Vernon County school officials meet with local legislators in Westby to discuss school funding crisis, vouchers

WESTBY, Wis. – On Monday, Jan. 20, school officials from several area schools districts met in Westby with 32nd State Senator Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) and 96th Assembly Representative Tara Johnson (D-La Crosse) to discuss school funding challenges and possible solutions. Representatives from four Vernon County school districts, including administrators and board members attended the meeting including Westby, La Farge, Viroqua and Kickapoo.

Westby Area Schools Administrator Steve Michaels helped organize the meeting that was an offshoot of a regular weekly meeting of the Vernon County School Administrators. Michaels said the administrators meet every Monday morning, a ritual that started during COVID and that has continued, to discuss school issues. Michaels said the idea for this meeting, to specifically address what many the room room would call a funding crisis, with legislators, came from Westby Schools Board President Gerry Roethel.

So what is the school funding crisis?

According to this previous story we carried by Wisconsin Watch, last year, half of all Wisconsin school districts will have gone to referendum in 2024, asking for almost $6 billion in total from Wisconsin residents in districts scattered across the state. At least 192 school districts — of the state’s 421 — will have posed 241 referendum questions to residents of their districts this year, according to data from the state Department of Public Instruction.

The push from districts for additional funding comes as the debate over state aid for K-12 public schools has become central to many competitive legislative races. Lawmakers increased funding for public schools by $1 billion during the state’s most recent budget cycle, though the majority of that increase was tied to additional funding for public charter and private voucher schools. Gov. Tony Evers and legislative Democrats are likely to once again push for additional funding during budget negotiations beginning next month.

Federal pandemic relief funds that Wisconsin school districts have been able to spend since 2020 will expire this month.

Voters approved 62 of the 103 school referendums on the primary and general election ballots this spring — a record number since at least 2000. The 60% approval rate was the lowest in a midterm or presidential election year since 2010, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

As districts across the state grapple with declining enrollment, many are forced to close and consolidate schools in their district to cut back on costs, particularly operating expenses. The Kenosha Unified School District closed six of its schools this year due to declining enrollment after facing a $15 million deficit.

Wisconsin’s per-pupil K-12 spending has increased at a lower rate than every other state in the nation besides Indiana and Idaho between 2002 and 2020, according to the Policy Forum.

In 2009, the state Legislature decoupled per-pupil revenue limits from inflation. Without matching inflation, school districts have been slashing their budgets for years.

One of the points the districts who attended wanted to point out was the difference between an operational referendum and a building or capital improvement referendum. Both referendums allow a district to exceed the tax levy limits sent by the state but a building referendum can only be used for capital projects like building or remodeling. An operating referendum allows a district to exceed the levy limits and use the revenue for day to day operating expenses like salaries and overhead costs. Building referendum revenue cannot be used for things like salaries utilities or transportation.

As an example, Viroqua Schools passed building two building referendums in 2022. A $17 million referendum included improvements at both the elementary and middle-high school, and $3.5 million to expand the Tech Ed space by 7,500 square feet. Viroqua is now going to the voters with an operating referendum that would allow them to exceed their levy limit by $1.3 million a year for three years. The district says that money is needed to retain teachers, maintain class sizes and avoid cuts to programming.

Vernon County districts voice their concerns

Michaels addressed the two legislators in the room and said that every school district in attendance was making ends meet with an operating referendum that allows them to exceed their levy limit, and De Soto Schools would have attended the meeting, but they happened to have a school board meeting the same night.

“Every district in this room, every district in Vernon County, depends on an operating referendum and has for a period of time,” said Michaels. “Our friends in De Soto are going through a really tough time right now. And I really wish Mike (Interim Superintendent Mike Richie) and some of his team could have been here tonight, but they had a board meeting so they couldn’t. But the struggles that De Soto is experiencing right now could happen to any of us at any given election if a referendum were not to pass. So, just the state of funding in all of our districts in Vernon County, and then we can talk a little bit about vouchers if you wanted to. I know Viroqua has a really pointed story to tell about that, as does Kickapoo.”

Viroqua District Administrator Tom Burkhalter urged the legislators to take a bipartisan approach to solving the school funding shortfalls.

“When we get into a piece where we’re starting to talk about policy formation and budget formation, we really need to make sure that we’re sending the right message and right messages,” said Burkhalter. “Not one to, especially in this in this particular situation, look to the other side of the aisle and say, you’ve wronged us. You owe us now give us more money. We know how that works, and it doesn’t work well. We’ve got evidence that says that, hey, that doesn’t work well. And so, we really need to make sure that we’re coming to the table and saying, look at what we are doing despite being underfunded. Can you imagine if we were funded at an appropriate level, like, can you imagine what we would be able to accomplish? Look at what all these rural, rural school districts are doing here in Vernon County. I’ll continue to call you two, to, is. the old system of throwing stones at the other side and then hoping something sticks, does not work. And both sides need to, need to, actually, because the people that lose in those situations are our students. And that’s the that’s what’s been happening, and we can’t have that.”

Michaels said the two areas where there seems to be potential support for increasing school funding is in the area of special education and increasing the low revenue limit ceiling.

Viroqua Schools Board President Angie Lawrence said one of the end results of the current system of funding through continuous referendums is a disparity between districts with more resources and those who do not.

“So we just have to find a way of distributing those dollars and hope for more tax dollars coming from the state,” said Lawrence. “And not having to pass all of these referendums, because they’re really expensive to put on the ballot too. And then if you fail and then you have to do it again. There’s a tremendous cost in education for us to continue on this way.”

Sen. Pfaff said he thinks the Gov. Evers will “double down” on education in the upcoming budget and pointed to several areas where the he thinks the Gov. and the legislature could see eye to eye on increasing funding.

“You hear a lot about the state budget surplus that we have estimates, but some of the estimates are as high as $4.6 billion but recently,” said Pfaff. “The state taxpayers passed $4.4 billion worth of school referendums. So I find it kind of interesting, almost one for one. I happen to believe that in the budget he’s going to present is going to really try and move forward as far as special ed funding. I don’t know if they get the 90% (funding) but I do think that there’s going to be a significant investment in there. I think there’s going to be some movement when it comes to additional per pupil. I think there’s going to be additional categorical aid.”

But Pfaff warned the issue will come down to what can be agreed on given conflicting priorities in the legislature.

“The legislature is in the hands of a different party than what the governors is and as a result, that budget will be largely scrapped,” said Pfaff. “And then the legislature will start moving forward from there. And so this is where the conversation needs to take place. How do we address and communicate with legislators from all parts of this state in regards to the needs for education funding? And that is why this conversation I hope can be replicated in other parts of the state, with other legislators. I think that education is the great unifier. It’s what brings people together. It’s the centerpiece of our communities. It provides opportunities. But I think we need to stay focused on what we’re seeking to do, and that is increased dollars on the per pupil basis.”

Johnson echoed Pfaff and said she hopes there can be common ground to find ways to increase funding for education.

“I think my hope is that we are focused on finding common ground” said Johnson. “And I think if whatever low hanging fruit we can find and prove to ourselves as an assembly, I would just speak to the assembly, but if we can find special ed funding and an increase there, that we can find agreements, I think it is really important that as an assembly, we we prove to ourselves that we can do that. There has been such sharp divide for so long that I think part of this is kind of retraining the muscle memory and teaching ourselves how to find common ground and work on that and teach ourselves that example, and then follow that example again with other with other topics. So that’s what my hope is.”

Johnson strong schools is not just about the education they provide.

“I have learned during the campaign, is how incredibly important schools are in in our communities, right?” asked Johnson. “It is not only top notch quality education, but it’s the place the place. It is the sense of community. It is the place where so much happens in all of our communities. And I think that that is part of the story that needs to be told.”

Special Education

Kim Littel was a special education instructor at Viroqua Schools and now serves on the school board. Littel said the results of special education are often amazing and can reach students that no one thought could be reached, but it takes resources and time. Little shared the story of one students success.

“Her son is non verbal, but he has been able to learn how to use an eye gaze,” said Littel. “Now, an eye gaze isn’t cheap, and it’s hard too. It takes time to teach the student, but it is also the technology. So this student now can communicate with people. He tells jokes with his eye gaze. They had no clue. They had no clue what was in his head until he could do that. Those things all cost more. And you have to have the speech and language people who know how to do that, and you have to have all those things. And it seems to me, special ed has never been funded at the level.”

Pfaff those are the kind of students that should be focus of funding in Madison.

“One of the things that I hear all the time, and I just want you to be aware of it, because the fact is, is that these interest groups that are in the Capital are always talking about focusing on that child,” said Pfaff. “And that is why it is very important that that child has the opportunity to go to the school, the very best school so they can bring up the very, very best in that child. And as you just mentioned in your example, by having that technology, making sure that there’s funding available for technology so students, more students like what you just mentioned, have that opportunity.”

Lawrence asked that any additional funding streams not be in the form of grants, because rural schools do not have the resources to write grants and they cannot compete in terms of numbers with non-rural districts.

Pfaff said the political lines have shifted somewhat in Madison and that could impact what happens with education issues in the legislature, particularly in the Senate.

“We have a situation where we have an urban rural divide, let’s say in this state,” said Pfaff. And one could say that it’s even populated like the red and blue, kind of follows the rural urban, one may say. But I think if you look at the makeup of at least in the state senate, that right now is the political power in the state senate. The Republican Party no longer comes from suburban Milwaukee. It is now more outstate, more rural. So that’s a different dynamic than it was from 2010 up until 2022. It’s a different dynamic in the Senate. I mean, you’re seeing the senate president is from Tomahawk, which is a very, very rural part. We have the Joint Finance Committee Chair, who is just down the road here in Spring Green in Iowa County. So you have a different makeup than what the leadership in the state senate was 10 years ago or 12 years ago. Now I can’t speak for the assembly. I don’t serve in the assembly, and obviously Robin Voss has been speaker from Southeast Wisconsin for 10 to 12 years, but it’s a different makeup in the Senate. So I I think it’s a different debate if the issues are presented.”

Pfaff went on to say in the coming weeks the Governor will present his budget the the State Superintendents races will play out, and both of those things could also impact what happens with school funding in the next budget. And Pfaff said he is concerned the debate about what happens with Milwaukee Public Schools may take the focus away from the issues in rural districts that he is focused on. MPS has been wrestling with financial mismanagement issues that forced the Governor and the Department of Public Instruction to conduct an audit that was just recently completed.

“And then it is going to be very interesting to see what happens with Milwaukee Public Schools,” said Pfaff. “I brought that up on the front end. I stand here with you because I want to be focused on right here, from Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau and Melrose Mindoro to the north, to Kickapoo and De Soto to the south, and all the districts in between. That’s what I represent. That’s what I’m interested in, that’s what I’m very focused on. I made that very clear to my leadership in the state senate. I made it very clear to the Governor. So you know, I would like your help to focus the conversation, and that is, that, yes, special ed, for sure, I’m there. The thing is, is that I’m not in the majority, but I’m there.”

Burkhalter challenged the legislators to call out the mistakes in the Milwaukee Schools.

“You brought that MPS up a couple of times, and I think it’s important as superintendents that we call out districts that are not doing it the right way either, right?” said Burkhalter. “And so with what happened with MPS was absolutely and wildly inappropriate. And so when we say we don’t want to focus on that, and we just say, oh, never mind. It’s a school. And I don’t want to say anything. I think we have a political side that sees that when there was absolute wrongdoing, borderline illegal, the way that they withheld information from the state of Wisconsin. DPI. So that’s, I think it’s important that both sides of the aisle see that, that Democrats, when wrong is done, also call out wrong, right? And so this is a piece where, I’m sorry, I might be in the minority here, but schools need to be held accountable. They need to be held accountable. And that’s a piece where when we get quiet, right? Because we don’t want to throw another public school under the bus, we don’t want to do those kind of things, but when it comes out like this, that is a piece where I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to just sit there and pretend like what they did was okay. Bcause I do think then it does show that we’re okay with what was happening.”

Kristina Reser-Jaynes, a parent in the Kickapoo district said the Milwaukee situation is different than the other districts and is an example of how public schools are required to be transparent.

“Milwaukee School is different though,” said Reser-Jaynes. “The superintendent has different powers in Milwaukee schools. The Milwaukee school is funded differently, right? So, I just wondered, as a community member, trying to understand all this, I was thinking, we should be talking about Milwaukee. We should say, look at Milwaukee is a public school. We wouldn’t know what was going on if it was a voucher school. There’s a voucher school in Milwaukee that’s getting $40 million. So, I think we should talk about it, and DPI had been working with them. So, I think it’s a bad situation, but I think that’s very separate from the rest of it, right?”

Lawrence said she would like an institution like to DPI to go into a district if it is not being successful and help that district or hold it accountable.

“I don’t know what that looks like,” said Lawrence. “It’s out of my area of expertise, but if a school district isn’t doing well and they need help, then we need to make sure they get help and that changes. And sometimes maybe a school is closed, and that’s okay. If they’re not doing their job and they’re not educating students, then you know, there needs to be a checks and balances system and accountability.”

Pfaff said the shift in the makeup of the State Senate is shifting to rural areas and that makes him somewhat hopeful the issues rural districts are facing like declining enrollment, transportation and special education can be addressed in the next budget.

“There’s 33 members in the State Senate, and before this most recent election, I was one of two senators that was not in the Milwaukee – Madison area,” said Pfaff. “Now I’m proud to say that there’s three more that have joined. So there’s five, there’s five of us within the Democratic caucus that are not in the Milwaukee – Madison axis.”

Michaels said the real issue is the levy limits that never allow a district to grow the overall revenue needed to keep pace with operating a district.

“One of the things that I’d like you to think about is revenue the limit,” said Michaels. “And the reason is the revenue limit, minus state aid, equals the local tax. So, the revenue limit is the pie that we have to operate on. And if that pie does never gets any bigger, you can mess around with the state aid and stuff, and that’s great, but the pie is still the same size. So even if the state aid goes up, or taxes go down, or vice versa, that pie is the same size. And so unless that pie gets bigger, we’re going to be knocking on doors every three years for an operating referendum.”

Sandy Malliet has been the business manager for three of the districts in her career, Viroqua, Kickapoo and now Westby. Malliet said she would rather see per pupil aids increase.

“If the revenue limit goes up and the state aid doesn’t go up with it, then we’re looking at local tax levy increases,” said Malliet. “Which is killing our referendums. So if you’re looking at per pupil increases, it would be more beneficial, I think, to increase the per pupil aid, that actual per pupil aid that we get that’s outside of the revenue limit.”

Pfaff said that change would not likely get past Speaker Vos in the Assembly.

Vouchers

Malliet said another issue that is making it difficult for public schools to make ends meet are school vouchers. Not just the loss of the revenue from the district to another school, but the timing of how they are required to pay them.

“One of the other things I think that’s that really makes our job difficult is the transfer to the voucher schools that we have to make at the end of the year,” said Malliet. “Which we have no idea at the beginning of the year how much that’s going to be, or who those students are, or what school they’re going to. We don’t even know if the amount is right. And then the next year, we get to add that to our tax levy, which is really exciting to try to explain to them (to taxpayers). So it’s, I’m really struggling with that. And same thing with transportation, we don’t find out what that is until June. It’s hard to buy a bus in June before the end of the year.”

The state offers several options, including the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program (WPCP), which allows students and families to attend private schools using state-sponsored vouchers. School vouchers in Wisconsin can have a significant impact on public school funding. When students use vouchers to attend private schools, the funding that would have gone to their public schools is redirected to cover the cost of the vouchers. This means that public schools lose out on per-pupil funding for each student who leaves.

This reduction in funding can lead to several challenges since fixed costs (like building maintenance and utilities) remain the same regardless of enrollment numbers, public schools may struggle to adjust their budgets to accommodate the loss of funding.

Burkhalter said the Viroqua district is one the hardest hit districts in the state when it comes to loss of revenue to vouchers.

“So vouchers, Viroqua, percentage wise, we are on of the top five in the state right now for our local levy,” said Burkhalter. “And the percentage that goes to vouchers which crossed the $950,000 threshold this year, which is just crazy. Five years ago it was $50,000.”

Burkhalter said that makes it appear like they are losing kids to private schools when their enrollment actually went up by four students last year.

“The narrative is, well, if you’re losing this much money, then you must be bleeding kids.” said Burkhalter. “And that’s just not the case. In fact, we gain more students from our private schools than we lose, almost two to one right now. So it’s a piece where it’s like, it’s completely the opposite narrative. It’s a crazy thing to try to explain.”

And Burkhalter added, the way the credits are calculated forces the district to tax the taxpayers in the district for costs incurred through vouchers but the local taxpayers see the tax on their bill from the public school.

“The tax credit garbage that is happening right now is really ridiculous,” said Burkhalter. “So, of the $950 (thousand) this year, because we went up by $125,000 this year, so from last year’s numbers to this year’s numbers, we went up $125,000. And then the tax credit was, to the penny, $125,000. And so that’s the local tax credit to cover the addition to the voucher system for this year. What it didn’t do was cover the $300,000 from last year, right? And so now we have to tax our local taxpayers $300,000 on something, that we don’t ,again, there’s zero accountability for.”

Burkhalter said the voucher concept was invented in Wisconsin and there is no evidence that the system works to give kids in the voucher system a better education.

“Actually there’s an unprecedented learning loss,” said Reser-Jaynes. “An education loss, for kids who go back into public schools, who have gone out of voucher schools. It’s unbelievably ridiculous. And my question is, why are the politicians catering to the group that has maybe 50,000 kids in their voucher schools when there’s 750,000 kids in public schools? I think what we all need to do is draw a line for people so they understand what is happening, because we have politicians who are catering to that voucher lobby, and the voucher lobby has a lot of money. We’re talking DeVos, Waltons, Heritage (foundation), Bradley (foundation), all those foundations, they have unlimited money, and they are trying to tell everybody that you guys are not letting people have choices, when actually the choice schools, they get to choose the students. And if we don’t paint this picture for people, nothing’s going happen.”

Pfaff said the voucher issue may be the defining issue in the state superintendents race.

“Wisconsin was the first state,” said Pfaff. “Remember Tommy Thompson in 1990 said, just 1000 students. It’ll cost $1 million. Today, we spend over $580 million on this stuff. But I do think, to answer your question, I think this DPI race, this April, is going to be, this is going to be a huge part of it. I really do. Because I think you’ve got three candidates in the race.”

Pfaff said he wants to focus on the areas to increase funding that he thinks he can get through the legislature that will help his rural districts.

“I will say this, and again, I am not here to pile on my friends and colleagues in Milwaukee, but I do believe the debate on education has been driven for the last 25 to 30 years of what’s happening in Milwaukee,” said Pfaff. “We have seen out here, we have seen what’s happened, and you guys do a wonderful job. And I cannot comment on why a majority party that now is primarily driven by outstate Republican legislators want to continue that same debate that they had over the last 12 to 15 years. But I can tell you within my own caucus, and again, now that we have more outstate people, I want to focus on the conversations that we’re having. I think revenue limits, I agree on the revenue limit. I just think that is going to be really, really hard to move that in the legislature. I’m not saying it isn’t worth moving. I just think that it that’s going to be very, very difficult to do the voucher thing that was brought up.”

Burkhalter said they are not on a level playing field with voucher schools since the accreditation process was loosened and they are not required to meet the same financial and academic transparency standards.

“So when they originally made this statewide piece, for the first two years, you had to get national accreditation,” said Burkhalter. “Which was incredibly, incredibly difficult. There are only two national accreditation agencies, and it was incredibly difficult. It was a years long process where you had to go through and bust open your books be super transparent. Essentially, you were a public school, right? And then in year three of that voucher system, the state then said that essentially, anyone can accredit you. So, the reason I know about this is because I was a parochial principal in the Diocese of La Crosse, and I’ll tell you how our process went to gain accreditation. Five Principles went across the diocese, and we had a binder. A binder that we literally went to the other local parish schools, and we were the accreditation group for each
other. So you get accredited through the Diocese of La Crosse. Our Waldorf school is accredited through the Waldorf accreditation, right? They’re self accredited, correct? And so you’re creating groups that can, that can give themselves the accreditation to become a choice school.”

“I guess I’m trying to figure out why we’re (public schools) even in the mix of this?” asked Milliet. “Why don’t they pay the vouchers schools directly?”

Voucher school tax levy money shows up on your local tax bill as going to the public school when it is actually not going to the public school. Reser-Jaynes said legislation had been proposed over a decade ago to designate on your tax bill how much of the local levy was going to the voucher schools but the bill did not make it out of committee.

“But it affects us,” said Millet. “So I don’t know why it has to. I don’t understand that. To me, there can’t be any less transparency than there already is.”

Representative Johnson said there has not been the political support to take on the voucher system and the consensus seems to be it is too big to reverse course.

“I appreciate Tom (Burkhalter) you saying it doesn’t do any good to say to the majority party, you have wronged us now give us more money,” said Johnson. “But I remember that same meeting at Kickapoo when the former representative in the 96th (Representative Loren Oldenburg) said there wasn’t the political appetite to take on vouchers in that caucus, just no appetite. Just flat out that it doesn’t exist. And I think that that Senator Pfaff’s point is a good one. This is, right or wrong, the demonizing of MPS (Milwaukee Schools) and the voucher program get conflated. And I think it has been lazy. I think it is the easy way out to say that vouchers were supposed to be the answer, and the cat’s out of the bag, and we’re so far into it, we can’t go back and that it was the right response at the time for what the legislature saw as the problems in MPS, and it’s hard to re-calibrate that in people’s minds. It is really hard to do that. And so it’s just easier, I think, to say it’s too far gone. That’s what I hear, it’s too big now, it’s too whatever, to established. Too many people rely on it, and so there’s not the political appetite to take on the voucher program, and that’s both funding and the cap and the every component of it.”

Reser-Jaynes said more public education is needed to make taxpayers aware if the impact vouchers are having on the local tax levy.

“Last year, they tried four times to introduce legislation that would eliminate the income limit on that,” said Reser-Jaynes, “You can look at Arizona, and it’s turned their budget upside down. They have unlimited income, unlimited enrollment. They’re bankrupting the states because of vouchers. And now, this last election one of the bright spots was that three states voted against vouchers. And last December, a year ago, December, Illinois let their voucher programs sunset. Kentucky voted red, every single county voted red, but every single county voted against vouchers. I think it is educating the public on what they stand to lose right now. So, I don’t want it to be partisan, but there are partisan issues, and I think it’s just critical that we teach people what is happening. I look at Mauston (schools) right now, if they were getting reimbursed at 90% of special ed, 85% of the cost of their referendum would be gone. And if you look at the Mauston Facebook page, you know what they’re fighting about? Admin salaries. No one person mentioned vouchers. Not one person mentioned special education ….or.. I’m blown away by this, because they have them fighting with each other and demonizing the schools more. Demonizing the administrations, the Board of Education. There’s a posts saying that people need to come out to the board meeting. It’s actually happening tonight, because the school needs to learn to live within their budget, just like we have to at home. And that was sent out by the Juneau County Republican Party. We need to tell them, because I think if people knew, they would be just like in Kentucky, they would support their public schools. We all support our public schools.”

Lawrence said vouchers schools should be required to the same academic and financial transparency standards as public schools.

“I think presenting it as the voucher program is now going to be, they have to follow all of the same rules and regulations of every public education school,” said Lawrence. “And that’s a no brainer, because they’re going to close right and left, because if they have to release all that information. They have to pay their teachers, and they have to have licensed teachers, and they have to provide health care insurance, and they have to take every student that walks in that door, and they have to be ADA compliant. And my list could go on and on, those schools will not exist. And that’s an easy one, same rules, same dollars.”

Pfaff said he agreed with all the points being made but many times these priorities get lost in the budget process, like the last state budget he voted against because of the deal the Governor struck with Republicans on vouchers.

“I don’t disagree at all,” said Pfaff. “I’ll just be blunt. I completely, completely agree with you on this. The thing is that what happens is the state budget gets put together. You know, the Governor signals that there’s absolutely no way he will sign X, Y and Z. And we saw the most recent budget that the governor signed in 2023. I told him, I said, I can’t, I can’t support that budget. You know, there’s things in there that, I requested transportation dollars, but I just can’t support it because he had to negotiate at the end with Speaker Voss and the Republican leaders in the Senate. And of course, where they wanted to go with the funding with schools, and especially for vouchers, just made me very nervous. I voted against it.”

Pffaf said he does think the current makeup of the Senate has shifted to represent rural areas more.

Johnson said she is less optimistic because the money that is raised to help candidates run by Speaker Voss will likely be dependent on support for the voucher system.

“I think you’re absolutely right,” said Reser-Jaynes. “And the money in that voucher lobby is so huge, but I think that we should also recognize that they don’t understand our communities. They really don’t. Betsy DeVos has no idea what our lives are like or what your schools are like. They don’t understand the power. So, I think that’s why we have to draw a direct line from that vote to the person who lives in the community. And to say, you’re representing me, but you are okay with us loosing our school? Look at Mauston, 1,600 kids without a school. 250 jobs gone from the community. What community is going to be okay with that? I think Mauston should be figuring out where their representatives went on schools and calling them out on that, because they’re selling out their communities to fill their campaign coffers.”

“I personally believe, obviously parents should be able to do what’s best for their children,” said Pfaff. “But having said that, I do not believe that the state of Wisconsin can afford two separate school systems. There’s just no way in the world. I want to figure out what I can work with some of my Republican colleagues from outstate, and that’s why I’m looking at that transportation aid.”

Johnson said assembly Democrats introduced three bills and the first was free breakfast and lunch for every kid in public schools across the state. Estimated cost to provide that was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,800 a year for a family.

Burkhalter later clarified that not all of the voucher money leaving the Viroqua Schools is going to the Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School. He estimated bout half of the $950,000 does go to PRWS but a good portion is also going to virtual online school in Milwaukee. Burkhalter said that is local tax dollars that leaves the area and there is no accountability for where it goes and there is no evidence the education is better.

“The feedback we get sometimes, if Steve and I talk about vouchers or something like that, we get some of that feedback of, ‘you’re just scared of competition’,” said Burkhalter. “And I would put our districts up against anybody, and I mean that. Anybody who wants to come and we can sit down compare apples to apples of the product you’re getting at any of our local schools and the products you’re getting at any of our voucher schools. I will compare that apples to apples any day of the week and take the same test we do. I promise you, you will not like the
results.”

Burkhalter reminded everyone that most of the things the rural districts are asking for were in a report from a Blue Ribbon Commission led Republicans in 2018. The Co-Chairs of the Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding, Rep. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) and Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), held a series of public hearings throughout the state and did a comprehensive review of Wisconsin’s school funding system. You can read more about that report here.

“Most of what we’re talking about was recommended in the Blue Ribbon Commission five years ago,” said Burkhalter. “And I know that, they published this report that went widely unread because of when it was published, COVID, right? I totally understand this, but this was a Republican led commission that had bipartisan support that we have literally just taken and thrown out the window. When I review that and I go back through this, we’ve talked about inflationary increases. They’ve talked about getting the special ed reimbursement rate back to 60% and starting with 45% and then making it, making it a goal, step system to get there. They’ve talked about mental health support and increases in that. So maybe this is a piece where, you know, it’s a re engagement in something that was Republican led. It’s a great document.”