Study Finds Wisconsin School Funding Formula is Not Meeting it's Obligations
Thursday, September 18th, 2014 -- 9:43 AM
-A study by the Association of Equity in Funding has found that Wisconsin?s school funding formula no longer funds all school districts adequately.In a 79 page report and press release provided by Neillsville District Administrator and AEF President, John Gaier, it spelled out 4 questions the 2013 study sought to answer using data analyses for school districts from 2004 to 2011.
The four questions were, is the trend in public education funding and any disparity based on higher needs students as defined in Vincent v. Voight, which is student poverty as measured by free or reduced lunch rate, English language learner rate, and special needs enrollment rate, having overtly unequal effects on a specific type of school district and if so, what are the characteristics of those districts; are traditional school finance equity measures such as the McLoone and Verstegen indices sufficient measures of equity and neutrality; is the public education funding system trending away from mandated equity for all students, regardless of need or demographic; and is the decline in state aid and increase in student poverty, resulting in a net increase in reliance on local property taxes, in violation of the Wisconsin statute on education funding?
The extremely simplified answer to the above mentioned questions is no. In the end, the study determined the system is not meeting its obligations, as shown between gaps in per pupil funding and spending, resulting in a child?s educational opportunities being determined by where he/she lives and the trend is getting worse.
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