Wisconsin Voters Turn Against School Tax Hikes, Poll Finds

Wisconsin voters are more concerned with reducing their property taxes than increasing funding for public schools. Voters also say they’re less inclined to support a school referendum.

These findings come from the latest Marquette University Law School Poll released this week. Voters’ attitude toward public school finances comes at a time when public school advocates are pushing the state Legislature to do more for schools.

Marquette surveyed 818 registered Wisconsin voters from Feb. 11-19. Those surveyed were asked “which is more important to you: reduce property taxes or increase spending on public schools?” Sixty percent said reducing property taxes are more important while 40 percent said funding K-12 schools was more important.

Poll director Charles Franklin said the 60 percent of people who are more concerned with property taxes than school funding is the highest in 26 Marquette polls that have asked the question since 2013.

In 2013, more voters were concerned with property taxes than school funding. But from 2015 through 2022, people reversed their stance, supporting school funding more than property tax relief, Franklin said.

Since June 2023, voters have consistently ranked property taxes as more important.

“This is not something that happened overnight,” Franklin said. “It’s been one of the most striking, most consistent trends over these last 14 years of the Marquette Law School Poll.”

Franklin added that the age of voters is important. The people polled over the age of 60 overwhelmingly said property taxes were more important than funding schools, Franklin said.

Only about 28 percent of registered voters have children in school.

Voters again said they were unlikely to support a referendum

The majority of voters, 57 percent, said they would be inclined to vote against a referendum to increase taxes for schools in their community, while 43 percent said they would vote for a referendum. This is unchanged from October, but opposition for referendums has increased since 2016, Franklin said.

Wisconsin’s school funding system is a complex mix of state aid, property taxes and federal funds.

In the 1999–2000 school year, public schools received 53.7 percent of their funding from the state. Local property tax dollars funded 41.6 percent and 4.7 percent came from the federal government.

In 2023–24, the most recent year of available data, that mix shifted to 45 percent coming from state revenue, 43 percent local and 12 percent federal.

School districts have increasingly relied on local property tax referendums due to state revenue limits not keeping pace with inflation.

Wisconsin’s K–12 public schools have gone without cost-of-living adjustments from the state since 2009.

Voters equally divided on Legislative support of schools

The poll also found voters are equally divided on whether the Legislature has failed to provide enough funding for public schools, or whether schools must live within their budget limits.

Voters would like to see a substantial share of the current state budget surplus of $2.5 billion devoted to property tax relief. Only 16 percent of those questioned said they would like none of the money to go toward lowering property taxes.

The Assembly last week without agreeing to a deal on property taxes or schools. Speaker Robin Vos said the state Assembly could convene a special session to address this.

During a luncheon Thursday, Gov. Tony Evers said he plans to meet with GOP leaders in the next few weeks and that he’s optimistic they’ll come to a compromise on property taxes and school funding.

Franklin said he wishes school finances could be more easily explained to voters.

“It’s not as simple as just paying for schools from property taxes; the state has a role in that as well,” Franklin said. “But in the last eight years of divided government between a Republican Legislature and a Democratic governor, we’ve seen very little ability of the two sides to find compromises that balance Evers’ commitment to funding the schools and Republicans commitment to holding down spending.”

Sara Shaw, deputy research director with the Wisconsin Policy Forum, said that while the Marquette Poll seems to demonstrate a lot of concern over property taxes, public schools still have some hope.

A state increase in general school aid could also amount to a decrease in property taxes, Shaw said.

“Public school advocates could argue that the public can have its cake and eat it, too: more funds for their schools and lower property taxes,” Shaw said.

Still Shaw said at first glance, the poll numbers look increasingly challenging for districts hoping to pass a referendum in April, especially since passage rates have already been trending downward.

“These statewide poll stats may look quite different at the individual community level, and even as 2025, the majority of referenda were still getting approved,” Shaw said. “We will be very curious to see what happens in the April elections.”

This week, a group of parents and educators from across Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against the state Legislature, alleging lawmakers have failed to adequately fund public schools.

The complaint alleges that the decline in student reading and math scores are tied to the decrease in state funding to public schools over the last decade.

Listen to the WPR report

Marquette Poll: Wisconsin voters want lower property taxes vs. more funding for schools was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.