DPI promotes major school funding formula change, tax plan a mystery
Delafield, Wis. – State Superintendent Jill Underly accused lawmakers of not supporting children, criticized school choice for families, and called for a significant change in the school funding formula but not the hard part: how to fund it.
These statements were framed as a State of Education address delivered September 24.
THE QUOTE
“I wish Superintendent Underly had cast a vision where Wisconsin’s children lead in reading, excel in math, and graduate prepared to take on the world,” said Quinton Klabon, Senior Research Director at the Institute for Reforming Government. “Instead, her address turned into a campaign rally. ‘Spend more money,’ is not a plan.”
DIG DEEPER
The state of education in Wisconsin requires urgency.
- Wisconsin’s learners have fallen behind national leaders’. Since the pandemic, Wisconsin ranked 30th of 35 states in reading recovery and 33rd of 38 in mathematics recovery.
- Wisconsin has shameful achievement gaps. In 31 of 50 states, students with English as a second language outscore Wisconsin Black students in early reading.
- Spending is not a silver bullet. Wisconsin ranks 23rd in revenue per student, adjusted for the cost of living, far above states with superior academic performance like Indiana, Florida, and Texas.
- Wisconsin’s school staff level is the highest ever. Wisconsin public schools now employ 1 adult for every 7 students.
- DPI is promoting ineffective teaching. DPI is criticizing “direct instruction” in favor of methods that continually fail students, especially those already behind. Countries like England, which have followed research about how children learn, now rank among the world’s best education systems.
