Superintendents from Wisconsin’s five largest school districts called for the Legislature and Governor Tony Evers to return to the table to address special education funding, after a bipartisan plan to do so failed.

"We urge the Governor and the Legislature to return to the table to address the continued underfunding of special education. Failure to approve a bipartisan plan will result in real harm, not just for students with disabilities, but for all public school students statewide,” the superintendents said in a letter issued Thursday, May 14.  

The letter is signed by Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, EdD; Green Bay Area Public School District Superintendent Vicki Bayer; Racine Unified School District Superintendent Soren Gajewski; Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Joe Gothard, EdD; and Kenosha Unified School District Superintendent Jeff Weiss, EdD.  

The bill to increase reimbursement for special education, which would have tapped the state’s $2.5 billion surplus, would have provided relief to districts. It would have made the difference in maintaining student programming and retaining highly qualified staff next school year, the letter noted, while adding, “even if additional special education funding is approved, many districts will still face significant budget deficits and continued financial strain.” 

Wisconsin’s special education funding system is broken — and the compromise proposed by Governor Evers and Republican leadership represented meaningful progress.

The compromise plan (Assembly Bill 1) pledged to reimburse 42% of special education costs for the 2025-26 school year and 50% in 2026-27. The superintendents called that “a step in the right direction.” The reimbursement rate has been about 32%. 

“Each year that Wisconsin fails to adequately fund the education of students with disabilities, it forces public school districts statewide to divert their limited general funds to cover underfunded special education costs. In 2022, the Education Law Center estimated these funded costs at $1.25 billion statewide,” the superintendents said in their letter.  

The letter noted that the bipartisan agreement was acknowledgement that, “Without new general aid in the state budget, growing school costs have increasingly been shifted directly to property taxpayers. At a time when Wisconsin residents are already navigating rising costs of living, reducing the tax burden would provide much‑needed relief—especially for seniors on fixed incomes.” 

The school districts noted that the bipartisan plan was not a complete solution. It does not fix “Wisconsin’s long‑standing, broken school-funding system,” the superintendents said. But the failed plan would have provided "desperately needed resources to help public schools continue meeting the needs of students, families, and communities across our state,” they said in the letter.  

They added: “We remain committed to working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to build a sustainable, long‑term funding system that ensures every child in Wisconsin has access to a high‑quality public education. In the meantime, we urge them to return to the table and work together to support those who will be harmed the most without action: our students, families, and communities.