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>> As the legislature and
governor remain without a

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deal on using the state
budget surplus for property

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tax relief, five school
districts, teacher unions,

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parents and students filed
a lawsuit this week against

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the legislature for failing
to adequately fund public

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schools in Wisconsin, as
required by the state

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constitution. The sweeping
lawsuit states it's not a

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new issue, but has gotten
much worse over the last 25

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years. The complaint says
state aid to public school

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districts this year is $2
billion less than the

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inflation adjusted number
from 2009. You don't have

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to explain that to our next
guest. He's the

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superintendent of Sauk
Prairie schools, which is

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among districts not part of
that lawsuit that have been

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beseeching lawmakers and
the governor to both

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further fund schools and
provide property tax relief.

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Superintendent Jeff Wright
joins us now. And thanks

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very much for being here.
>> Thank you. Glad to be

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here.
>> So how disappointed were

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you and other
superintendents when the

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Assembly adjourned without
hatching this plan?

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>> Well, we were really
disappointed and in part

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because they adjourned the
session and the second or

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third week of February, and
we talked about that with

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some of our students, that
that would be similar to us

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ending the school year
after homecoming, that

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there's so much of this
year left that the

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legislature and the
together to solve these

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long standing problems, not
only using the state

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surplus that exists now to
solve property tax relief

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and school district finance
in the short term, but also

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sitting, sitting down and
doing the serious work of

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trying to address long term
concerns about the state's

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school finance formula.
>> So so you described the

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lawsuit as addressing those
long term issues with the

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school financing system,
and that you're what you're

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calling for is immediate
action to use the state

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surplus to both help
property taxpayers and

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schools. Describe what the
urgency is.

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>> Well, the urgency is in
part, the fact that we have

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this unique moment where
the state has more has more

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money in revenue than it
anticipated. And so there

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is a surplus that we could
be using to not only

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address property tax relief,
but also some of these

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school funding issues. Six
districts in Sauk County

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recently put out a letter
to the governor and the

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legislature asking for this
action. We're a really

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unique mix of of school
districts. We're in

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Wisconsin's most purple
county. And I think what

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we're saying is that if we
as school districts that

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are as politically diverse
as those in Sauk County,

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can get together and ask
for some urgency on this

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issue, that hopefully the
legislature will also take

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this up in a special
session and act right away.

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>> As to the issue of why
we're putting all the

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pressure on property
taxpayers at the same time

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that we're collecting more
money. Why do you think

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that is?
>> Well, school finance is

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something that we could
spend hours talking about

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with your viewers. It's
incredibly complicated, but

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every time that the state
raises the revenue limit,

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what student what what
schools can spend per

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student, that money has to
come from somewhere. And

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often it's come from the
state budget. But recently,

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the legislature has decided,
yes, school districts can

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spend a little bit more,
but that $325 has to fully

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be funded by local property
taxpayers. And so that's

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why we're asking with some
urgency, that before we go

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into another budget year,
instead of passing on that

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responsibility for funding
this to local property

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taxpayers that are already
stretched incredibly far,

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use some of the state's
surplus to not only address

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school funding, but also
give that property tax

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relief.
>> How does this situation

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kind of pit property
taxpayers against schools?

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>> Well, there's a direct
connection between the

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state not funding schools
the way it used to, and an

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increased reliance on
property taxpayers to pay

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that bill. This year's high
school seniors, the year

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they were born was the last
time that the revenue limit

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was tied to inflation. And
so under the Tommy Thompson

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administration, under the
Jim Doyle administration,

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the revenue limits for
school districts were tied

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to inflation. But when this
class of seniors was born

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17 years ago, the revenue
limit and inflation was

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detached. And so every year
of their life, the amount

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that a school could spend
educating a child has

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fallen further and further
behind inflation, to the

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point where now it's over
$3,500. That gap between

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what would have been spent
in real dollars when those

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children were born, and
what a school district gets

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to spend now as their
seniors.

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>> If hundreds of districts
under this scenario are

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forced to go to referendum
to get the money, they need

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to operate and stay afloat,
what's the tipping point

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for voters? I mean, when do
they just say no?

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>> Well, we're certainly
seeing that for many

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communities. We've already
reached that point that as

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the state has chosen not to
allow revenue limits to go

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up and school districts
have turned to local

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property taxpayers for
referendums to operate

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schools, there are many
districts that have gone

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year after year to
referendum, hoping that

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they could get one passed
and have not been able to

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do so. And some of the
districts in the state have

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turned to their taxpayers
and said, if we don't pass

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this, we're going to have
to consider dissolving the

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district and sending our
students to other

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communities for schools or
be absorbed by another

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district. I think that that
tipping point for a lot of

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communities is that we know
that schools are often the

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lifeblood of a small
community, and that if we

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let the school fail, if we
let the school close,

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there's very little that's
going to be attracting new

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families to our community
in the future. But for many

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communities, they're
already at that tipping

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point, which is why this
lawsuit has been filed and

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why other districts are
signing on to the letters

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like ours, asking the
legislature to act

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immediately.
>> What about the argument

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from some Republicans that
what's needed is reform,

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not guaranteed funding to
prop up a broken system,

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especially in light of kind
of falling test scores?

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>> Well, I hope that we can
we can talk about schools

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and not just talk about
money, that it it's an

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honor to do this work and
to be a trusted partner

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with a parent in watching
their child grow and learn.

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And if a school can't show
their show the community

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how their school, how their
students are growing,

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that's on us. We need to
make sure that we're doing

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that. We also need to be
incredibly transparent with

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how we're spending taxpayer
dollars. Share the audits

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with our community. Share
the budgets. Because

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there's a lot of trust, not
only in the relationship

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that we get to have
watching a student grow and

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learn, but also the trust
that a community has to

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place in us as school
leaders and how we're

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spending the taxpayer
dollars to educate