels remain high and the racial achievement gap has not budged despite decades of focus on it.
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1998! Money and school performance.
A.B.T.: “Ain’t been taught.”
8,897 (!) Madison 4k to 3rd grade students scored lower than 75% of the students in the national comparison group during the 2024-2025 school year.
Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average (now > $26,000 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?
Legislative Letter to Jill Underly on Wisconsin Literacy.