When it comes to public schools don't get mad, get involved, and make sure they are fully funded
Decades of neglect have proven our legislators won’t do a thing unless there is a massive groundswell of people demanding better, or gerrymandered legislators are voted out in the next election cycle.
By Amy Nasr
Many are rightly asking about the cost of private school vouchers to local communities. The Department of Public Education (DPI) provides a 2024-25 interactive map showing the impact of private school vouchers on school districts across the state. The map should be updated in the spring, but rest assured, the price tag has only gotten higher. Private school payouts in 2025-26 increased by 11%, while headcount increased only 3%. Meanwhile, aid to public school districts across the state remained flat. In fact, many districts received less funding than the prior year.
Don’t get mad at districts when schools close or teachers are let go. Don’t get mad if academic performance declines. Don’t get mad if greater acceleration opportunities are no longer offered. Don’t get mad when discipline issues increase because there isn’t enough supportive staff to address the problems. Don’t get mad when your neighborhood school is shuttered. Don’t get mad when you see your district asking for operational funding for staffing via local referendums. As legislators continue to defund public schools – and then decry them for under-performance – local citizens become their only hope.
Instead, get active and demand your legislators do better for schools.
In 2019, a Republican-led Blue Ribbon Commission on Education provided recommendations to improve educational outcomes, but few, if any, were adopted. Additional resources can be found at Fox Cities Advocates for Public Education and Wisconsin Public Education Network.
Decades of neglect have proven our legislators won’t do a thing unless there is a massive groundswell of people demanding better, or gerrymandered legislators are voted out in the next election cycle.
Don’t allow legislators or privateers to falsely claim that private schools do better. The fact is, Wisconsin Choice schools aren’t required to submit data for school-wide report cards. Private school performance is at best oblique, so we really don’t know. If they are so confident about these claims, then let’s legislate that private schools submit school-wide report card data and submit to open records requests.
Also, don’t blame declining investment in public education on declining enrollment. Populations increase and decline over time. Had these districts been funded adequately – as they had been two decades ago – they would have been able to plan, save, and adjust for changes. School districts have decades of experience dealing with fluctuating enrollments. Left with not even bare-bones funding, they can now only cut, cut, cut.
I miss the days of the Wisconsin Idea - when it rang out loudly in our leadership and communities, and we competed with Minnesota for the two top ACT scores in the nation. Don’t you too want a competitive, thriving Wisconsin economy? Don’t you understand how fast things are changing? It’s important to invest in and support these kids. After multiple years of surplus hoarding, Wisconsin can and should do better.
