WISTAX on Education: Serving the Conservative Agenda

Emphasize the costs and downplay the benefits of public schools

The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance has regularly served the conservative agenda by consistently structuring the education spending debate singularly as a tax debate: Wisconsin spends money on education and that makes taxes high.

The high-quality of Wisconsin’s public education system is given short shrift, if it is even referenced. Consistently, Wisconsin’s public school students are among the nation’s leaders in ACT scores, college entrance and what they are able to achieve as result of the investment made by the public into education. If WISTAX truly wished to objectively debate the issue of education and spending and taxation, the exceptional performance of public school students in Wisconsin would occupy a central part of the debate.

It does not. This is proof positive its intention is to isolate the argument about education into a strictly tax-based discussion – an argument which makes gutting education spending more palatable and taking resources away from public schools and shifting them to private, for-profit enterprises “good business.”

This is a monumental disservice to the public debate and moreover to children and taxpayers. All economic research shows that the more education an individual has, the greater their earnings over a lifetime, and consequently, the higher incomes they earn for revenue collections. On the converse, it is a sad fact that many high school dropouts disproportionately find themselves in need of social services.

State’s with the best schools attract the best businesses, as a skilled and savvy workforce is a prized commodity among enlightened entrepreneurs. Strong schools build strong communities. Good public schools raise property values. The investment in public education, particularly for early education is the most important the public can make. To argue otherwise, is disingenuous at the least and economic malpractice at worst.

WISTAX Tactics: Studies that Reinforce Conservative Agenda

Manipulate data, release studies using cherry-picked statistics

Click the thumbnails to see the original WISTAX report with a fact-check by WISTAX Watch

WISTAX SAYS: “The ratio of students to teachers in Wisconsin’s public school continues to decline…Revenues from student fees increased…”

WISTAX goes out of its way here to connect lower class sizes (a good thing) to the non sequitur of higher student fees (a bad thing). It's trying to make a connection where there is not one. (Wisconsin’s Finances in National Context, July 2001, Vol. 69, No. 7)

WISTAX SAYS: “The state formulas for payments to schools and municipalities usually provide that, as property value increases, state payments decrease, thereby, shifting the load back to the property tax.”

WISTAX here fails to provide any context. The state education formula provides relatively greater aids to those school districts that have lower property values, thereby equalizing the ability for school districts across the state to pay for education. By not explaining this, WISTAX simply put forward the increased taxes without mentioning the supporting services. (Wisconsin’s Tax Base, July 1992, Vol. 60, No. 7, Pg. 9)

Other Examples: Assault against public education

WISTAX states that 59 percent of all property tax revenue goes to education, but provides no context about the cost and value of investing in education like a better trained workforce and higher wages and standard of living. (Jan 1996, Vol. 64, No. 1, Pg. 8)

WISTAX once again points out that more than half of property tax total goes to schools with no explanation of value of education. (Nov 2003, Vol. 71, No. 11, Pg. 9)

Check out WISTAX Watch's 'Critical Reader's Checklist' for tips and methods for examining WISTAX reports for conservative bias.

See the WISTAX Watch report "When WISTAX Reports Misfire: Milwaukee Public Schools" for more information.

WISTAX Attacks on Public Education in the Media

Create anti-public education environment, provide cover for conservative politicians

"It's a bizarre study. And it raises troubling questions both about the Taxpayers Alliance and the way these studies are reported."
-Milwaukee Magazine, 3/3/2009

MPS study misfires
Milwaukee Magazine, March 3, 2009

A few weeks ago, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance did a study of Milwaukee Public Schools, which found it spends more money than 15 other districts studied and has poorer academic results. Someone should have [raised questions about the study]. Because it’s bizarre. And it raises troubling questions both about the Taxpayers Alliance and the way these studies are reported...

The Taxpayers Alliance...included no school districts in the West, just one from the East and four from the Midwest. Ten of the 15 districts chosen were southern. That’s absurd. You don’t need a study to know Milwaukee will spend more than the median on education when 10 of the 15 districts are southern. Eliminate the southern districts from the study and Milwaukee’s spending ranks about average for the five districts left.

Teachers' benefits come at salaries' expense
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 30, 2004

At a time when health care costs are skyrocketing, educators continue to enjoy generous fringe benefits packages at the expense of higher salaries, a Wisconsin taxpayer watchdog group found… The state's so-called qualified economic offer, or QEO, and teachers' unwillingness to forgo insurance benefits for higher salaries have kept their wages in check for the past decade, according to a study of teacher compensation by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. As a result, benefits packages still cover nearly all of their health care costs, the Madison-based non-profit research group said. In fact, the cost of providing benefits has risen nearly four times as fast as salaries in the past five years. "For the most part, most teachers get their health insurance with no cost to them," said Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. "It's still very generous."

Thumbs up, thumbs down
Appleton Post-Crescent, April 30, 2004

"Thumbs down...to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, for making an assumption based on a guess."

-Appleton Post-Crescent, 4/30/2004

Thumbs down… To the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, for making an assumption based on a guess. The Taxpayers Alliance issued a report that said 56 percent of the state's public school enrollment would pay more in sales taxes that they would save in property taxes under a proposal to shift the two taxes. But the Alliance also said that it was only a rough estimate because it isn't known how much residents in each school district spend. Given the uncertainty of the numbers, what's the point of issuing a report?

Tech college tax levy soars
Capital Times, August 7, 2003

WISTAX criticizes tech colleges for collecting more taxes without a mention of vastly expanded programs offerings, increased technological capacity, and massive growth in popularity of tech schools among students.

State technical colleges collected $511.6 million in local property taxes in 2001-02, up from $251 million in 1991-92, according to the report issued Wednesday by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Total operating expenditures for the technical college system rose 67.9 percent over the decade, the report says… Madison Area Technical College spokeswoman Janet Kelly said today that over the last 10 years, the college has expanded its program offerings from 100 to 140, in high-tech areas such as computer networking and electron microscopy. She added that classroom technology is updated every three years. "These are expenses that 10 years ago did not exist for us," she said.

WISTAX Role in Right Wing Wisconsin

Provide research to fuel conservative opposition to public schools and support for school vouchers

The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) based significant part of a “study” of high school education in Wisconsin in 2006 on information provided by WISTAX. The report aimed specifically to “explode the myth” of the connection between money invested in students and schools in Wisconsin and student performance, claiming that “spending does not [matter],” an important message in the consistent right-wing attack on public education investment.

The MacIver Institute, another right-wing think tank that advocates for vouchers, also uses WISTAX information regularly in an effort to steer public debate against investment in our public schools. "According to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, the vast majority of public school districts in the state -- 292 statewide -- will increase property taxes this year," MacIver reported in 2009.

Conservative columnist Patrick McIlheran of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel cites a WISTAX report and statements made by conservative state Senator Ted Kanavas in a 2008 column calling for a dissolution of Milwaukee Public Schools. "'Under any realistic projection, MPS' spending will increase faster than available revenues if current trends are continued,' the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance wrote in 2007. The trends are continuing."