Research studies on Wisconsin Education Policy funded by the ATWMEF:

“The economic reality of more students being forced into poverty and the effects of poverty on education are not being addressed effectively by current public policy. This study confirms that socio-economic policy and education are directly linked. Act 32 and prior economic policy decisions have cut funding to public education; worse yet, as the evidence clearly shows, the new focus on charter schools as a solution to educational outcomes for students in poverty requires serious re-assessment.”

“This report has demonstrated in detail that the resources being afforded schools and students of poverty are insufficient, and indeed are facing further reduction. Moreover, the resources being diverted from schools of poverty into “choice” and non-traditional alternative education programs are producing questionable (at best) results with little to no accountability for the funding they receive. The failure of Wisconsin policy makers to acknowledge and address these issues is creating a generation of economically disadvantaged students that will lag far behind their non-economically disadvantaged peers because of their poverty status. The state of Wisconsin is failing these students.

Based on these facts, we consider the constitutionality of the education portion of the budgets of 2009-2011 and 2011-2013 to be questionable, and potentially in violation of the [state] statutes… Future education funding and program development must address these issues. In addition, any process or method which would serve to evaluate teachers, schools, and students must take into account the impact of poverty on students and education, as a matter of equal opportunity to a sound, basic education.”