Contact: John Forester, 608‐242‐1370
MADISON — John Forester, director of government relations for the School Administrators Alliance, released the following statement on the revenue estimates the Legislative Fiscal Bureau issued today:
“The School Administrators Alliance joins the majority of residents across Wisconsin in asking the Legislature and governor to prioritize public education in our state.
Toward that end, we urge Wisconsin lawmakers to restore the $127 million cut in per-pupil categorical aid in the first year of the biennial budget. We also ask them to support an inflationary increase in per-pupil revenues in each year of the biennium. Anything less than an inflationary increase in per-pupil revenues will require reductions in educational opportunities for public school children across Wisconsin.
Much of the money needed to fund our public schools in this budget already exists. In his budget plan, the governor proposes spending $211.2 million in increased school levy credits that flows to taxpayers as property tax relief and $108 million in proposed increased general aid with no corresponding revenue limit increase — and our school leaders cannot spend one dime of this money. Wisconsin lawmakers should support putting this ‘school funding in name only’ into a form that school leaders can spend on the educational needs of children.
Finally, we are grateful to the legislators who have made public education a priority in this budget process and to the educators, parents and other community leaders across the state for their advocacy efforts on behalf of Wisconsin public schools.”
