Wisconsin School Finance Reform
Description
UW-Madison Professor Allan Odden has conducted a school finance adequacy "cost out" study for a panel of leading state education and political leaders, identifying school level strategies and resources, and their costs, that would allow schools to double student performance in Wisconsin. Historically, Wisconsin has focused on school finance equity and its links to property tax relief. Given the curriculum standards the state has decided all students should be taught and the performance standards to which all students should achieve, however, Odden focuses on school finance adequacy: to identify what it would take programmatically to attain those standards to fully funding those programs. The resulting cost figure will set a target for what the state should fund for K-12 education, with a combination of state and local funds. The recommendations are now quite timely in terms of Governor Doyle's proposals for changing the QEO and revenue limit elements of the school aid formula, and the debates over how federal stimulus funds should be used to boost student learning.
Outcomes
A set of proposals to overhaul the state's K-12 school funding formula and recommendations for implementation that would enhance each school's and district's abilities to use the resources to dramatically improve student academic achievement. Whether the state should fund more than what constitutes an 'adequate' education can be debated, but the results of this study will at least provide a new starting point for school finance policy debates in Wisconsin.
Partners
- Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
- Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
- Wisconsin State Assembly
- Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
- Milwaukee Public Schools
- Wisconsin Technology Council
Web site
Leader
Allan Odden, Professor