View Cuts and additions to state education funding in a larger map

A new study found Wisconsin students are among the nation’s hardest hit by cuts to education made in the state biennial budget, an issue which has proved a political flashpoint across the state in recent months.

The recent cuts in Wisconsin are the largest out of the 24 states that provided budget information to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities for its study, beating out similar cuts made in New York, California and Ohio. According to the report, the state’s yearly aid for public schools has decreased by $635 per student, placing Wisconsin fourth in the country for decreases in state funding for education since 2007.

The report said these figures equated to roughly a 10 percent cut in funding from the state.

The center studies how fiscal policy programs affect middle class and low income families, according to CBPP’s website.

Schools throughout the nation have cut a total of 293,000 teaching jobs in public schools throughout the past three years. The loss of these jobs has led to a decrease in buying power and may have caused the recession to continue as long as it did by slowing economic recovery, the report said.

While Wisconsin may have had the largest cuts out of the 24 states represented in the report, the study does not take into account the support the budget repair law provided school districts in adapting to the cuts, Cullen Werwie, spokesperson for Gov. Scott Walker, said.

“The reforms provided in the governor’s budget, such as restricting collective bargaining and asking teachers to make a modest contribution to their pensions, will help school districts save money and provide more help to districts than state aid did,” Werwie said.

According to the report, state funding accounts for about 47 percent of funding for school districts nationwide. Most additional funding comes from property taxes and federal sources.

The 24 states surveyed in the study encompass two-thirds of the country’s school-aged children. Out of those states, 21 have cut education funding this year. CBPP said state governments can no longer offset their budget cuts with emergency federal aid provided during the recession.

The budget cuts come when student enrollment rates are expected to increase, the report said. The U.S. Department of Education expects public schools throughout the nation to have 260,000 more K-12 students this school year than they did in the 2007-2008 school year.

“At a time when the nation is trying to produce workers with the skills to master new technologies and adapt to the complexities of a global economy, large cuts in funding for basic education undermine a crucial building block for future prosperity,” the report said.

With the budget repair bill, Werwie said Wisconsin avoided massive public employee layoffs and increases in property taxes that other states have endured. He said the legislative action also helps school districts staff the best and brightest teachers and develop merit-based systems of teacher pay.

“The budget cuts have not hurt the economy, and the reforms in the budget will ultimately improve the quality of education Wisconsin can provide,” Werwie said.