Wisconsin funds its schools unlike any other state. Is it time to rewrite the state’s funding formula?
No other state funds its K-12 schools the way Wisconsin does, and there’s hope an influx of new faces at the state Capitol in January will lead to a new funding formula.
Currently, Wisconsin’s school funding system is a combination of several different aid sources. The base is revenue limits introduced in 1993, which are the combined totals of state aid and local property taxes each school district is allowed to spend.
“It wasn’t based on need or property wealth or how responsible a district was being,” Quinton Klabon, senior research director with the conservative Institute for Reforming Government, said. “It’s just kind of random and lopsided.”
There has been bipartisan concern over the school funding formula but not consensus on what should replace it. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers told CBS 58 last week during an interview in De Pere the formula is very confusing, which creates challenges in trying to address it.
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One proposed new formula
Klabon has proposed a simplified formula. Each district would receive $14,000 per student without exception. On top of that, districts would get an additional $3,000 per student who qualifies for the free and reduced lunch program.
The state would cover 50% of districts’ special education costs, which would be an increase from the 42% reimbursement rate currently in place. There would also be a 0.7% maximum property tax rate.
Using a sports analogy, Klabon said it would be similar to instituting both a salary cap and a salary floor.
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More.
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Madison’s district, despite an elite university pipeline, hypereducated leadership, and a shiny, new strategic plan, suffers the same frailties as Milwaukee’s: basement performance, backbreaking spending. But while Milwaukee is pulling out of its tailspin due to courageouschoices from the top, Madison is ponderously ambling to nowhere. Just ask the locals. “You need the marketing, and you need the product,” as a parent told a reporter. “I’m missing the product.”
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