The goal is straightforward: improve student achievement, support teachers, hold schools accountable, and reduce the financial burden on taxpayers.
Wisconsin can pursue better educational outcomes without assuming that every improvement requires more spending. The key is to focus on classroom results, direct more resources toward proven priorities, and make school spending transparent.
Five-point plan
1. Put student achievement first
Set clear statewide goals for reading, math, graduation rates, and career readiness. Identify struggling students early, expand effective tutoring, and measure progress annually.
2. Support teachers and classrooms
Prioritize competitive teacher compensation, classroom instruction, early literacy, and support for students with special needs. Reduce unnecessary administrative work so educators can spend more time teaching.
3. Audit spending and eliminate waste
Require regular, independent financial reviews of school districts. Publish easy-to-understand spending reports, compare administrative costs across similar districts, and identify duplicative contracts and purchasing opportunities.
4. Tie new funding to results and accountability
Require measurable goals, public reporting, and periodic reviews for new state education initiatives. Direct additional resources toward demonstrated student needs and effective programs rather than automatically expanding every budget.
5. Reduce property-tax pressure
Review state school aid, district administrative spending, and school referendums together. Seek sustainable savings and use available state revenue to reduce school property-tax levies where legally and fiscally feasible, without shifting the same burden to other taxpayers.
How to measure success
Wisconsin should publish an annual public scorecard tracking:
- Reading and math proficiency and growth.
- Graduation rates and post-graduation readiness.
- Classroom spending versus administrative spending.
- Special education service delivery and costs.
- School property-tax levies and the taxpayer impact of referendums.
The state already provides school performance information through the Wisconsin DPI Report Card Portal and school finance information through its School Finance Public Reports. These existing resources can help establish measurable baselines.
First year Implementation:
First 90 days: Establish achievement, spending, and property-tax baselines.
Months 4–6: Identify administrative savings, purchasing efficiencies, and effective classroom interventions.
Months 7–9: Introduce legislation requiring consistent financial reporting and outcome tracking.
Months 10–12: Publish the first statewide scorecard and propose targeted property-tax relief supported by a transparent fiscal analysis.
The Fiscal Rule: Do not promise a specific tax cut until the savings, state funding requirements, and effects on local school budgets have been calculated. Cutting taxes and improving education simultaneously requires a credible, costed plan—not simply a spending freeze.
The central principle is simple: Better results for students. Greater accountability for spending. Lower taxes for Wisconsin families.