Thank you for joining us. Fox Cities Advocates for Public Education is a nonpartisan group focused on Wisconsin’s promise of a quality public education for every child. Today, we will share how public schools faired with the passage of the 2023-25 Biennial Budget and some recommended next steps.
We will mail you the link to this presentation. Since we are continually updating the data, you may find new information each time you click in. If you would, please hold your questions until the end.
CONTENTS
- Enrollment/Demographics/Value
- School Funding Basics - Formula, Revenue Limits, Inflation, School Levy Tax Credit, Referenda
- Priority Needs - Special Education, Mental Health, Teachers, Solution
- Vouchers - Cost, Counts, Backpacks, Transparency, & Accountability
- Putting it All Together - 3 Gaps, DPI, US Education, WI Budget Timeline
Kids and schools need your help. They honestly do. They need you and all your family, friends, colleagues and coworkers to tell legislators that public education is important and we need to improve its funding.
ENROLLMENT
"Public Education” means education that is publicly financed, accountable to the public, and accessible to all students. Public education is often described as the cornerstone of our economy, our democracy, and our society. That is why Wisconsin, and every state, has incorporated public education in its state constitution.
More than 85% of Wisconsin kids are educated in our public schools.
This chart includes school district populations of area public schools as reported in September 2023. For all practical purposes, enrollment numbers have now stabilized, or in some cases, are increasing in our area schools.
In addition to district enrollment, here you can see the priority needs populations in each school district: Students of color, English learners, economically disadvantaged, and students with disabilities. These students generally require additional resources to meet their specific needs. The RED numbers in this table indicate the highest population level in each demographic. Notice especially the column on the right, “Students with Disabilities”. Later in this presentation you will see how this impacts overall budgeting.
Test scores have become an obsession. Standardized tests are merely a snapshot in time of one student in a limited number of academic areas. It is important to understand that criteria used in standardized tests have changed over time. In addition, using average test scores to compare schools can be problematic because public schools educate all students of all abilities, even those who bring down the school’s average test score. Here you can see some of the many ways student success can be measured in addition to standardized tests.
FCA4PE joined school districts all around the state advocating for three main budget priorities for the 2023-25 Budget: Increases in Revenue per Student, Special Education, and Mental Health. The GREEN bar indicates the NEED. The $1,510 /pupil (over the two-year budget) was needed to recover the zero increase in the previous budget and the anticipated inflationary increase for 2023-25. Raising the special education reimbursement rate to 60% would be a huge improvement that would benefit all students. And, provide much needed mental health funding in sustainable aid. The RED bar shows how the budget met that need.
The rest of the presentation will explain the challenges our public schools face, both monetary and non-monetary, and what next steps are needed to help our kids thrive.
SCHOOL FUNDING BASICS
The bulk of state aid to schools is constrained by a revenue limit or revenue cap. This aid flows from an equalization formula that seeks to equalize educational opportunity by sending more aid to poorer districts. This aid is also called "state general aid".
The state also provides other funding that isn't constrained. Per pupil aid reflects a felt need to fund schools equally. Categorical aid enables the state to fund specific needs like transportation. Communities who seek more support can exceed their revenue limit through referenda.
Your school district might, for example, have a revenue limit of $11,000 per pupil. If state equalization aid was $6,000, then the property tax would come to about $5,000 per student.
The 2023-25 Biennial Budget allowed the low revenue caps to increase to $11,000 per student. You can see the progress here as you compare the map on the left with the one on the right.
Many of the Fox Valley schools moved from approximately $10,000 per student to $11,000 per student. This is still about $1000/student below the state average.
Now we turn to issues facing schools and inflation is a major one. Because 75% of district operating revenue goes to staff salaries and benefits, educators and other staff expect their salary increases to at least keep pace with inflation. If not, they consider leaving the district or the profession of education.
Unfortunately, increases in school revenue have lost pace to inflation since 2009.
The above slide explains the erosion of school funding and its shortfall relative to inflation. When control of the legislature and governor's office shifts from one political party to the other, the method of increasing funding shifts from the equalization formula (green and red here, which gives more per student to poor districts) to per pupil (grey here, which equalizes funding per student.) Revenue limit (green) changes are more predictable, and adjustments are less predictable for school district planning.
In the last two years, no increases were granted in either the revenue limit or per pupil funding. When factored with inflation over time, this amounts to a $3,380 per pupil funding gap. A practical and effective way to solve this problem of underfunding is to index the revenue limit for inflation. That way, districts won't fall behind.
The legislature has learned how to disguise property tax reduction as school funding. In the current year, $1.35 billion will be spent to reduce local property taxes while labeled as school aid.
Legislators can claim that they spent more on education and simultaneous reduced taxes - we call those claims a shell game.
The revenue limit can lead to manipulation of funding. Increasing general aid while freezing the revenue limit diverts the money to property tax reduction. Legislators can claim that they spent more on education and simultaneously reduced taxes - but it isn't so.
The grants, known in education circles as ESSER I, ESSER II and ESSER III, were intended for a host of uses, but generally were supposed to help schools plan provide virtual learning to their students, safely reopen their schools and deal with the learning loss that came as a result of the disruption, and had several restrictions placed on its spending.
Because of federal ESSER funding provided during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wisconsin legislature severely limited state aid to schools in the 2021-23 budget. That budget created a fiscal cliff that districts are now navigating. There isn't enough state aid to retain talented staff. Districts with a fund balance (savings) are now depleting it, and the federal funds must all have been spent by this Sept. 2024. There is no other money.
30% of the Fall school referenda failed. What will happen to these schools?
Fox Cities citizens want to fund their public schools and vote to do so consistently. Over the span of 9 years, Fox Cities citizens voted overwhelmingly, by 72%, to pass referenda in support of their school districts. We need to send this message to our legislators so they will step up and do the same.
When we force citizens to fund at local levels, we shift greater financial burdens onto them. We have the means to fund more from our state level without even raising taxes.
PRIORITY NEEDS
In 1980, WI funded 66% of special needs programming in public schools, in 2021-23, 30%. The 2023-25 had only a meager 3% increase, it's 33%. Meanwhile, our state funds 90% in private schools. Public schools must also pay for and provide transportation to private schools.
Public schools have also been known assist special needs programming in private schools. This is grossly inequitable.
This chart shows a long history of special education funding costs vs reimbursements over time.
Special needs programming is mandated, meaning that the school districts MUST provide the services. This means, school districts across WI have to take funds from (what typically amounts to 10% of) their general funds to cover the unfunded costs. ALL kids and programming suffers when this happens. Across WI, this amounts to over a billion $ deficit. A blue ribbon expert called WI WORST IN NATION because of this.
Sad statistics. Mental health has been a problem and underfunded issue for WI long before the pandemic. But, the pandemic exacerbated needs.
Youth with poor mental health may struggle with school and grades, decision making, and their health. Mental health trauma and or problems in youth are also often associated with other health and behavioral risks. This lack of support for mental health drives teachers to supplement as coaches, and as you can imagine, this has been an incredible challenge for teachers that's been driven upwards in the pandemic and current political climate. A challenge indeed as more time and effort is needed to create a culture of comfort for learning in classrooms.
On top of these funding gaps, priority needs are increasing while their funds are not. Underfunding these service-mandated populations negatively impacts ALL students. In conversations, ask for increased funding for two blue ribbon areas: SPECIAL EDUCATION & MENTAL HEALTH. Adequate funding for them would provide immense help to schools across the state.
Let’s also not forget the Teacher/Staff crisis that we’re in. Fund those needs of students adequately, and you will provide relief to many staff and teachers. Teachers are the backbones and miracle workers upon which our economy past, present, and future, depends on!
We all know this is real, and if we funded the needs of students and compensated teachers appropriately, we wouldn't have a teacher crisis. Teacher benefits and wages are not keeping up with like professions and degrees in industry.
Compensation also doesn't justify Masters degrees, so fewer teachers have them. Many of those that do are approaching retirement. These masters degree teachers are the CAPP and college credit instructors, social workers, nurses, special needs teachers, etc. upon which our families, workforce, and economy depend.
We know and have the solutions to create a high quality learning environment for kids. Fund the needs of ALL students, index salaries to inflation, provide incentives to retain and attract quality staff, and foster a culture of appreciation, respect, and joy.
VOUCHERS
There are four types of voucher programs in WISCONSIN: Wisconsin, Racine, Milwaukee, and Special Needs.
Of all private schools accepting voucher payouts, 59% of their students are funded via vouchers. Is that a private school if the majority is funded with public money?
Further, a good majority of these voucher students (Wisconsin Examiner estimated 77% in a 2021 report) never set foot in a public school and they don’t have to prequalify for income limits once in if their economic circumstances improve. (They only apply once and don’t update economic status ever again while in the preK-12 system.)
Revenue limits are unequal throughout our state and private high schools now receive about $1,400 more per pupil than our Fox Cities high schools, which are low revenue districts.
The backpack does not follow the kids. Consider, for example, an elementary school. If a first grader receives a voucher and transfers to a private school, the size of her class is reduced from 25 to 24 students. The cost of a set of textbooks is avoided. Unchanged, however, are the costs of instruction, administration, student transportation, facility maintenance and food service.
Transferring a limited number of students out of a school district does not, therefore, significantly reduce cost. For every voucher student who transfers from a public to private school, taxpayers now pay twice. First, they pay the cost of providing an educational opportunity at a public school. Second, they pay for the voucher.
The cost burden of vouchers is borne by property owners. Consider a representative home. It's valued at $285,000, the median price of homes sold in Outagamie County in April 2024. For this home, the voucher tax for 2023 in the these school districts is itemized on this graphic, with a copy of an Appleton tax bill highlighted in detail.
The $178 voucher tax is buried in the amount for the public school district in which the resident lives. Proposals for itemizing the voucher tax on real estate tax bills have stalled in the legislature, and in fact, in the case of the last 2023-25 biennial budget, an amendment asking for this to be disclosed was voted down.
The various growth of voucher programs by type over time is outlined below.
The two that mostly affect our Fox Cities area are the Wisconsin Choice program and the Special needs voucher programs. Here are the breakouts by voucher type.
Meanwhile, as presented, enrollment and the costs of vouchers in the statewide expansion grow. The data you have seen and see here in these next two graphics explains why school vouchers are an obstacle to public school funding.
This slide breaks down voucher enrollment as it directly impacts its geographic public school base. The 12 school districts in our FCA4PE tree are outlined above, mostly color coded by each of the school district’s colors. (Orange represents Oshkosh, bright blue Appleton, red Neenah, and so on).
In the center of each school district is that public school’s attending population. Upper quadrant is the % of that geographic base that are on vouchers, and the $ are the amount of money paid to vouchers by citizens in that public school district.
This is another way to look at vouchers. It sorts each private school within the 12 public school district umbrella individually, showing the largest voucher schools sorted to the smallest. For the most part, these voucher schools are color coded by public school district colors, so you can quickly see what private schools are in Appleton, Oshkosh, Neenah, and so on.
In the center, you will find the total population of that private school. The % indicates what % of that total school is on vouchers, and the $ shows the amount of taxpayer money that private school receives. Note the high percentage of vouchers students some of these private schools depend on. Could their doors be open without taxpayer money? Is it a private school, if it is funded more than half by taxpayer money?
This chart explains many of the differences jn accountability of public schools vs the unaccountability in private schools. This includes lack of licensure, certification, access to service, and assessment requirements in private schools. If we are to fund private schools with Wisconsinite money, then we should demand similar requirements from both systems to safeguard and protect the rights of students.
Clearly, there is a vast system of oversight with publicly elected school board members in public schools. If private schools want taxpayer money, we should have the same system of oversight in private schools. Budgets and meeting documents posted online, open records requests, etc. should all be required from private schools.
If we truly care about wanting what’s best for kids, then our legislators should require all private schools to submit school-wide performance data to dpi and publish this information online for all parents and Wisconsinites to see. Legislators do not require private schools to submit this data, but they require public schools to. To our knowledge, there is only one local private school that willingly and voluntarily submits school-wide performance data to dpi, and that is Fox Valley Lutheran High School. If we want parents and children to make the best choices for their schools, this data should be made available to them. It also should be made available to our general public, so Wisconsinites can see the return on their investment.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
It has been 16 years since public schools have received an annual increase that met inflation. The 2023-25 budget made some progress. The increase of $1000 per student to the low revenue limit was desperately needed. This helped our Fox Cities schools but they still remain about $1,500 below the state average. Many challenges still remain and are growing. Funding schools via local referendum only creates more haves and have nots, not to mention puts more burdens on local property tax payers.
The Department of Public Instruction is in the process of preparing their budget proposal. Here you can see some of the highlights from their preliminary announcement this November. Again, making the top 10 are: Revenue Limits, Special Education, and Mental Health.
The increase in the Special Education reimbursement rate will benefit all students since districts will not have to cover mandated services from their general fund.
Mental health is an ever-increasing problem and the proposed additional funding is so needed.
Increasing the low revenue limit must be a priority. Our Fox Cities districts are about $1500 per pupil below the state average.
The DPI proposed budget totals about $4B. Keep in mind that the state is expected to have a surplus of over $3B in June at the end of this biennial budget. So, yes, we can afford it. Also note that the total of all the school referendums in 2024 was over $4B, some of which would not have been needed if schools had been adequately funded over the years.
Because of the threats to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, it is extremely important that we fortify Wisconsin’s support for public education. There are many unanswered questions.
Will our schools continue to receive federal funding, which covers 8-10% of their budgets? What will happen to programs like Title 1, Title 9, IDEA, and government grants? Will there be any enforcement for sex discrimination? What will happen to protections for students with disabilities? State elected officials need to feel the pressure to come through for our kids, especially with this budget.
Our U.S. Senators and Members of Congress also need to hear our concerns. It is up to us to get the message across!
The process for the 2025-27 Budget has begun. We challenge you to get loud, starting now. We all depend on quality public education, whether we have kids in school or not. We all want to live in a civic-minded community with great amenities and services. And, businesses want quality employees. Our quality of life comes down to having strong public schools. We are counting on your help.
The following handouts will be left with you which include this timeline, links to resources, and a list of actions you can take. Please stay informed, connect with your legislators, share the good news of your public schools, and join us in our advocacy. We really need you now . . . more than ever!
Do you have questions about public education? Reach out to your local Superintendent, attend your local school board meetings, and sign up for your local school district’s newsletters. Join our FCA4PE group. Follow our Facebook page and newsletter.
Sign up for the statewide WPEN action network for updates on budgets, bills, and other important legislative news:
Thank you for allowing us to present this update today. We hope you will continue to advocate for what our kids need. Are there any questions?
Credits:
Created with images by davit85 - "Group of kids going to school together." • Sabrina - "Crowd of multiracial people having fun together at city park - Social gathering and community concept" • Prostock-studio - "Female child entering school bus and giving high five to female driver" • Andrei - "Boy doing math homework with a touch pen on his tablet"