WISCONSIN: Special education need increasing; state funding not keeping up
- The end of childhood
- Dec 8
- 2 min read
Dec 1, 2025, WPR: Wisconsin school districts spent more on special education, now they’ll be reimbursed less
Earlier this year, school leaders across Wisconsin asked the Republican-controlled Legislature to boost funding for special education services in public schools.
The biennial budget included a reimbursement rate from the long-standing 32 percent to 42 percent this year and 45 percent next year.
In exchange, public schools are not receiving an increase in general aid over the biennium.
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Gov. Tony Evers praised the bipartisan deal as the largest increase to special education in the state’s history.
But some education advocates, including the Wisconsin Public Education Network, said the budget remained “woefully inadequate to meet school districts’ needs.”
An email sent to school officials on Nov. 17 by the Department of Public Instruction shows that could be correct.
Public Schools are receiving $140M less than expected
School districts are going to receive about $140 million less than they originally expected to provide special education services this year.
The state will be reimbursing the services — which public schools are legally obligated to provide — at 35 percent, instead of the expected 42 percent.
That’s because school districts spent more on special education than the Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated, according to DPI.
“State categorical special education aid is a sum-certain appropriation as determined by the legislature, which means that it is paid from a fixed pot of money,” according to DPI. “In some cases, the overall reimbursement rate is lower than originally estimated by the Legislature.”
Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said the lower reimbursement rate will mean more districts will have to ask taxpayers for money through referendum in 2026. . . .
School districts bracing for lower reimbursement rate
The Green Bay Area Public School District shifts about $32 million from its operating budget to support special education programs, which are seeing a rising need.
Green Bay Schools CFO Angie Roble said even though the state budget included a 42 percent reimbursement rate this year, she budgeted conservatively at 39 percent based on history. . . .
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