Have 8 straight Wisconsin budgets given less money to public schools? 9%
By Zoey Elwood10%
8/5/2026, 3:06:53 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Fundamental Attribution Error, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Appeal to Authority, with Status Quo Bias as the most egregious example at 26% saturation with 44 hits. Analysis detected 226 faulty-reasoning hits from 169 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 18.7% and a BS Rank of 9% (27,012 of 29,618 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 91.20% of the article peer group.
No
When adjusting for inflation and total student population, state K-12 funding has fluctuated over the past eight budgets and is about where it was before major cuts in 2011.
Funding dropped after Republicans required public school employees to pay more toward pension and health insurance costs in 2011 under the law known as Act 10.
Then from 2013 to 2020 inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending on K-12 education increased each year.
In the two years after the COVID-19 pandemic funding decreased but then increased over the next two years.
Inflation-adjusted, per-pupil state spending is now slightly above what it was before the 2011 cuts.
Here are the figures:
2024-2025: $9,527.65
2023-2024: $9,386.15
2022-2023: $9,299.59
2021-2022: $9,700.89
2020-2021: $9,960.87
2019-2020: $9,380.61
2018-2019: $9,219.23
2017-2018: $9,167.82
2016-2017: $8,825.57
2015-2016: $8,576.74
2014-2015: $8,549.45
2013-2014: $8,426.60
2012-2013: $8,388.53
2011-2012: $8,408.17
2010-2011: $9,469.08
Sources
Wisconsin Watch School Funding w/Sept.
Count
Legislative Fiscal Bureau State Aid to School Districts
Department of Public Instruction September count
Speakers
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Analysis
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