LETTER: Don’ t believe claims that state is increasing school funding

In the last few weeks, I have read with dismay that the politicians in Madison are touting legislation they say is increasing state equalization aid for schools and that the federal Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief funds are providing more than enough money for our public schools. Nothing could be further from the truth when analyzed from a public school financial management perspective.

I write as a licensed school business manager and strategic school business management consultant. I have worked in two Wisconsin districts as a full-time director of business services and, since 2015, have served as an interim director, consultant and mentor in very large, medium sized, and very small.

Using the district that I currently serve as an example, I make two very important points for my fellow Wisconsin citizens who might not understand or appreciate Wisconsin state public school funding and its corresponding formulas.

An area legislator recently published an article stating that he is fully supportive of public school education and that funding public education is one of the most important things we do as a society. His fellow legislators in Madison crow that they have increased the state equalization aid for public schools by many millions of dollars.          Yet because of the revenue limit for all Wisconsin public school districts, increasing state equalization aid does not increase new money to fund public school education. The thing that it does do is lower the tax levy of public school districts. It prioritizes reducing taxes over making sure that public school districts can fund solid educational programs. 

Because of the revenue limit, not only does the current legislative proposal not provide any new money to public school districts, but the legislators’ claim that Wisconsin public schools are receiving $2.6 billion in new federal money totally misleads Wisconsin citizens who hold outstanding public education dear to their hearts. 

While the state indeed is receiving a one-time $2.6 billion in relief funds for K-12 education, the money is disproportionately allocated to a few large districts.  A small or medium-size district could receive from $50,000 to $500,000 in federal relief funds. That is the good news. The bad news is that the money from the federal government must be spent on very specific things, like Covid cleaning supplies, special filters and distance-learning hardware and software. Many districts will consider spending the funds on staffing and operations. If they do, there are no commitments for future money at this time, and balancing a district’s budget in the future will have to be done by cuts, a referendum approved by the taxpayers of the district, or both. Those of us in Wisconsin school business management consider the federal relief funds to be “fools gold” if not used strategically.

Wisconsin legislators are either ignorant of public school financing or they really don’t care about proper funding of Wisconsin public school districts. The conclusion of this writer: both.

Tim Stellmacher
West Bend