Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023
Do most Wisconsinites favor increasing public school funding?
Nearly two-thirds of Wisconsinites —63% — say they would favor increasing state support for public schools over increasing state support for students to attend private schools, according to a November 2022 Marquette Law School poll. Among registered voters, Democrats were more likely to express this preference: 90% compared to 40% of Republicans.
The same poll found Republicans and Democrats also split sharply on whether increasing public school spending is more important than reducing property taxes. The poll found just 20% of GOP voters favored spending more on public schools versus lowering taxes compared to 80% of Democrats.
According to a September 2022 Spectrum News/Siena College poll, 68% of likely voters in Wisconsin said they would be willing to pay more in state and local taxes to boost teacher pay — including 90% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans.
Wisconsin public schools receive state and federal income taxes, property taxes and other local revenue.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Marquette Marquette Law School Poll, Oct 24–Nov 1, 2022 summary
- Spectrum News Voters support raising taxes to pay teachers more
- Wisconsin Department Of Public Instruction Wisconsin school finance system
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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