Wisconsin Adequacy Plan Formally
Introduced
The Wisconsin Adequacy Plan for school-funding
reform was unveiled at a press conference and legislative
briefing, January 16, 2003, to a packed Senate Parlor in the
Capitol.
On hand to learn about the plan put together by partners
in the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES) were
members of the print and electronic media, legislators and
legislative aides, and several members of the coalition.
Media reaction to the WAES event indicates that the message
of school-finance reform that realigns funding with the needs
of schools and children is being heard statewide.
Cynthia DiCamelli, legislative chair of the Wisconsin PTA,
hosted the event for WAES. She outlined the fiscal and educational
problems faced by school districts all over the state, saying
that "a decade of school spending caps have caused districts
statewide to cut core educational programs, lay off teaching
staff, delay textbook and technology upgrades, and defer important
building maintenance."
The answer is real school-funding reform that is aimed at
children and their education, said WAES partner Kathy Zingsheim,
a member of the West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board and
the legislative chair of that district’s Council of
PTAs. The Wisconsin Adequacy Plan is "a win-win proposal”
for all children, she said, because it gives “each school
the needed funds to do their job."
Based on an adequacy model of school finance—a model
that has become the dominant trend in school-finance reform
across the country in recent years—the Wisconsin Adequacy
Plan links funding to the actual costs of the educational
resources needed for student success.
Jack Norman, research director for IWF, explained that WAP
uses lower property taxes and a small increase in the sales
tax to provide a foundation grant for all students, along
with additional funding for higher needs students.
Lance Alwin, district administrator with the Antigo School
District, told the media, lawmakers, and legislative staff
that the current funding system is broken and needs to be
replaced because it no longer meets the needs of children.
"Despite the good intentions of policy-makers, of educators,
and of families, the current funding system for schools in
our state is not working," said Alwin.
Doris Parsons, school board president from the Palmyra-Eagle
School District echoed Alwin's concerns and asked if it was
too much to ask "to make sure that (the) educational
needs (of students and teachers with high expectations) are
adequately met."
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