Finance System and Revenue Controls Put Schools 'in Great Peril'
Wisconsin's system of school finance puts public schools
in "great peril" by failing to address the varying needs and costs of
educating students, WEAC told the State Supreme Court Tuesday (February
8, 2000).
WEAC General Counsel Bruce Meredith, arguing before
the court in a landmark case that challenges the entire school finance
system, said the finance problem has been exacerbated by school district
revenue controls.
Revenue controls, Meredith said, "punish districts facing
economic or educational challenges, which can lead to a vicious cycle
of decline which a local school district may be powerless to reverse."
The high court heard testimony in a case brought by
the Association for Equity in Funding – made up of more than 100
school districts, parents, students and organizations. WEAC is an intervenor
in the case.
Meredith noted that Article X, Section 3 of the State
Constitution requires that Wisconsin schools be "as nearly uniform as
practicable." But a 10-year-old Supreme Court ruling in a case known as
Kukor v. Grover effectively nullified that article, he said. That
ruling and another in a case known as Buse v. Smith "have made
it virtually impossible for either lower courts or the Legislature to
know what, if any, constitutional standard governs Wisconsin's system
of public education," Meredith said.
WEAC President Terry Craney (left) joins Milwaukee Mayor
John Norquist, Milwaukee Superintendent Spence Korte, and Rep. Antonio
Riley at a news conference prior to the State Supreme Court hearing Tuesday
(February 8, 2000) on the lawsuit challenging the state's school finance
system. Story
"Wisconsin children, regardless of where they live or
their social circumstance, are entitled to have an equal opportunity to
become an educated person subject, of course, to the real world limitations,
recognized in the Kukor dissent, that prevent society from ever
achieving complete equality," Meredith said.
It is important that the system recognize that "students
who are disabled, have limited English-speaking abilities or come from
economically disadvantaged backgrounds cost substantially more to educate
as a group." The Kukor ruling effectively tells these children
"tough luck." That ruling, he said, can and should be reversed.
Any constitutional system of school finance, he said,
must have three necessary components:
- It must distribute sufficient resources so as to give all districts
the funds necessary to allow students to become educated persons, regardless
of the district's property wealth or its educational needs.
- To the extent to which the state seeks to control expenditures, it
must do so on the basis of factors founded in realities of school finance
and actual student needs, and not based on mere political calculations.
- To the extent the state chooses to impose academic standards upon
children, it must provide sufficient resources so that children in all
districts can have a realistic chance to meet those standards.
Meredith cited the problems in Wausau, which has experienced
a large influx of Hmong children, many of whom have limited English skills.
Because of the decline in state categorical aids and the imposition of
revenue controls, "the district has been deprived of funds necessary to
deal with its externally imposed educational problems," he said. "As a
result of the dramatic increase in high-needs students, it has had to
cut regular education programs."
Many regular education students are now leaving the
school system for private schools, which "suggests the possible onset
of a vicious cycle of increasing difficulties and lowered performance
for Wausau students."
Similar problems are being experienced in other districts
throughout the state, he said, at the same time that the state is raising
standards for all children.
"How can a poor district, particularly one already disadvantaged
by revenue controls, provide the necessary remedial programs to allow
lower-performing students to meet high state-imposed standards?" Meredith
asked.
WEAC asked the court to:
- Direct the Legislature to adopt a funding system that allows a district
with a disproportionate share of high-needs students to provide a competitive
education.
- Direct the state to end revenue controls and reformulate school funding
in order to more accurately reflect actual district costs and student
needs.
Posted February 8, 2000