Wisconsin school districts consider challenge to funding.

CHICAGO - A coalition of more than 150 Wisconsin school districts is considering a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the state's school funding scheme.

The Association for Equity in Funding will decide next month whether to argue in court that the current system leaves illegally wide funding gaps between rich and poor districts. The Milwaukee School Board has already voted to join any future lawsuit, and if enough other member districts vote this month to support the suit, it could be filed by spring.

Ironically, the group is agitating for a change in the state's school funding scheme just as lawmakers are trying to implement an education reform law passed last session. Under that law, the state will pick up two-thirds of school costs by fiscal 1996, and relieve the pressure on local property taxes.

Under the law, a bipartisan commission will draft a plan to raise an additional $1 billion to increase the state's share of school funding to 66.5% from the current 48%. if state lawmakers do not approve a fund-raising plan by Oct. 31, 1995, the law automatically limits school districts' levies to 10 mills as of fiscal 1997, down from the current average of 17 mills.

But Milwaukee attorney David Hase, who would represent the association in a lawsuit, says the new law is aimed at tax relief and will do little to address the inequities between rich and poor school districts.

"However funding is handled, whether it continues to be a combination of local and state sources of revenue or 100% state pickup, it ought to be distributed on an equitable basis," he said. "Basically, what the new law has done is to withdraw a substantial part of the available tax base and not replace it. How that's going to play out remains to be seen."

An aide to Gov. Tommy G. Thompson called the lawsuit a "non-issue" because Thompson is already on the record in favor of equalizing school funding.

"The implementation of the new law gives us the impetus to look at the school aid formula," said Thompson spokesman Kevin Keane. "The easy part is coming up with the money to pay for it. Where the fight is going to be is in deciding how to divide the money up."

Similar legal gambits in other states have had limited success. Some state high courts, like those in Texas and New Jersey, have endorsed the notion of a fundamental right to an adequate education. Others have ruled there is no constitutional right to an equitable amount of school funding.

In fact, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has addressed the issue twice already. In 1976, the court struck down a feature of the school aid formula that mandated equalized funding. In 1990, the court upheld the current education finance formula, saying the Wisconsin Constitution allows for a degree of local control over education.

But Hase said since the court last ruled, the facts have changed.

"We'll be able to demonstrate that the way the formula is structured and operates, less wealthy districts are required to tax at significantly higher levels than property-rich districts to raise less or the same amount of money. There is no real effective ability for local districts to exercise discretion over how much they spend," he explained.

According to a study conducted for the association, there is no link between how much "tax effort" - a measure of a district's taxes - a district makes and the actual spending in the district. The top-spending district in the state, for instance, ranks number 365 in terms of "tax effort."

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