Skip to content

Monday, Jul. 3, 2023

Is annual funding for Wisconsin public school districts $16,000 per student?

Tom Kertscher, Wisconsin Watch
yes

In 2021-22, the latest year for which data are available, Wisconsin's K-12 public school districts received an average of $16,859 in revenue per student, according to the state Department of Public Instruction.

That's up from $16,017 in 2020-21.

Most of the funds are from state aids and local property taxes.

The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau provided a breakdown of the 2020-21 figures:

State aid: $7,537 (47.1%)

Local property tax: $6,530 (40.8%)

Federal aid: $1,421 (8.9%)

Other local revenue: $529 (3.3%)

A Republican-authored 2023-25 state budget approved by the Legislature and awaiting action by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would provide schools an additional $1 billion over the two years.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

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.

See all fact briefs

Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.