Marquette Law School Poll: Broad Bipartisan Support for 60% Special Education Reimbursement, Funding Public Schools Instead of Private Voucher Schools
June 27, 2025
This week, a new Marquette Law School Poll showed broad bipartisan support across Wisconsin for a state budget that increases the reimbursement rate for public school special education costs to 60%. More than a 2/3 majority (66/32) supports an increase to 60% of costs for public school special education costs. Private, unaccountable voucher schools receive at least 90% for the same expenses.
The poll also asked Wisconsinites if they want the legislature to prioritize new spending on public schools or unaccountable, private voucher schools. A 69-31 supermajority across the state wants their leaders to prioritize investments in public schools instead of spending tax dollars on private voucher schools that are not accountable to taxpayers and the public.
The Joint Finance Committee’s (JFC) work on the state budget remains stalled as Republican leaders in the state Senate, who have a one vote majority, attempt to appease the concerns of two far right extremist members who have said they won’t vote for the budget as it currently stands. The Senate could easily pass a budget by compromising with Democratic legislators, but Republican leaders are trying to do so without Democratic votes which would require significant investments in their priorities including public education. It is clear that the public aligns with Democrats on their education priorities: fund our public schools and stop sending our tax dollars to unaccountable private voucher schools.
As it stands, the Republicans’ budget will make no increases – not even inflationary increases – to general aids or per-pupil aids, committing themselves to yet another budget in a decades-long line of budgets that have forced public schools to try to operate with fewer and fewer resources than they had the budget before. This will cause districts to continue going to taxpayers for referendums just to keep the doors open.
Public education advocates, and now the general public overall, have called for an increase from the current, abysmal special education reimbursement rate of 30% that drops as inflation grows to a guaranteed 60%. Meanwhile, private unaccountable voucher schools receive at least 90% for these same costs. The current Republican budget proposal would only increase public school reimbursement to 37%, a figure that is not sum sufficient and would decrease as costs rise and would continue to kick the can down the road.
There is still time to contact legislators and the Governor. While JFC has moved on from public education in their budget negotiations, they have not passed the overall budget bill and could still come back to reconsider K-12. Once the budget is passed by JFC, it still needs to pass both houses of the legislature and be signed by the Governor.
CLICK HERE TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS. Tell them not to vote to pass a budget until it includes a sum sufficient, 60% special education reimbursement rate for public schools and Governor Evers’ budget proposal for an additional $334 and $345 per public school pupil in 2025-26 and 2026-27, respectively. And tell them not to support a budget that increases funding to private, unaccountable voucher schools.
CLICK HERE TO CONTACT GOVERNOR EVERS. Tell him to stand firm to his proposal and VETO any budget that comes to his desk that fails to increase the public school special education reimbursement rate to a sum sufficient 60%. The governor should also veto any budget that does not include his original budget proposal of an additional $334 and $345 per public school pupil in 2025-26 and 2026-27, respectively.
