Investing in Wisconsin’s future

Most people know it intuitively. For those who don’t — or for those who need proof — study after study after study agree that quality education is one of the most important building blocks for the kind of future the people of Wisconsin want.

Along with quality education comes a knowledgeable and reliable workforce, a robust economy, a top-notch quality of life, and communities we can all be proud of. Education is not a cost, it is an investment in the future.

Fifteen years of state-imposed revenue limits have slowed that investment and are starting to degrade our futures. Most of the school districts in Wisconsin have laid off staff, increased class sizes, cut programs and services, depleted fund balances, and suffered through costly and divisive referenda. Some districts are close to disaster and one has already bumped up against dissolution.

Wisconsin’s public schools have wrung virtually every efficiency they can out of their operations over the last 15 years. It’s time to develop a funding system that gives every child in the state — no matter what his or her circumstances or where he or she lives — the opportunity for a quality education and a bright future.

» Find out more about the IWF's education project, including publications, research and activities.

WAES is driving force in funding reform

Many organizations are interested in reforming Wisconsin’s school-funding system, but only one has been in the forefront of a relentless effort to bring comprehensive reform to the public and to the Legislature.

That organization is the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES).

There are exciting things ahead for this coalition. Since it was “born” in 2000, WAES has been a project of IWF. On July 30, 2007, however, a new and independent WAES was launched. It will be a 501(c)(3) organization that will continue to work for comprehensive school-funding reform by bringing free educational presentations to the communities of Wisconsin and working with legislators on both sides of the aisle and in both parties to get the job done right. Click here to get the lowdown on the WAES reorganization.

As of the summer of 2007 — as the new group was taking shape — the coalition number over 150 school districts, teachers’ unions, student groups, professional organizations, parent groups, and civic and faith-based organizations.

To belong is simple. All you have to do is agree that:

• Public schools have found most of the efficiencies that can be found. It’s now time to adequately our children’s education.
• A new funding system must recognize the needs of those children with special needs, don’t have English as their first language, come from poverty, or live in small, rural communities.
• Additional resources must come from the state’s general fund not already overburdened property taxpayers.
• Local school districts will be held accountable for educating their children.

As mentioned, WAES works to educate the public and legislators about school-funding reform. Its partners have also developed a plan that will work. First drafted in 2004, the new Wisconsin Adequacy Plan should be available in the early Fall of 2007.

» Visit the WAES website for more information on WAES activities, publications, school funding news, and how you can get involved.