Wisconsin superintendents ask Legislature to put politics aside and provide more funding

Wisconsin’s five largest public school districts are asking the state Legislature for more funding. 

In a rare, joint message, superintendents from Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Racine and Kenosha said inflation has increased the cost to feed students, heat the schools and cover employee health care costs.

“Wisconsin urgently needs a bipartisan compromise on school funding,” the superintendents wrote. “The current stalemate leaves public school districts unable to plan responsibly and pushes local communities to shoulder costs that the state should be sharing.” 

Superintendents Brenda Cassellius of Milwaukee Public Schools; Joe Gothard of Madison Metropolitan School District; Vicki Bayer of Green Bay Area Public School District; Soren Gajewski of Racine Unified School District and Jeffrey Weiss of Kenosha Unified School District, called the most recent state budget a “profound disappointment.” 

“When the state had a $4 billion surplus, we expected lawmakers to recognize the shared financial strain facing families and public schools,” they wrote. “Instead, Wisconsin’s K–12 public school students received a $0 increase in general state aid. At the same time, a promised increase in critical funding for students with disabilities came up short.”

Senate President Mary Felzkowski told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today,” “School districts — I know it’s hard, but sometimes when there’s not additional revenue, you’ve got to tighten your belt.” 

Gov. Tony Evers told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” last week that the budget surplus is enough to boost funding for public schools and ease property taxes. 

But Republican leaders say they aren’t budging until Evers’ reverses a 400-year veto passed in the last budget that allows school districts to increase their per-pupil spending limit by $325 each year for the next 400 years. 

Evers said he’s open to negotiating the 400-year veto if the Republican-led Legislature is willing to cooperate with him on his legislative agenda.

On Monday, Republican candidate for Governor Rep. Tom Tiffany said if he’s elected, he’ll call a special session to reverse the school spending limit Evers enacted through the veto. 

But right now, the superintendents say they need action. 

Bayer said the $325 per-pupil increase was a nice gesture, but now has become a political game and an excuse for Republicans not to engage in discussions about how to better fund public education. 

“More than anything else, I’m really waiting for the adults to come to the room and start talking seriously about how we’re going to fund public ed in Wisconsin,” Bayer said. “That was part of the catalyst for this letter. We’re asking them to please work bipartisanly to better our communities, because that’s essentially what public education does. It supports our communities in so many ways.” 

Under former Governor Tommy Thompson, a Republican, Wisconsin provided annual per-pupil funding increases tied to the cost of living, providing schools with predictable, sustainable support.

Those adjustments were eliminated in 2009 during the recession, and despite years of economic recovery, they have never been restored. The consequences have been severe and long-lasting, according to the superintendents.

Without cost-of-living adjustments, districts across the state have been forced to rely on operational referendums, reduce staff, consolidate schools, delay building maintenance and cut programs.

Since February 2024, Wisconsin voters have been asked more than 200 times to approve operating referendums allowing districts to raise their tax levies to fund day-to-day operations. 

Voters in Milwaukee approved a $252 millon referendum in 2024. Madison voters approved two school referendums in 2024 totaling more than $600 million, Green Bay voters approved a $183 million capital referendum in 2024. The Racine Unified School District passed a $190 million referendum in Spring 2025. 

Kenosha voters rejected a $115 million school referendum in February 2025. 

Gothard says without cost-of-living adjustments for the last 17 years, school districts can’t continue to offer the services Wisconsin demands and students deserve.

“I can go in any one of our schools and ask anyone in our community and they could provide me a list of ways that we could improve how we are delivering our services,” Gothard said. “And I can say yes to very few of those because we are making sure our buildings are able to open and that they are staffed. And the extra things have gone by the wayside.”