Resources |
The Wisconsin
Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES) offers research, briefs,
videos, and more on reforming Wisconsin's school funding system.
Many resources are published in conjunction with the Institute
for Wisconsin's Future (IWF), WAES' research and staffing
partner. Most publications are available online. If you would
like print copies of anything, please visit the order
page. |
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Other researchers, stakeholder groups, legislators, and agencies
have also produced analyses on school finance and relevant
issues. Check out this page for additional resources. |
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Resources from WAES
and IWF
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Adequacy |
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Wisconsin Atlas
of School Finance: Geographic, Demographic, and Fiscal Factors
Affecting School Districts Across the State
Jack Norman (Institute for Wisconsin's Future)
February 2004
This report presents in-depth data on urban, suburban, and
rural districts and how they compare in the population of
students they serve, the economic factors they confront, and
the tax and spending responsibilities they face in Wisconsin's
current school-finance system. It also includes a special
section on districts in the northern lake region of the state.
Press Release |
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Funding Our Future:
An Adequacy Model for Wisconsin School Finance
Jack Norman (Institute for Wisconsin's Future)
June 2002
This costing-out study outlines the problems with the state’s
present system, talks about the link between academic standards
and educational accountability, and explains a reform model
that actually meets the real needs of real children. The full
report includes a cost-out of the Adequacy model for each
of Wisconsin's 426 school districts. (111 pp.)
For more information on costing-out, visit the Adequacy
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National
Forum on School Funding Adequacy: Review of Current Efforts
and Participating Organizations
Institute for Wisconsin's Future
March 2000
IWF, in partnership with the National School Boards Association,
coordinates a national school funding network. This publication
profiles 30 organizations working towards the Adequacy method
of funding schools across the country. It includes contact
information and a description of each organization's efforts.
(34 pp.)
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Defining a Thorough
Education Infrastructure: The Wisconsin Educator Survey on
Necessary School Resource Standards
Thomas Moore (Institute for Wisconsin's Future) &
Public Policy Forum
October 1999
This report provides the groundwork for establishing adequate
funding in Wisconsin's public schools. It presents an analysis
of a comprehensive educator survey used to determine the resources—staff,
materials, facilities—schools need to provide all students
a quality education and an opportunity to meet state standards.
(29 pp.)
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Unequal and in Jeopardy
Institute for Wisconsin's Future
1998
This video offers a telling view of the many ways funding
shortages negatively affect Wisconsin public schools. Through
interviews with school administrators, parents, teachers,
and students, two major problems plaguing schools are explored:
Wisconsin schools are unequal due to differences in property
wealth, and all Wisconsin schools are in jeopardy due to state
revenue caps. (TRT: 14:12)
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Revenue
Limits |
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Death
by a Thousand Cuts: How Wisconsin’s Revenue Limits Erode
the Budgets of Public Schools
Author: Jack Norman, Ph.D. (IWF)
Date: November 2005
The typical district in Wisconsin has to deal with a built-in
annual deficit of 1.7%, a gap that forces cuts in staffing,
programs, maintenance, and/or purchasing, according to this
survey of district superintendents by the Institute for Wisconsin's
Future. (4 pp.)
Online Version:
»
Full Report (PDF)
Related: Press
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Are School Revenue
Limits Limiting Learning?
Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools & Institute
for Wisconsin's Future
January 2001
This report shows that all of Wisconsin's schools are seriously
struggling due to the revenue limits law, which freezes school
spending levels based on the 1992-1993 school year and allows
for insufficient increases that don't keep pace with rising
education costs. Drawing from statewide forums before the
Senate Education Committee and the testimony of students,
teachers, administrators, business professionals, and citizens,
the report illustrates the alarming effects revenue limits
have on schools. (66 pp.)
Press Release |
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Wisconsin's School
Funding Crisis: A Threat to Our Children's Future
Institute for Wisconsin's Future
March 2001
This video offers an inside look at the devastating effects
revenue limits have on schools and what citizens can do about
it. It features statewide forums, where hundreds of students,
teachers, administrators, business professionals, and others
testified before the Senate Education Committee. The video
is a useful companion to the report, Are School Revenue
Limits Limiting Learning? (above). (TRT: 10:00)
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A School District
in Crisis: An Analysis of the Impact of Budget Cuts on Schools
in the Racine School District
Institute for Wisconsin's Future
February 1999
This report outlines the significant cuts in Racine school
programs resulting from a $4.8 million budget cut in 1998-99
made due to revenue limits and declining enrollment. (12 pp.)
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School District
Survey Report: The Impact of Revenue Limits on Metro Milwaukee
Area Schools Districts
Institute for Wisconsin's Future
December 1998
This survey of 25 school districts in the greater Milwaukee
area shows that all districts, including more affluent suburban
districts, are facing serious financial problems due to revenue
limits. (6 pp.)
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Assessing the Impact
of Fiscal Constraints and Revenue Caps on Wisconsin Public
Schools
Stephen L. Percy, Donald P. Haider-Markel, Theodore
W. McDonald, & Peter Maier (Center for Urban Initiatives
and Research/University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
February 1998
The findings of this study suggest that financial shortfalls
in school budgets across the state are largely the result
of spending caps, which pose a significant threat to the quality
of education in Wisconsin’s public schools. (50 pp.)
Press
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Other
School Finance and Education Areas |
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Milwaukee Public
Schools’ Funding Over the Last Decade Falls Behind Other
Milwaukee County Districts
Michael Rosen (Economics Department/Milwaukee Area
Technical College), with research assistance from Michael
Grover (Institute for Wisconsin's Future)
1998
This study reveals that in real dollars, adjusted for inflation,
per pupil spending rose for Milwaukee Public Schools by just
$240, a 4.5 percent increase between 1987-88 and 1996-97.
This is less than all other Milwaukee County school districts.
(4 pp.)
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Tax Funding for
Private School Alternatives: The Financial Impact on Milwaukee
Public Schools and Taxpayers
Thomas Moore (Institute for Wisconsin's Future)
October 1998
This report finds that the Milwaukee Public Schools lose
over $22 million in state aid under the current funding system
for voucher and charter school programs. (14 pp.)
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Windfall for the
Wealthy: The Impact of 1995 Property Tax Relief Legislation
on Wisconsin Households
Bambi L. Statz (College of Business and Economics/School
Business Management Program/University of Wisconsin-Whitewater)
January 1997
This study examines 1995 school finance and property tax
relief legislation on a district-by-district basis. The author
finds that there is minimal tax relief for taxpayers in moderate
or property-poor school districts and increased inequality
in the state school financing structure, which benefits residents
of wealthy school districts. (47 pp.)
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Are Teachers’
Unions Hurting American Education? A State-by-State Analysis
of the Impact of Collective Bargaining Among Teachers on Student
Performance
F. Howard Nelson (Educational Research Consultant)
& Michael Rosen (Economics Department/Milwaukee Area Technical
College), with consulting assistance from Brian Powell (Department
of Sociology/Indiana University)
October 1996
This study demonstrates that collective bargaining is not
responsible for poor student performance. In fact, in states
with high levels of teacher unionization, student scores on
standardized tests are higher than in states with low levels
of teacher participation in collective bargaining or meet-and-confer
activities. (24 pp.)
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Taxes |
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Buyer
Beware: Low-Income Homeowners Penalized Under the Wisconsin
Tax System – Policy implications of the Wisconsin
Tax Incidence Study
Author: Jack Norman, Ph.D. (IWF)
Date: March 2005
Wisconsin’s allegedly progressive tax
structure is a myth. And low-income married homeowners have
the highest tax burden in the state.Those are two of the important
results buried in the recent Wisconsin
Tax Incidence Report, the state’s detailed
analysis of who actually bears the burden of paying taxes.
Mainstream media gave only cursory coverage to the report,
but IWF now has a short overview of its main results.
Online Version:
» Full
Report (PDF)
(available online only) |
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“Tax
Hell” Hoax: Why spending caps on state and local government
are wrong for Wisconsin
Author: Jack Norman, Ph.D. (IWF)
Date: January 2005
A new report skewers the argument that Wisconsin is such
a “tax hell” that we must adopt strict new restrictions
on state and local government spending.The image of Wisconsin
as a “tax hell” has been cultivated by conservatives
to create an appearance of legitimacy for proposed limits
on government spending, such as the so-called Taxpayers’
Bill of Rights (also known as TABOR). When one looks carefully
at the facts, however, there is no tax hell to be found.
Online Version:
» Full Report
(PDF)
Order Print Copies (Full
Report available) |
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Some
Facts About Property Taxes in Milwaukee
Author: Jack Norman, Ph.D. (IWF)
Date: November 2003
Did you know that the property tax burden on City of Milwaukee
taxpayers has remained stable in recent years, and taxpayers
now are paying a smaller percentage of their income in city
property taxes than 20 years ago? This brief report offers
conclusions based on tax and income data obtained from the
City of Milwaukee and the U.S. Census Bureau. (2 pp.)
Online Version:
» Full
Report (PDF)
(available online only) |
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Has
Wisconsin’s State Tax System Become Less Fair? Changes
in the Distribution of Tax Burdens from 1974 to 1995
Authors: Andrew Reschovsky (La Follette
Institute of Public Affairs and Department of Agricultural
and Applied Economics/University of Wisconsin-Madison) &
Chad Reuter (Wisconsin Department of Transportation)
Date: June 1997
This study reveals how major elements of our tax system have
changed over the past couple of decades, and how each change
affected the relative tax burden on non-elderly, married couple
families. The authors note a number of ways that the state
tax system could be made more progressive. (39 pp.)
Online Version:
» Full Report
(PDF)
» Summary
(PDF)
Order Print Copies
(Full Report available) |
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Public
Investment; Private Gain: A Review of Wisconsin's Corporate
Tax Expenditure Budget from Fiscal Years 1974 to 1994
Author: Michael Rosen (Economics Department/Milwaukee
Area Technical College)
Date: May 1995
This study shows that over the past 20 years, tax expenditures,
often characterized as corporate welfare in Wisconsin, have
grown at an astronomical rate while the state economy has
grown only moderately. (19 pp.)
Online Version:
» Full Report
(PDF)
»
Summary (HTML)
Order Print Copies
(Full Report available) |
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