State of Education: Bigger Budget Required

State Superintendent Tony Evers is calling on the legislature to “reinvest” in education in the next budget.

Evers delivered his annual state of education in Wisconsin speech at the state Capitol Thursday. He says cuts to education are taking a toll. “We can’t keep expecting districts to balance their budgets on the backs of kids and working families. We can’t keep viewing education as an expense that must face the chopping block each year when the going gets rough. Education is a necessity, as is road construction; both are investments in our future.”

Evers wants the legislature to increase spending on education overall, as well as adopt a new funding formula that would guarantee a minimum amount of state aid for all students and take poverty into account.

He says the current way of funding based on property values is not working. “The system is broken when a district with high student poverty receives no state aid. The system is broken when it fails to take into account any measure of income. The system is broken when the state pours money into tax credits and calls it school funding, when that money doesn’t directly educate a single child.”

Governor Walker’s representative Cullen Werwie declined comment on Evers’ proposals, however did say as he has before that “transforming education will continue to be one of Governor Walker’s top priorities in the next state budget.”