Like many states, Wisconsin is spending more on K-12 education than ever before. But test scores and academic achievement are flat, and in some cases, declining.

Making the problem worse, it is nearly impossible for taxpayers to find out where money is being spent and how much is reaching the classroom. Taxpayers have little access to information on all public schools’ budgets.

To address the problem, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty is making a push this legislative session to pass new public school spending transparency legislation. The bill WILL is advocating for would require the state education agency, the Department of Public Instruction, to collect public school spending data and publish the data on a public and accessible website.

If enacted, this legislation would empower taxpayers at the local level to better hold their school districts accountable.