Most School Districts Probably Won’t Get As Much State Aid This School Year

New estimates show that more than half of the state’s school districts will get less general aid in the next school year than they did in the last one.

Fifty-four percent of the state’s 424 school districts are expected to receive less state aid next school year. Forty-five percent of districts will likely receive more.

At his swearing-in ceremony today, State Superintendent Tony Evers said that lawmakers deserve the blame for the decrease in aid in many districts.

Evers: “The fact of the matter is that the amount of money that was put in our budget for public schools was not very much. In fact, it was less than the cost of inflation. Was I surprised that over half of the schools got less money than they did the year before? Absolutely not. That was in the cards.”

State aid to schools is determined by a complex formula that’s based on property values and enrollment numbers. The budget signed by Governor Scott Walker includes an increase in aid of $150 per student in each year of the budget. Democrats were calling for a $250 per pupil increase.