Issue Position: Public School Funding and Vouchers

Issue Position

Our highest priority should always be providing for the future of our children and their children. We don't do that by slashing funding from our public education system.

You may hear it too often, but the truth is that we have a funding formula that doesn't work for everyone. Adopted in 1993 it was based on three features:

Limiting the pay increases of faculty and staff via the Qualified Economic Offer cap.

Capping the revenue that each school district could bring in based on what was their level at the time.

The promise of 2/3 funding to be provided by the state.

The argument for that formula at the time was that taxpayers needed protection from sky rocketing costs. What wasn't considered were factors that could not be controlled by a simple funding formula like costs of healthcare, computers/textbooks/testing, heating of the buildings, aging buildings, and transportation.

Also, the aid provided by the state is based on several factors but the most prominent being enrollment and property values in the district. When enrollment goes down the district gets less money since it is on a per-student basis, even though the costs of maintaining buildings and transporting students doesn't go down nor will staffing change if the number of students in a classroom goes from 28 to 24.

Even worse is the presumption made in the formula that a district can be judged by the property values within it. When a district has lake property and many seasonal residents build high-end homes, this raises the valuation of the district (and they don't have students that can be counted in the district) and the district gets less aid.

For instance, the aid that comes from the state for Eau Claire is $5,166 per student. Eleva-Strum gets $6,690 per student and Elmwood is at the $6,707 level. On the other end Pepin receives $1,883 per student, Spooner gets $715 per student while South Shore School District gets just $691 per student. Something is very wrong with this picture, don't you think?

And to top it off, transportation is not considered separately, so if a rural district has to provide bussing for most of their students it has to come from the aid provided. More urban districts may not need as much bussing and can use most of their funding in the classroom. Let's start using some common sense!

Then there is this outrageous voucher program that has just been expanded statewide. Because there has been no accountability placed on private (sometimes for profit) schools that pocket our tax dollars to fund their system, it has already proven to be a complete failure. Facts that citizens should know include:

Vouchers are guaranteed to follow a student to a private facility. But that student could be told to leave after the enrollment count day in September without the voucher money going with them. The public school must then provide for them without the funds.

This legislature guarantees a voucher amount of $7,050 for K-8 and $7,856 for 9-12 grades in this next school year. Keep in mind that the state aid per public school student in the 93rd Assembly district ranges from $1,883 to $6,707. No guarantee that your tax money comes back to support your public school. In fact, because these illogical lawmakers have guaranteed over $7,000 to follow a student to a voucher school, the local taxpayers must make up the difference when the state aid falls short of the guaranteed amount.

Voucher schools have existed in Milwaukee since 1990 and during that time over 130 so-called schools have opened and closed, taking with them millions of dollars from our state.

Public schools cannot turn anyone away no matter their level of ability or challenges. Private schools are able to pick and choose who attends their facility and turn away anyone with challenges.

Our schools are the center of our communities. It goes far beyond the relatively short amount of time our own children spend within their walls. We identify ourselves with our schools and take great pride in their successes. In the last century, I would argue that it was our commitment to public education that pushed out nation to the top economically and socially in the world community. It is obvious to me that there is nothing more important then standing tall to protect our schools and ensuring that we provide the greatest learning opportunities for future generations.

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