School Funding, Wisconsin's Budget and Education Legislation Discussed at Clark County Schools Forum
Wednesday, March 11th, 2015 -- 10:40 AM
-The Clark County Schools Forum had a heated discussion on school funding, Wisconsin's budget and education legislation in Madison.After hearing a demonstration from the Clark County Workforce Council at the beginning of the meeting, the various county school boards and administrators began to talk about the amount of money that has been cut from school districts over the past 20 years. They stated that the problem of cutting money from schools began back in the 1990's and has gotten even worse the past several years. In fact, it was stated that if Governor Walker's current budget were to pass with no changes regarding school funding, Neillsville will have lost $650,000 in funding since 2011.
Another issue identified by the boards was the lack of understanding among average citizens regarding public school funding. Many people that don't have children in school believe that public school funding doesn't affect them, which isn't true. Less funding, means high taxes for the communities or referendums which will definitely equal higher taxes. It was also mentioned that without the school districts, many small towns would no longer have businesses or families moving in which would eventually cause the town to die. The current boards and administrators are not asking for new money from the state, they're simply asking for the money that was removed and sent to the voucher program to be put back to funding public education.
A final issue brought up was the disparity in funding. Schools that are considered to be in a "rich" area receive far better funding and tax breaks then schools that are considered to be in a "poor" area. It is stated in our constitution that schools need to be funded equally and the data has shown that they're clearly not.
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