A coalition led by the Wisconsin PTA is suing the state legislature, arguing that Wisconsin’s public school funding system no longer meets the state’s constitutional obligation to provide an adequate education.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the legislature is failing to meet its constitutional obligations and must redesign the school finance system, according to general counsel at Law Forward Jeff Mandell. Law Forward is the firm representing the plaintiffs.

“It’s almost that simple,” Mandell said. “It’s kind of like being a middle school or high school student and having a teacher stop by your desk and say, ‘This totally missed the mark, try again.’ That’s kind of what we’re asking the court to do.”

The complaint raises six claims rooted in three provisions of the Wisconsin Constitution, according to Mandell.

The central claim relies on Article X, Section 3, which requires the legislature to establish and maintain uniform and practicable tuition-free public schools for children between ages 4 and 20.

“The legislature, in our view, is not providing the funding that is necessary for school districts to do that,” Mandell said. “Every student in the state of Wisconsin is having their constitutional rights violated.”

Four of the six claims are based on Article X, Section 3, according to Mandell. A fifth claim relies on the state’s equal protection clause, Article I, Section I. Plaintiffs argue that the funding system disproportionately harms students with greater needs, including students with disabilities, English language learners and students experiencing poverty, according to Mandell.

A sixth claim invokes Article I, Section 22, which guarantees that Wisconsin maintains a free government, according to Mandell. He said public education has been a foundational principle in Wisconsin since before statehood and sustained underfunding undermines that commitment.

 The lawsuit marks the first major legal challenge to Wisconsin’s school finance system in over two decades, according to WMTV15. In 2000, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the system court in Vincent v. Voight was constitutional, according to a Wisconsin Legislative Council Information Memorandum.

“In Vincent v. Voight, it [the plaintiffs] claimed that the insufficiency was because different school districts had different amounts of money and that the inequality was unconstitutional,” Mandell said. “Our point is that the vast majority of districts, if not all districts, lack sufficient funds to provide an adequate education. So it’s not a question of equity, so much as it’s a question of adequacy.”

Funding conditions have deteriorated since the 1990s when Vincent v. Voight was filed, according to Mandell. At that time, state law maintained a roughly 2-to-1 funding ratio, meaning the state contributed $2 for every dollar raised locally, but that provision was repealed in 2003, and today, the ratio is closer to 1.1-to-1, according to Mandell.

State-imposed revenue limits designed in the early 1990s have not kept pace with inflation and adjusted for inflation, according to Mandell, the state now spends about $2 billion less annually on public schools than it did in 2009.

“We’ve reached a point where the schools are truly in crisis and we are failing our kids,” Mandell said.

The complaint points to declining proficiency rates and growing student needs. The share of students requiring additional support has increased significantly over the past two decades, while state funding has not kept up pace, according to Mandell.

In some districts, baseline proficiency rates for certain student groups fall into the single digits, according to Mandell. One plaintiff district, Beloit, reports that 13% of its students are experiencing homelessness, according to Spectrum News.

Any new system the legislature adapts should adjust for inflation, help level the playing field between districts with differing property wealth and make sure the high-need students receive the resources they require, Mandell said.

“The schools have been held together by the truly heroic efforts of everyone in the system,” Mandell said. “But they’re not Rumpelstiltskin. They can’t turn straw into gold.”