Imagine trying to drive your family on a long trip with a nearly empty tank of gas. You can coast where you can, maybe turn off the A/C to save fuel. But deep down, you know: eventually, you’re going to stall.
That is exactly where Wisconsin’s public schools are right now.
For years, we’ve asked our educators and schools to do more with less. Costs have skyrocketed. Student needs have dramatically increased. But state funding? It’s barely moved. Despite this, our teachers, school leaders, and staff have kept things moving. But the tank is empty, it hasn’t been filled for decades, and we’re at a breaking point.
To fill the empty tank and keep moving forward, school districts across Wisconsin have been forced to rely on short-term solutions, asking communities to increase their own property taxes just to keep the lights on, pay staff, and offer basic programs. That is not sustainable – it’s a sign that the system doesn’t work.
Joint Finance Committee taking up schools in budget
This week, the Joint Committee on Finance will begin deciding how much Wisconsin invests in our schools over the next two years. They have a critical choice: continue underfunding schools, or finally pave a sustainable path forward.
Wisconsin’s public schools need resources that are flexible, spendable, and predictable – ones that allow local districts to address their unique needs. The education budget that Gov. Tony Evers and I have proposed provides those resources and meets the real challenges kids and educators face every day.
Take special education. Today, the state reimburses schools for less than 30 percent of these legally required services, forcing districts to make difficult decisions to cut other programs just to meet the law. Raising state reimbursement to 60 percent is not just responsible and fair, it’s what education leaders pleaded for in front of the committee just a few months ago during listening sessions. And it’s what the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission already recommended in 2019.
But this budget is about much more than numbers. This is about kids.
It’s about the high school student who goes to bed hungry and comes to school distracted and tired. One in four Wisconsin high schoolers have reported hunger because of a lack of food at home. The budget request sitting before the JCF includes universal free school meals so every child can start the day ready to learn, not just ready to survive.
It’s about the student quietly struggling with depression or anxiety. Right now, 60 percent of our high school students report at least one serious mental health challenge. That is much more than a statistic – it’s a daily reality in every classroom in every corner of our state. Schools need funding to hire counselors, social workers, and mental health professionals. And our students deserve support and someone to talk to when they need it.
Nearly half of new teachers in Wisconsin leave jobs in 7 years
And it’s about teachers. The ones who dedicate their lives to the future of kids, who stay after school to grade papers or to coach athletics, who buy supplies out of their own pockets and lose sleep worrying about their students. Nearly half of new teachers in Wisconsin leave within seven years. If we want to build the next generation of doctors, tradespeople, scientists, and citizens, we have to invest in the professionals helping shape them today.
We have a responsibility to our kids, our communities, and our future to get this right. This is the moment for the legislature to act. The decisions made in the coming weeks will define the future of education in our state. The Joint Finance Committee must choose to invest boldly and responsibly in the students, educators, and schools that shape Wisconsin’s future.
We’ve coasted long enough. It’s time to fill the tank and finally give Wisconsin’s public schools the fuel they need to move forward.
Jill Underly is State Superintendent of Public Instruction. She was reelected to a second term in April.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin public schools deserve more dollars. Lawmakers must fix broken system. | Opinion
Reporting by Jill Underly / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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