AEF Beliefs

Public education is a function of the state. It is the legislature's responsibility as identified by our State Constitution to provide for "the establishment of district schools that are as nearly uniform as practicable." The Supreme Court has decided that it is also the legislature's responsibility to provide an equal opportunity for a sound basic education for all children that will equip them to become personally and economically successful and to take into account student populations with additional educational needs.

Educated citizens contribute to the well-being of the society, and educated citizens are more economically self-sufficient. We are a mobile society. Our children may be educated in one place and spend their lives in another. It is vital that every child in our state be given an equal educational opportunity regardless of where they happen to live. 

Financial equity is crucial in the pursuit of excellence in education, as there is a positive correlation between the quality of education and the funding available.

The current funding system does not assure equal ability for all school districts to support education equitably for all children. A property rich school district in Wisconsin is currently able to raise more revenue to invest in the education of its children than a property poor district when both are applying the same tax rate.

The current funding system results in wide disparities in the burden on property owners for financing schools. The state should assure an equitable tax effort for property taxpayers to provide resources for the education of our children.

The major role of the state equalization aid formula is to compensate for the vastly differing abilities of local school districts to pay for education based on their respective district's property tax base per pupil. It is this wide variation that must be narrowed by the legislature so that the allocation of state aid to school districts is truly equalizing for all children and property taxpayers.

The issuance of property tax credits to individuals is a matter separate and distinct from the financing of public schools. Direct credits to property taxpayers are not part of the school finance system, as they are not paid to school districts to finance school operations. Relief to individuals should be provided through means separate from the school finance system (direct credits to individuals), and aid to school districts should be distributed through the school equalized aid formula.

In order to improve equity among school districts, state limits on school district costs or revenues should cause per pupil spending disparities among districts to narrow rather than allow them to widen or continue at the present level of disparity.

A fair system would establish a guaranteed tax base for every pupil which would result in equal tax effort to fund equal expenditures per pupil. School districts with the same per pupil cost would make the same tax effort.