Wisconsin Per-Pupil Funding Slides Further Below National Average

In the wake of a state budget agreement that freezes per-pupil aid for two years, a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum shows that per-pupil spending in Wisconsin is now 10% below the national average. The report relies on Census data through 2023, so the 2025-27 budget that was passed and signed on July 3 will almost certainly make matters worse.

“This report just confirms what educators and public education advocates in Wisconsin have known for a long time. For at least 15 years, the legislative majority has been on a mission to undermine public education regardless of the impact on our state’s students and their futures, and this report illustrates that mission with hard numbers,” WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen said. “Public schools have lost 20 percent to inflation in the last decade. School costs are increasing faster than the cost of living, and our students’ needs are greater than they have ever been, yet our elected state leaders ignore all of that and play political games with our future.”

Since 2002, Wisconsin has fallen from 11th in the nation to 26th as Republicans in the Legislature have prioritized income tax cuts and unaccountable private voucher schools over the students in public schools. Wisconsin is below average among neighboring states, ranked seventh among the 12 states considered to be in the Midwest. Wisconsin was first in per-pupil spending among these same states in 2002.

The report shows per-pupil support at $20,253 in Illinois and $14,882 in Wisconsin, a difference of $5,371 per pupil. In Minnesota, per-pupil support is $1,235 more than in Wisconsin.

Since 2002, the rest of the nation has increased per-pupil support almost NINE times more than Wisconsin. Nationwide, funding has increased 21.1%, but in Wisconsin it is virtually flat at 2.4%.

Additionally, when statewide education spending is measured as a share of the state’s individual residents’ incomes, or ability to pay, Wisconsin also has been on a long-term decline. In 2002, this share was 4.5% in Wisconsin and 4.0% nationally. By 2023, Wisconsin taxpayers spent about 3.3% of personal income on education, compared to about 3.5% nationally.