The Wisconsin Association for Equity in Funding (AEF) today applauded the compromise budget repair bill. Just a few months ago, AEF Board Chair John Gaier made the job clear stating, “Fixing the revenue limit system needs to be the number one priority for the 2027-2029 budget. For now, an increase in general/equalization aid is important and attainable.” That’s exactly what happened: $300 million for property tax relief and another $300 million for special education. Importantly, what didn’t happen was an increase in the School Levy Tax Credit, a $1.2 billion scheme in which we pay income and sales taxes, and those funds are redistributed to property taxpayers even when they don’t live in Wisconsin.
The focus has already shifted–we are hearing from other groups about the need for “inflationary increases” and how school funding hasn’t kept pace with cost increases. What won’t be talked about is the fact that 72 school districts across the state are getting over 10% more in revenues than the other 349. AEF will continue to call out the fact that aside from the groundbreaking 2023-2025 budget in which the gap between low and high revenue districts was closed substantially, the state budget process has “picked winners and losers” in the race for education funding since 1993. We will continue to offer workable solutions to that fundamental problem.
The Wisconsin Association for Equity in Funding (WAEF) is a group of Wisconsin school districts that seeks financial equity in the state system of school financing. Members include urban, suburban and rural schools, educating about 83,000 students across Wisconsin. The two issues that brought this group together have been the wide differences in the amount school districts have been able to invest in the education of their children (Revenue Limits) and the even wider differences in the property tax burden to pay for that investment.
