Here & Now

Jeff Wright on School Referendums Causing Property Tax Hikes

Frederica Freyberg:
As the Legislature and governor remain without a deal on using the state budget surplus for property tax relief, five school districts, teacher unions, parents and students filed a lawsuit this week against the Legislature for failing to adequately fund public schools in Wisconsin, as required by the state constitution. The sweeping lawsuit states it’s not a new issue but has gotten much worse over the last 25 years. The complaint says state aid to public school districts this year is $2 billion less than the inflation-adjusted number from 2009. You don’t have to explain that to our next guest. He’s the superintendent of Sauk Prairie schools, which is among districts not part of that lawsuit that have been beseeching lawmakers and the governor to both further fund schools and provide property tax relief. Superintendent Jeff Wright joins us now. And thanks very much for being here.

Jeff Wright:
Thank you. Glad to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:
So how disappointed were you and other superintendents when the Assembly adjourned without hatching this plan?

Jeff Wright:
We were really disappointed and in part because they adjourned the session in the second, third week of February, and we talked about that with some of our students that that would be similar to us ending the school year after homecoming. There’s so much of this year left that the Legislature and the governor could be working together to solve these long-standing problems, not only using the state surplus that exists now to solve property tax relief and school district finance in the short term, but also sitting, sitting down and doing the serious work of trying to address long-term concerns about the state’s school finance formula.

Frederica Freyberg:
So you described the lawsuit as addressing those long-term issues with the school financing system, and that you’re — what you’re calling for is immediate action to use the state surplus to both help property taxpayers and schools. Describe what the urgency is.

Jeff Wright:
Well, the urgency is in part, the fact that we have this unique moment where the state has more — has more money in revenue than it anticipated. And so there is a surplus that we could be using to not only address property tax relief, but also some of these school funding issues. Six districts in Sauk County recently put out a letter to the governor and the Legislature asking for this action. We’re a really unique mix of school districts. We’re in Wisconsin’s most purple county. And I think what we’re saying is that if we as school districts that are as politically diverse as those in Sauk County, can get together and ask for some urgency on this issue, that hopefully the Legislature will also take this up in a special session and act right away.

Frederica Freyberg:
As to the issue of why we’re putting all the pressure on property taxpayers at the same time that we’re collecting more money. Why do you think that is?

Jeff Wright:
Well, school finance is something that we could spend hours talking about with your viewers. It’s incredibly complicated, but every time that the state raises the revenue limit, what student — what schools can spend per student, that money has to come from somewhere. And often it’s come from the state budget. But recently, the Legislature has decided, yes, school districts can spend a little bit more, but that $325 has to fully be funded by local property taxpayers. And so that’s why we’re asking with some urgency, that before we go into another budget year, instead of passing on that responsibility for funding this to local property taxpayers that are already stretched incredibly far, use some of the state’s surplus to not only address school funding, but also give that property tax relief.

Frederica Freyberg:
How does this situation kind of pit property taxpayers against schools?

Jeff Wright:
Well, there’s a direct connection between the state not funding schools the way it used to, and an increased reliance on property taxpayers to pay that bill. This year’s high school seniors, the year they were born was the last time that the revenue limit was tied to inflation. And so under the Tommy Thompson administration, under the Jim Doyle administration, the revenue limits for school districts were tied to inflation. But when this class of seniors was born 17 years ago, the revenue limit and inflation was detached. And so every year of their life, the amount that a school could spend educating a child has fallen further and further behind inflation, to the point where now it’s over $3,500 that gap between what would have been spent in real dollars when those children were born, and what a school district gets to spend now as they’re seniors.

Frederica Freyberg:
If hundreds of districts under this scenario are forced to go to referendum to get the money they need to operate and stay afloat, what’s the tipping point for voters? I mean, when do they just say no?

Jeff Wright:
Well, we’re certainly seeing that for many communities, we’ve already reached that point. That as the state has chosen not to allow revenue limits to go up and school districts have turned to local property taxpayers for referendums to operate schools, there are many districts that have gone year after year to referendum, hoping that they could get one passed and have not been able to do so. And some of the districts in the state have turned to their taxpayers and said, “If we don’t pass this, we’re going to have to consider dissolving the district and sending our students to other communities for schools or be absorbed by another district.” I think that that tipping point for a lot of communities is that we know that schools are often the lifeblood of a small community, and that if we let the school fail, if we let the school close, there’s very little that’s going to be attracting new families to our community in the future. But for many communities, they’re already at that tipping point, which is why this lawsuit has been filed and why other districts are signing on to the letters like ours, asking the Legislature to act immediately.

Frederica Freyberg:
What about the argument from some Republicans that what’s needed is reform, not guaranteed funding to prop up a broken system, especially in light of kind of falling test scores?

Jeff Wright:
Well, I hope that we can — we can talk about schools and not just talk about money. It’s an honor to do this work and to be a trusted partner with a parent in watching their child grow and learn. And if a school can’t show their — show the community how their school, how their students are growing, that’s on us. We need to make sure that we’re doing that. We also need to be incredibly transparent with how we’re spending taxpayer dollars. Share the audits with our community. Share the budgets. Because there’s a lot of trust, not only in the relationship that we get to have watching a student grow and learn, but also the trust that a community has to place in us as school leaders and how we’re spending the taxpayer dollars to educate Wisconsin’s children.

Frederica Freyberg:
We leave it there. Superintendent Jeff Wright, thanks very much.

Jeff Wright:
Thank you.