Wisconsin K-12 Funding Lags Behind Pre-Recession Level, Report Says

A national report out Monday says only four states have restored education funding cut during the Great Recession and Wisconsin isn’t one of them. Public school advocates say the proposed state budget for the upcoming two years continues to fall short.

According to the report by the Education Law Center, states have recently been increasing funding for public education but few are spending as much as they did prior 2008.

Dan Rossmiller with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards said public school funding in the state remains a concern, even with tools like Act 10, which allowed districts to save money by having employees pay more for health care and pension.

“We have some flexibility now that we didn’t have before but we’re also not seeing the kind of predictable increase in resources that keep pace with inflation,” said Rossmiller.

Gov. Scott Walker’s initial biennial budget proposal included a $127 million cut to K-12 that the Legislature’s budget writing committee zeroed out. But Rossmiller said that beyond just those cuts, his group is opposed to other education items in the budget that they argue will also negatively impact schools. Those include voucher expansion — which would siphon money from public schools — as well as teacher licensing changes and allowing homeschoolers to participate in extracurricular activities at public schools.

The national report looks at state education spending between 2008-2012. In 2012, Wisconsin ranked 17th in per-pupil spending.

The full Legislature still has to take up the state budget and vote on it.