SFN's Plan
Key points in the School Finance Network's funding proposal:
School Funding must meet student costs
Current law is based on a formula unrelated to the cost of educating students. Targeted aid has remained almost unchanged for 15 years despite significant increases in the number of high-cost students. The proposal increases categorical aid for children with disabilities and special needs, for small and rural school districts, and also for low-income students.
School funding must meet the cost of living
The state's current funding system does not allow schools to keep up with real-world costs, such as those for utilities and transportation. The proposal reconfigures how annual increases are calculated. Per pupil increases would have moved from $264 to $350 in 2007-08, with future increases tied to overall statewide economic growth measured by personal income.
Control property taxes
The plan increases state aid and expands homestead property tax relief, generating lower property taxes and providing tax relief for homeowners.
Pay for the plan
Closing cooperate loopholes, eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for companies that don't keep jobs in Wisconsin, modernizing the sales tax and adopting strategies that increase federal support for the state.
The full SFN report can be read at www.SFNWisconsin.org.
Members of the School Finance Network (SFN) talked to legislators about problems in Wisconsin's school funding laws. The SFN consists of several groups, including the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, the Wisconsin Education Association Council and the Wisconsin PTA.
Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, and Rep. Steve Hilgenberg, D-Dodgeville, said they were pleased to have a meeting to discuss school funding issues, though nothing was formalized from the hearing.
Davis said school funding is something that needs to be discussed.
"We need to continue to understand how funding affects kids," Davis said.
The meeting was meant to be a starting point as the state looks at how it can help school districts solve their funding problems, Hilgenberg said.
"I think it's wise for the Education Committee to follow up on the meeting, analyze the suggestions and pick them apart to do what's best for our schools," he said. "I looked at it as an informational meeting."
Hilgenberg said the SFN spoke about gaps between the revenue caps and fixed cost increases, declining enrollment and how it affects district funding, and insufficient aid for high need students, which includes non-English speaking students and special education students.
Davis said he appreciated the discussion about school funding, and it's something he's been working on for the past couple of years.
School finance reform needs to be fiscally sound, however, he said.
"The state spends about $12.3 billion for pre-K through 12 education over two years. We need to know how much new money would be needed to fund education under (the SFN) plan," he said.
He said the group wants to align revenues and expenses for school districts, and that would lead to more money put into education at a time when the state already faces a budget deficit.
Davis said it could cost the state between $1.3 billion and $2.5 billion to increase school funding to the level proposed by the SFN.
If the state repeals the Qualified Economic Offer to teachers, which caps salary and benefits increases at 3.9 percent, expenses to fund education at the local level will increase, critics say.
That would mean referendums or cuts from classrooms.
In a news release Tuesday from SFN, Rick Rolfsmeyer, executive director of Wisconsin Rural Partners and president of the Pecatonica School Board, said the state's education system is in trouble.
"Wisconsin's strong tradition of public education is eroding under the current school funding formula," he said.
Hilgenberg said the Education Committee will hold hearings over the next year to look more closely at school funding.