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DPI Budget Announcements

By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | November 12, 2024

Yesterday, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) submitted the remainder of their budget request to the Governor for his consideration. Details of the announcement can be found here.   The DPI request differed from the SAA Budget priorities in a number of areas. Ultimately, the Governor will submit his biennial budget request to the Legislature early in 2025 and SAA will continue to communicate our priorities to him.  The SAA’s approach was designed to foster ongoing, meaningful conversations with district leaders, lawmakers, and the Governor aiming to achieve impactful outcomes for all districts.

The SAA budget priorities were shaped over the course of more than a year of member analysis and feedback, along with countless conversations between district leaders, legislators and the Governor’s office.   

SAA  believes this approach fostered a shared understanding of the need for predictable, flexible and sustainable resources. Likewise, we believe there is evidence of a shared interest in taking a sustainable, well rounded approach that addresses the diverse needs of districts across the state while maintaining a reasonable and achievable result in the budget process.

Our work has resulted in a thoughtful, balanced approach, setting clear priorities designed to address current needs and provide a foundation for future progress. It is also influenced by the expressed interests of state leaders. It’s essential that we continue to emphasize the importance of flexible and predictable funding streams, enabling school districts to effectively meet both special education needs and general education costs.

Here are the key points that SAA outlined as main priorities:

  1. Increase in Special Education Funding: There is overwhelming support among members for significant increases in special education funding. Our goal was to reach 60% reimbursement of aidable costs. This would ease the financial burden on school districts, allowing them to better support students with special needs while reducing reliance on general funds. It was the recommendation of the bipartisan Blue-Ribbon commission and the prior budget request.  SAA strongly supports transitioning to a “sum sufficient” funding model for special education. This change would provide more stability and predictability for districts, allowing them to respond more effectively to changing needs and costs.
  2. Flexibility and Predictability: The most flexible funding is general spending authority, and it is recommended that revenue increases for school districts be adjusted for inflation. This would ensure that the financial needs of all students, including those with disabilities, are adequately met.
  3. Balanced Funding Approach: A combination of revenue limit increases, general aid, and per-pupil categorical aid is favored. This balance would allow districts to manage resources more effectively, regardless of size or financial status, ensuring they can provide quality education. SAA members supported an increase of $100/per year in the per pupil aid, which currently is at $742 and was not increased in the last budget.
  4. Low Revenue Limit Issue: The low revenue limit is seen as a significant barrier for many school districts, especially those with limited resources. Increasing the low revenue limit statewide would reduce disparities and provide more stability for districts, decreasing the need for local referendums. If the low revenue limit ceiling was increased to $12,500 the vast majority of districts revenue limits would be with in 10% of one another.

SAA’s recommendations strategically aimed to provide school districts with the resources they need to meet the diverse needs of their students, with a particular focus on special education funding, flexible revenue streams, and addressing disparities between low-revenue districts. It also reflects consideration for the stated interests of SAA members as well as elected officials which is critical to a productive outcome to the budger process.

Additional information on the prior announcements regarding the 2025-27 budget by DPI can be found here.

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