The Wisconsin Legislature focused on school funding primarily for purposes of tax relief. Although the caps have reduced school spending as a share of property taxes, survey data depict serious concerns about a current and ongoing decline in educational quality. Revenue controls do not appear to be well aligned with efforts to enhance the state's quality of education. Opportunity to learn Teachers and superintendents report fewer opportunities for students to learn or to benefit from specialty programs. Examples include 53 percent of superintendents who report limiting gifted and talented programs, and numerous teachers who report reductions in field trips, extracurricular activities, and in the number and variety of classes.
Comments reflect budget-infighting, programmatic triage, and no funds for new initiatives.
Written responses show that some schools are sacrificing programs in order to save others. Some teachers listed specific classes such as Spanish, calculus, and consumer education that were completely eliminated in their districts. Mentioned, too, are policies to eliminate classes with less than 15 students, and the necessity of combining classes, such as different levels of French, in order to maintain the program's viability. Serious questions arise, then, about how best to fund strategies for educational improvement. It appears possible that new programs initiated by the state to improve quality could have the unintended effect of limiting educational opportunity for children because of school districts' inability to fund them.