In her annual State of Education address, State Superintendent Jill Underly called to change the school funding formula and said “financial questions” schools are facing are the result of “deliberate political choices.”
Underly used her address Thursday to highlight the role of public education in American democracy and said for nearly two decades elected officials have failed to uphold a “constitutional promise” to provide “predictable and sustainable” funding for state education.
The state superintendent pointed to a record number of school referendums this year, with districts throughout the state requesting over $1 billion on the April 7 ballot, as evidence of school funding failure. Underly said that referendums are turning schools into “casualties of partisan politics instead of the pride of their communities.”
Underly said any problems in Wisconsin public education are not from teachers, schools or students but a lack of adequate support for education.
“The problem is we’re asking them to carry the weight of decades of political decisions and then blame them when the burden comes too heavy,” Underly said. “Years of undermining public confidence in public schools does not help children.”
She specifically pointed to school revenue caps instituted in 1993 and a 2009 decision to end inflation adjustments for revenue limits.
Underly told reporters after her speech that past requests for funds for technical education, speech and language pathology, and mental health resources could also be expected in DPI’s upcoming budget request.
The agency filed an extension and has until Nov. 30 to submit its request. Two years ago DPI put in a request for $4.3 billion.
When asked by WisPolitics what adequate school funding would look like, Underly pointed to 2019 recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission. The commission’s report includes increasing special education reimbursement costs and adjusting revenue limit formulas.
Underly said the current school funding formula values the “wrong” things, such as enrollment and property value, instead of student need. She noted the need to address racial disparities in K-12 education and improve overall academic outcomes.
“The formula used for funding our schools for years has failed our children, schools, and the entire communities, and the reasons are varied and complex, but you don’t need to be familiar with every detail of the funding formula to note that it’s simply not working,” Underly said.
Underly also thanked Gov. Tony Evers and first lady Kathy Evers for their “unwavering support of public education.”
The superintendent also said there are people running for office with a decade or more of political experience “who have left state government for another level and now want to return” that have voted against investment in schools.
She told attendees to look at a candidate’s record and not campaign promises. Underly did not name any candidates running for state office in her address.
The Institute for Reforming Government, a conservative Delafield-based policy think tank, criticized the superintendent’s speech, saying that “spend more money is not a plan.”
“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,” Quinton Klabon, a senior research director for IRG, said in a statement. “Instead, her address turned into a campaign rally.”
