From Jill Gaskell

Blanchardville

To the Editor:

Howard Marklein is playing games with our children’s future.  He is increasing “school funding in name only” according to John Forester, Executive Director of the School Administrators Alliance.  The Joint Finance Committee (JFC), co-chaired by Senator Marklein, voted to put over $400 million into the education fund.  However, not one dime of their “investment” will actually make it into a school budget.  The money goes directly to property tax relief, cleverly disguised as education funding but not funding any child’s education.

Technically, the JFC has met the requirements of the federal APRA program which requires a “Maintenance of Effort”, or continuing the funding in the same proportions as in 2019.  Wisconsin’s public schools were underfunded even in 2019.  The Wisconsin Policy Forum shows that our once outstanding education system is now below average for per-pupil spending in the United States.  We have also fallen behind in K-12 spending increases for over a decade.

COVID-19 has laid bare the inequities of our school funding system that have been there for decades, with a few districts doing well while the majority of schools fall farther and farther behind.  Our Legislators have the opportunity to help equalize some of the inequities in that system.

Budgets are often described as moral documents that reflect the priorities of the authors.  If Howard Marklein, Mark Born, and the rest of the JFC won’t put the futures of our children as their top priority, what is their incentive for holding office?