Meeting the Constitutional Obligation to Public School Students

The state of Wisconsin has a constitutional obligation to provide equal opportunity for a sound basic education and adequate and reasonably uniform funding of our public schools. But for decades, the state hasn’t provided sufficient funds to school districts or distributed those funds fairly. That’s why a group of five school districts have filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin legislature–the topic of our show today. 

Guest host Bert Zipperer is in conversation with Jeff Mandell, Julie Underwood, and Heather DuBois Bourenane to break down the reasons for the lawsuit and how the state can better serve its 421 school districts. 

Shortfalls in state funding have left many school districts using ballot referenda to increase their spending limits. Mandell points out that referendums were once used for capital expenses but now are increasingly applied to operational costs. He says this isn’t how the system is designed to work. Bourenane calls it a “disequalizing way to fund public education,” that further divides the “haves from the have nots.” 

But you can’t talk about the school finance system without talking about vouchers, “because they suck so much money out of the landscape,” says Underwood. Mandell clarifies the lawsuit isn’t against voucher schools, but legislators need to reckon with the reality that the state is now funding voucher/independent schools to the tune of over $700 million a year. Some municipalities, like Green Bay and Eau Claire, have started to publish how much of residents’ property taxes go to voucher schools. 

Underwood says public education is at the heart of our democracy, and we need adequately-funded public schools to create an informed citizenry who can participate in public debate. 

Jeff Mandell is a co-founder of and General Counsel at Law Forward, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to protecting and strengthening democracy in Wisconsin. Jeff has nearly twenty years of experience in complex litigation and appellate advocacy, and is widely recognized as one of Wisconsin’s leading experts in constitutional litigation and election law.

Julie Underwood has focused her career on issues involving public school law and policy, as General Counsel for the National School Board Association and former Dean of the School of Education at UW-Madison.

Heather DuBois Bourenane is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Public Education Network, a public education advocacy group that shares resources, ideas, and actions that support the public schools at the heart of our communities. Their annual Summer Summit will be held this year in Superior, Wisconsin.

Featured image of a child exploring library bookshelves via Rawpixel.

The post Meeting the Constitutional Obligation to Public School Students appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.