Wisconsin schools, teachers file lawsuit against GOP-led Legislature seeking more funding

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A coalition of Wisconsin school districts, teachers’ unions, advocacy groups, parents, students and others announced a lawsuit Tuesday against the state Legislature, alleging that it’s failing to adequately fund public schools.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Eau Claire County Circuit Court, argues that schools are in crisis, with high-needs students facing the greatest risk. It asks the court to adopt a new finance system that meets the needs of districts unless the Legislature and governor enact one first “in a timely fashion.”

School funding lawsuits have been brought for decades in states across the country with varying degrees of success.

Fights over how and whether to reshape Wisconsin’s complex school finance system have usually taken place in the Statehouse. Now it will move to the courthouse, where this challenge will almost certainly end up before the liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court.

In 2000, the last time the state’s school funding formula was challenged, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the system as constitutional. But attorneys argue that so much has changed since then that a new challenge was warranted.

The lawsuit comes as Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature have been negotiating tapping the state’s $2.5 billion surplus to cut taxes and potentially increase funding for schools.

As recently as 2003, the state paid two-thirds of the cost of each student’s education. But now districts are paying about half the costs.

Evers, a former state schools superintendent, angered Republicans in 2023 when he used the governor’s extensive veto powers to ensure that districts can increase per-pupil spending annually for the next 400 years. However, without increased funding from the state, districts are forced to raise property taxes.

And when schools can’t raise enough under the allowable spending limits to meet expenses, they have been increasingly asking voters to increase property taxes to fund their local district.

In 2024, a record-high 241 referendums were put before voters for approval to fund schools, with 169 approved, according to the Wisconsin Policy Institute.

Anger over the most recent property tax bills, mailed in December, has motivated lawmakers and Evers to try and enact a property tax cut this year. They have yet to reach a deal.

The lawsuit also blames a drop in Wisconsin student testing scores over the past two decades with inadequate funding. Wisconsin has long been the state with the widest achievement gap between white and non-white students.

Leah Hover-Preiss, a teacher in the Adams-Friendship School District and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said that she has seen the impact of inadequate funding in the classroom through increased class sizes, reduced support for teachers, fewer opportunities for students and a lack of mental health services.

“In order to best support students and families, our schools need strong and stable funding from the state,” she said.

The lawsuit alleges that the state is violating the Wisconsin Constitution’s requirement that all children be provided with an equal opportunity for a sound, basic and uniform education.

It also argues that the constitutional rights of students with high needs is not being met and cannot be met unless the Legislature changes the public school finance system and increases funding for them. The lawsuit further contends that the current special education reimbursement rate is unconstitutionally deficient.

“When schools are underfunded, students lose opportunities and communities suffer,” said Jeff Mandell, president and general counsel at Law Forward that brought the lawsuit in partnership with the statewide teachers’ union. “Supporting public education isn’t just good policy – it’s a legal and moral obligation.”

The Wisconsin PTA is taking lead on the lawsuit and is joined by 18 others individuals and entities, including school districts in Beloit, Green Bay, Eau Claire, Adams-Friendship and Necedah. Other parties include teachers unions in Beloit, Eau Claire, Necedah and Green Bay and eight teachers, parents, students and community members.

The Legislature and its budget-writing committee are named as defendants. Republican legislative leaders did not immediately return messages seeking comment.