In reality, we are funding students at a level twice as much as we were in 2000 – about $18,592 per student each year. That’s more than fifty percent higher than the tuition to attend UW-Madison this year. If we can give a world-class college education to UW students for $12,186, how is $18,592 not enough for K-12 students?
Even accounting for inflation, per-pupil funding has increased since 2000. So, while the Democrats like to plead poverty for schools, student funding is at an all-time high.
The fact of the matter is that Wisconsin doesn’t have a problem with the amount of money spent on education; we have a problem with how that money is spent. The chart below shows public school student enrollment, teacher staffing levels, and non-teacher staffing levels for the last twenty years – and reveals the spending problem in stark terms.