Republicans Are Transferring the Cost of Schools to Those Who Can't Afford It. And Here's Charts to Prove It.

Public schools are the bedrocks of our communities.

Access to a quality public education is a right every Wisconsinite has. Twenty-five years ago, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case, Vincent v. Voight, that:

“Wisconsin students have a fundamental right to an equal opportunity for a sound basic education. An equal opportunity for a sound basic education is one that will equip students for their roles as citizens and enable them to succeed economically and personally.”

During school hours, over a million people, nearly one in six of all Wisconsinites are inside a public school building. These students, teachers, and staff are essential to our economy today, and are training our workforce of tomorrow. So why, when we know that investments in our schools are investments in our future, do Republicans in the Legislature continue shortchanging public education?

We need to fund our schools as if it were a right, and as if it were actually a bedrock of our communities and economy. Public school districts cannot deliver when they lack the necessary resources.

Republicans have been systematically strangling public education, and outcomes are suffering as a result. In certain areas of our state, only one in ten children are reading at grade level, a measure that has been declining over time. That is a direct result of that Republican divestment.

Republicans like to knock Democrats’ policies as attempts to “transfer the wealth.”

What Republicans have done with public education is transfer the cost of public schools from state taxes, which are generally a more progressive tax – though significantly less so today than in the past – to property taxes, which are a more regressive tax. In other words: the cost of public schools has been shifted from those who can better afford it to those who cannot. Look at these two charts!

As costs continue to rise while Republicans underfund public education, our schools must either cut staff or programs to cover the expense or ask taxpayers to raise their property taxes via referendum. Districts with more Democratic voters are more likely to approve referendums, while districts with more Republican voters are more likely to reject referendums. This leads to inequitable outcomes, where the haves move ahead and the have-nots fall further behind. That cycle of referendums is unsustainable. This next chart is from the Wisconsin Policy Forum, and the orange and red are my additions. The annual number of operating referendums (blue bars), where a district asks voters to raise their own taxes to pay for salaries, supplies, maintenance, etc., is trending way up. Last year 2024 was a record year of operating referendums that passed, and a record that failed. The approval rate trend has been going down since 2017.

Earlier this year, I attended a public schools forum with our neighbors to the west in Dodgeville. Students, parents, educators, and local officials shared how underfunding and a series of failed school referendums have led to cuts in teacher and administrator positions. “Our students understand what that funding means, and they feel that deeply,” one of those educators told me. That community’s State Senator, Howard Marklein, is the Chair of the Joint Finance Committee who has exacerbated the funding crisis in his own public schools. I don’t understand.

There’s only one party in the Legislature that is working to provide a public education as a right, and is trying to prevent this transfer of cost from those who can better afford it to those who cannot.

That’s the Democrats.

Over the last couple weeks, my colleagues and I have introduced legislation to reinvest in our public schools.

First, we want to provide a $500 million increase in 2025-26 and $700 million increase in 2026-27 in general school aid. The school funding formula is complex, but we know that when state aid is increased, the property tax burden is reduced.

Second, we would require that taxpayers be informed about how much of their taxes are going to unaccountable and unpopular choice schools. In 2024, voucher schools cost taxpayers $537.6 million. Did you know? You would with this bill.

The final bill would provide every student in every Wisconsin school district with a healthy breakfast and lunch every day at no cost to their family. Nearly one in four Wisconsin students report being hungry, and hungry students tend to fall behind. When we improve our kids’ health, we improve student success and therefore the success of entire communities. This also helps families with rising grocery costs.

This bill package funds public schools more like the right that it is, shows what a sham choice schools are, and feeds kids and helps struggling families. Remember next time you get your property tax bill that it was the Republicans who transferred the cost of public schools there.