Tell Gov. Evers: Close the Special Education Funding Gap!

Background:

If you're like most voters in Wisconsin, you've probably noticed more and more school referenda on your ballots - and your rent and property tax bills going up. One of the biggest reasons for this is the fact that the state legislature has been underfunding preK-12 public education for over 15 years, forcing local school districts to go to referendum again and again.

In 2024 alone, 147 of our state's 421 school districts (35%) held operational referendums at a total annual cost of $763 million. That's not even counting capital referendums - those for building repairs and improvements, which totaled billions of dollars more in requested property tax hikes. 

These operating referendums are simply to help districts make payroll and avoid exacerbating our statewide teacher shortage. Thankfully, a strong majority of these referendums passed, helping to stave off financial disaster in communities across our state. But not every community was so lucky, and even those that succeeded in their referendums are still faced with unsustainable property tax increases. The next time these districts are forced to ask their communities to raise their own property taxes, the results could be very different.

The good news is that in the 2025-26 State Budget, we have a chance to significantly reduce the need for operating referendums going forward with one simple law change - closing the Special Education Funding Gap.

Under federal law, public school districts are required to provide special education services to all students who qualify. The intent of the initial federal legislation was that Congress would pick up most of the cost. In reality, federal funding makes up just a fraction of what districts spend on these mandated services, leaving state and local governments to pick up the slack - and the state is forcing these costs to the local level. 

Right now, the State of Wisconsin reimburses districts for less than one-third - just 29% - of the actual costs of special education services to their students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Despite serving a very small percentage of Wisconsin's students with special needs, private voucher schools, which receive the bulk of their funding from state taxpayers, are guaranteed at least 90% reimbursement for their special education costs - on top of the amount they receive for the voucher.

How big of a problem is it? The office of State Senator Chris Larson analyzed actual unreimbursed special education costs in public school districts across the state for the 2022-23 school year and found that they accounted for over two-thirds of the annual dollars sought in 2024 operating referendums in the districts that held them. In many cases, unreimbursed special education costs accounted for the entire annual cost of their operating referendum.

VIEW THE DATA HERE

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly, in her 2025-26 budget request, called for eliminating the Special Education Funding Gap by guaranteeing districts the same 90% reimbursement rate that voucher schools already get. Governor Evers must prove he is the Education Governor he was elected to be by including this provision in his own budget proposal, set to be released in early 2025.

Closing the Special Ed Funding Gap won't just help students with special needs, it will help all students by freeing up resources for general education programming and enrichment opportunities that would otherwise go toward IEP services, while avoiding costly referendums and their corresponding property tax hikes. It's a classic win-win-win!

ADD YOUR NAME to our petition to show Governor Evers he has our full support to RAISE SPECIAL EDUCATION REIMBURSEMENT TO 90%!

Petition:

Honorable Governor Tony Evers,

We, the undersigned residents and taxpayers of Wisconsin, call on you to support DPI Superintendent Jill Underly's request to increase special education reimbursement to 90% on a sum-sufficient basis - the same rate private voucher schools already get.

Doing so will help districts meet their federally-mandated and moral obligations to students with special needs while avoiding the need for costly operating referendums year after year. In doing so, we can keep property taxes in check while providing the kind of quality public education our state was once known for.

With a multi-billion state surplus, there is no excuse for failing to make this investment in our kids and the future of Wisconsin. As you always say, what's best for our kids is what's best for our state. We wholeheartedly agree!

Wisconsin is counting on you to make sure the next state budget meets the needs of all of our public school students.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME HERE]