Superintendent Evers takes on
school-funding
 Tony
Evers, superintendent of the
Department of Public Instruction, unveiled a
framework for school-funding reform at an event in Madison
on June 24.
While not the comprehensive reform WAES will continue to
work for, Superintendent Evers has placed the issue front
and center in the upcoming political campaign, signaled the
inclusion of a call for significant changes in the 2011-13
DPI budget, and set up a discussion of long-term reform for
the 2012-15 biennium.
Evers’ proposal - “Fair
Funding for our Future” - is based on many of the
principles WAES has advocated for years. The State Superintendent
talks about the need for increased state revenue; a “minimum
level” of state aid for every child in Wisconsin; poverty
as factor in the aid calculation; “a predictable percentage
each year” in the growth of state school revenues; and
an expansion of sparsity and transportation aid targeted to
struggling rural districts.
The plan also allocates about $900 million that now goes
into the Property Tax Levy Credit to actual aid that reaches
the classroom. Levy credits have long been counted as “state
education aid” but have been used for property tax relief,
not education-a State Government flimflam game WAES has talked
about in communities all over Wisconsin.
“Every little detail of the Superintendents plan may
not be perfect,” said Suhr, a spokesperson for WAES.
“It does, however, recognize the funding crisis faced
by Wisconsin’s schools and children and it starts us
on the road to comprehensive, long-term reform.”
While supporting the positive aspects of the framework, WAES
will keep working for long-term funding reform that provides
the actual cost of a quality education and
“A Penny for Kids,” a one-cent increase in
the state sales tax, now, to stabilize school revenue.”
"While supporting the positive aspects of the framework,
WAES will keep working for long-term funding reform that provides
the actual cost of a quality education and “A
Penny for Kids,” a one-cent increase in the state
sales tax, now, to stabilize school revenue.”
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