State's starving of public schools deserves the blame for increases in property taxes
School funding is complicated. But don’t be fooled. If a state legislator blames the school property tax increase on the Governor, they either don’t understand school funding or they are knowingly misleading you.
There are three main reasons for school property tax increases.
Schools are basically funded on a per pupil basis. For 16 consecutive years, the Republican-controlled legislature has not provided a per pupil increase that kept pace with inflation. Anything less than an inflationary increase results in cuts to educational services. The insufficient funding for special education falls into this category as well. After years of scrimping, the school district’s only choice is to go to referendum, which increases property taxes. Funding our kids’ future has not been a legislative priority for years.
Despite having a $4 billion surplus heading into the current biennial budget, the Republican-controlled legislature provided ZERO increase in state general aid for public schools, something never before done. Instead, they decided your property taxes should fund the $325 per pupil increase which was made possible by Governor Evers’ veto in the previous budget. The $325 also does not keep pace with inflation.
The largest tax increase ever passed was by the Republicans for private school vouchers. In the current biennial budget, this amounts to nearly $2 billion statewide. About 10% of your school property taxes are for private, mostly religious, school subsidies. Additionally, everyone pays for the Milwaukee vouchers through state general purpose revenue. All with no public transparency or accountability.
These three areas resulted in insufficient funds for public schools, by choice. It’s time for elected politicians to stop the political games and adequately fund public schools, as required by the Wisconsin Constitution.
