New Lawsuit Aims to Stop Milwaukee County from Looting Wisconsin’s School Fund
The News: WILL has filed a new lawsuit against Milwaukee County to end an unconstitutional carve out allowing Milwaukee County withhold millions from Wisconsin’s Common School Fund. This fund, mandated by the Wisconsin Constitution, supports libraries in schools and communities across Wisconsin. Under a provision tucked away in the current state budget, Milwaukee County may take 100% of all traffic fines and forfeitures, while other counties must deposit most of this money into the Common School Fund. Milwaukee County is now the only county that benefits from this carve out in the state budget.
The Quotes: WILL Associate Counsel, Lauren Greuel, stated, “The ‘Cream City Carve Out,’ is a flagrant and unconstitutional money grab by Milwaukee County, okayed by the last state budget. Our constitution requires these funds to go into the Common School Fund, and this budget provision is plainly unlawful. Library funding should be protected to ensure this vital resource continues to serve Wisconsinites for generations to come.”
WILL Client, Christine Stueland, stated, “As a taxpayer and library user, I know that every dollar matters. It’s frustrating to watch politicians in Madison give Milwaukee special treatment while others are shortchanged. If we don’t fight back for fairness and equal treatment for all, it will only get worse.”
Background: The Wisconsin Constitution created the Common School Fund and requires the clear proceeds of all state fines and forfeitures to be deposited in it. That fund then provides crucial funding to public libraries and schools throughout Wisconsin. Historically, all counties could keep 50% of fines and forfeitures, but this new law gives Milwaukee County a unique exemption, allowing it to keep all the revenue of state traffic fines and forfeitures. This is a direct hit to the Common School Fund that distributed $70 million to libraries in 2025 alone. The State of Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates this change will cause a loss of $4.4 million to the fund over the current two-year state budget, or about $2.2 million each year.
WILL’s Legal Argument: The lawsuit contains two primary legal claims. First, the plaintiff is directly harmed as a library user as her library will have less resources available from the Common School Fund due to the law.
Second, the plaintiff is harmed as a taxpayer because the state legislature overstepped its constitutional authority by granting a unique carve-out to a single county, making the provision unlawful and harming taxpayers across the state.
If this provision is allowed to stand, what is stopping the next budget from including all sorts of carve-outs for Milwaukee, Dane, or whatever other county they want to appease next.
Read More:
- Complaint, October 2025
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