Milwaukee Mayor Norquist Backs School Finance Lawsuite
Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, joined by WEAC Executive
Director Michael Butera, announced Friday (December 3, 1999) he is asking
the Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn the state's school finance system.
 WEAC Executive Director Michael Butera (right)
joins Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist at the news conference. |
Norquist is asking the high court to reject the school
aid formula, saying it is unconstitutional and unfairly harms Milwaukee
students.
“The school funding system punishes Milwaukee’s overwhelmingly
low-income students and the city’s largely low-income taxpayers and
subsidizes the middle-class and upper-income families that have chosen
to live outside the city,” Norquist said in a brief he filed in a
lawsuit challenging the system.
“WEAC welcomes the support of the mayor of Milwaukee in asking the
court to strike down the current system of financing education,”
said Butera, who joined Norquist in a Milwaukee news conference. “Although
the mayor and WEAC have differed on the issue of whether religious schools
should receive state funds, both WEAC and the mayor agree it is essential
that Wisconsin maintain a uniformly high level of education in its public
schools, since the vast majority of Wisconsin children will be educated
in public schools.”
WEAC is an intervenor in the lawsuit challenging the current funding
formula. That suit is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“We are pleased that the mayor of Milwaukee wishes to join with
us in involving the citizens of Milwaukee in ensuring that Milwaukee children
and children throughout Wisconsin will receive the highest quality education
possible,” Butera said.
Posted December 3, 1999