Wisconsin Education Lawsuit Challenges State Funding Formula
A broad coalition of Wisconsin school districts, teachers' unions, advocacy organizations, parents and students has initiated a significant legal challenge against the state Legislature, filing a lawsuit that contends public schools are not receiving adequate financial support. The complaint, formally submitted in Eau Claire County Circuit Court, argues that students with higher needs face the greatest risk under the current funding system.
Legal Challenge Seeks Structural Reform
The lawsuit specifically requests that the court mandate a new school finance structure unless state lawmakers and the governor enact comprehensive reforms within a reasonable timeframe. This legal action represents the latest development in decades-long disputes over Wisconsin's complex school funding formula, with previous challenges reaching back to 2000 when the state Supreme Court upheld the existing system as constitutional.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs emphasize that both fiscal conditions and educational requirements have transformed dramatically since that earlier ruling, creating new constitutional questions about educational adequacy and equity. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, currently controlled by liberal justices, is expected to ultimately review this case, potentially revisiting its 2000 decision that validated the existing funding approach.
Shifting Financial Burden to Local Communities
The lawsuit highlights a significant transformation in how Wisconsin funds public education. As recently as 2003, the state government covered approximately two-thirds of per-student educational costs. Today, that responsibility has shifted dramatically, with local school districts now bearing about half of these expenses. This fundamental change has altered how schools manage their budgets and how communities experience the financial burden of education.
Democratic Governor Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature are currently negotiating how to allocate a substantial $2.5 billion state surplus, with proposals ranging from tax reductions to potential increases in school funding. These discussions remain unresolved according to recent reports, creating uncertainty for educational planning across the state.
Local Referendums and Property Tax Pressures
In 2023, Governor Evers utilized his veto authority to permit school districts to raise per-pupil spending annually for an extraordinary 400-year period. However, without corresponding increases in state funding, districts frequently depend on property taxes to meet these spending limits. When allowable increases prove insufficient, districts have increasingly turned to local referendums to secure additional funding.
The year 2024 witnessed a record 241 school funding referendums appearing on ballots throughout Wisconsin, with voters approving 169 of these measures according to data from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. Property tax bills distributed in December generated renewed pressure on state lawmakers to provide financial relief to taxpayers while maintaining educational quality.
Classroom Consequences and Achievement Gaps
The lawsuit directly connects funding levels to measurable student outcomes, noting that Wisconsin has long recorded one of the nation's widest achievement gaps between white and non-white students. Plaintiffs argue that declining standardized test scores over the past two decades reflect inadequate educational investment at the state level.
Leah Hover Preiss, a teacher in the Adams Friendship School District and a plaintiff in the case, described tangible classroom impacts resulting from funding limitations. "In order to best support students and families, our schools need strong and stable funding from the state," she explained, citing larger class sizes, reduced support services, and limited access to mental health resources as direct consequences of financial constraints.
Constitutional Questions and Special Education
The legal complaint specifically challenges Wisconsin's special education reimbursement rate, characterizing it as constitutionally deficient. The lawsuit contends that students with higher needs cannot receive equal educational opportunities under the current funding formula, violating constitutional guarantees of a sound, basic and uniform education for all Wisconsin students.
Jeff Mandell, president and general counsel at Law Forward, which filed the lawsuit alongside the statewide teachers' union, framed the case in fundamental constitutional terms. "When schools are underfunded, students lose opportunities and communities suffer," he stated. "Supporting public education is not just good policy. It is a legal and moral obligation."
Broad Coalition of Plaintiffs
The Wisconsin Parent Teacher Association is leading this legal challenge, joined by 18 individual and organizational plaintiffs including school districts from Beloit, Green Bay, Eau Claire, Adams Friendship and Necedah. Teachers' unions and community members are also listed as plaintiffs, while the Legislature and its budget-writing committee are named as defendants in the case.
School funding lawsuits have emerged across the United States for decades with varying outcomes. Some courts have ordered state legislatures to revise funding formulas, while others have deferred to legislative authority. If the Wisconsin Supreme Court reconsiders its 2000 ruling, the decision could fundamentally reshape how the state defines educational adequacy and equity.
Long-Term Implications for Wisconsin Education
The resolution of this lawsuit will not be immediate, with budget cycles, appeals and legislative negotiations likely to extend the process. However, students already experience the current system's effects daily, sitting in classrooms shaped by staffing levels, support services and local tax decisions.
Whether the court mandates structural change or lawmakers reach a political compromise, the central question remains fundamentally practical rather than procedural. The ultimate measure of success will be whether future budget cycles narrow Wisconsin's educational opportunity gaps or allow them to widen further—a determination that will matter most inside the state's classrooms where students' educational futures are shaped each day.
