Will Racine Unified Sue Wisconsin? Not yet

Want to read more about this issue? "Like" the story with the Facebook button above. If we get 10 likes, we'll know to write a follow-up story.

The Racine Unified School District Board of Education on Monday learned that it might have legal options for resolving a state school funding mechanism that has significantly reduced the amount of money it receives in state education aid.

But, district officials aren’t ready to pursue a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin.

Instead, board members spent more than 90 minutes reviewing expected aid reductions that are in the 2011-13 state budget approved last week by the Legislature. The budget bill is awaiting Gov. Scott Walker’s signature.

David Hazen, RUSD’s chief financial officer, and Marc Duff, the district’s budget manager, pointed out that 61 percent of the local budget impact is from actions by the Legislature. This includes a $1.5 million direct cut in general state aid and a $1 million reduction in aid to school districts that have high concentrations of families in poverty.

However, the line item that attracted the most discussion was the expansion of the state-supported school choice voucher program to RUSD effective this fall. In that program, eligible parents will receive vouchers of up to $6,442 to use toward tuition at private schools.

Dubbing the budget impact, “the voucher tax,” RUSD officials reported that the deductions in state aid to pay for 250 vouchers in the 2011-12 school year would remove $618,400 from the district.

Based on an estimated the loss of $2,474 per student, the expected voucher impact is:

• $1.23 million in 2012-13 when the voucher program enrollment cap climbs to 500 students.
• $10.4 million starting in 2013-14 when the voucher enrollment cap is eliminated. RUSD officials have based that estimate on voucher participation rates in the Milwaukee Public Schools program.

“Racine Unified is being impacted with a greater loss of state aid than any other district except Beloit. When the impact of vouchers is figured in, Racine has the greatest loss,” said RUSD Superintendent Dr. Jim Shaw.

Duff noted that the state has gradually trimmed back its aid to local school districts from about two-thirds in 2000 to 61.5 percent in the upcoming state budget. In addition, state funding formulas work against districts, like Racine, that have larger concentrations of students in poverty and limited property tax bases.

Shaw said there has been discussion with an attorney about possible legal action.

“We don’t know how successful it might be. We don’t how costly it might be,” he said. “We can tell you that there are inequities that are at odds with state law.”

Among the legal arguments that could be advanced are:

• The state’s school finance system is not equally applied to all districts.
• The voucher program discriminates against students with special needs.
• Racine appears to have been “singled out” against other urban districts in the state.

The School Board will continue to discuss the state budget impact over the next few months.