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    NCIJ Network NCIJ Network
    Home»Investigations

    Have 8 consecutive Wisconsin budgets given less money to public schools?

    NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORKBy NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORKAugust 5, 2026 Investigations No Comments2 Mins Read
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    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:

    2010-2011: $9,469.08

    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

    This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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    Creative Commons License

    Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.


    A person with long hair wearing a sleeveless dark top smiles toward the camera, with leafy green plants filling the background.

    Zoey Elwood joined Wisconsin Watch as a statehouse reporting intern in June 2026. She is a rising senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in journalism and political science with a certificate in digital media analytics. Zoey worked at The Daily Cardinal as college news editor, copy chief and senior staff writer and also freelanced for the Cap Times.


    More by Zoey Elwood / Wisconsin Watch

    budgets consecutive money public Schools Wisconsin
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