(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly said Wednesday that a 5.7% K-12 schools property tax increase is the fault of state lawmakers and they should approve her proposed $3 billion in additional state taxpayer funding in the next biennial budget.
“As we have seen across the state, with high referendum approval rates in November, communities value public schools and understand the need to appropriately fund our kids’ futures,” Underly said. “Unfortunately, those same communities are being put in an impossible position by our state legislature, which has severely underfunded public schools for well over a decade.”
Underly’s statement comes after a report from Wisconsin Policy Forum that state property taxes will increase $327.2 million this year, the largest increase since 2009.
A large reason for that increase are the 169 school referenda that have been approved across the state this year adding a total $4.4 billion cost to state property tax payers.
The state’s school funding has been the largest area of disagreement amongst state leaders so far in the biennial budget process, with Gov. Tony Evers disagreeing with Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, on how much should be spent on the state’s K-12 schools.
Wisconsin Policy Forum also recently reported the state’s $4 billion budget surplus after this year will not likely continue to increase as the state is projected to have $838 million in surplus above base spending over the next two years as opposed to the $6.8 billion that it projected two years ago.
Underly is thus asking for a spending increase that could not continue after the current budget without cutting from other areas.
Her proposal would shift more of the K-12 school funding obligations to state taxpayers instead of local property taxes.
“Local taxpayers are often choosing to increase their property taxes just so their local schools can keep the lights on and keep educating kids,” Underly said. “It doesn’t have to be this way. My biennial budget proposal reinvests in our public schools and our kids, holds down local property taxes, and will limit the need for districts to go to referendum.”
