Wisconsin schools spend almost half their revenue on overhead with only 53 percent actually going toward classroom instruction.
That may or may not be a surprise to WI taxpayers. An average of $7,582 goes toward classroom instruction of each student. The largest part of instruction costs is the salaries and benefits of classroom teachers, teaching anything from reading and math to physical education.
The MacIver Institute reports:
“Operations/other” is the second largest spending category by percentage statewide. That catch-all category includes line items such as central services, maintenance, debt service, insurance, and post-employment benefit debt.
Administration costs are comprised of school business offices, administrative assistants, building and grounds departments, and other related functions.
After operations/other, the next biggest spending category is pupil/staff/support. That includes expenses such as guidance counselors, school nurses, and professional development support for staff.
Here’s data for Franklin:
Single District Comparative Cost: Franklin (2019-20)
| Membership | 4,439 | Total Cost | % of Total | Cost Per Memb |
| Instruction | $34,880,720 | 55.6% | $7,858 | |
| Pupil/Staff/Support | $4,587,287 | 7.3% | $1,033 | |
| Admin | $4,676,542 | 7.5% | $1,054 | |
| Oper/Other | $8,870,402 | 14.1% | $1,998 | |
| Transportation Costs | $1,876,412 | 3.0% | $423 | |
| Facility Costs | $4,841,320 | 7.7% | $1,091 | |
| Food & Comm Serv Costs | $2,996,685 | 4.8% | $675 | |
| TOTALS | $62,729,367 | 100.0% | $14,131 |
Here’s statewide data:
Single District Comparative Cost: Statewide (2019-20)
| Membership | 854,497 | Total Cost | % of Total | Cost Per Memb |
| Instruction | $6,478,515,730 | 53.2% | $7,582 | |
| Pupil/Staff/Support | $1,203,872,433 | 9.9% | $1,409 | |
| Admin | $934,087,242 | 7.7% | $1,093 | |
| Oper/Other | $1,577,917,599 | 13.0% | $1,847 | |
| Transportation Costs | $433,459,011 | 3.6% | $507 | |
| Facility Costs | $1,009,706,319 | 8.3% | $1,182 | |
| Food & Comm Serv Costs | $546,994,229 | 4.5% | $640 | |
| TOTALS | $12,184,552,562 | 100.0% | $14,259 |
“If top-heavy overhead were reduced, the teachers doing the vast majority of meaningful work in schools could perhaps be better compensated. Instead, the many secondary and tertiary roles schools have taken on directly compete with the primary reason for schools’ existence: educating children.”
—The MacIver Institute
Also from the Institute:
“What Governor Evers and other educrats seem to conveniently leave out in their demands for more funding to schools is the fact that even though we have been pumping massive increases into education over the past four budgets…
…less than half the state’s students are proficient in English and Math. How can DPI continue to demand higher amounts of funding when clearly these resources are not catching students up?”
