This article is the latest in a series of case studies of SPN award finalists. You can also read case studies of wins in Minnesota, Illinois, Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, and Ohio.
Over the past two decades, Wisconsin has produced some of the country’s most important conservative fiscal reforms. One of the biggest came in 2011, when the state limited collective bargaining for most public employees and required them to contribute more to pensions and health insurance.
That law, known as Act 10, helped school districts and local governments control labor costs and eased pressure on property taxes.
More than a decade later, that reform came under serious threat.
In December 2024, after years of legal challenges, a state judge struck down several key provisions of the law as unconstitutional. That is when the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) stepped in.
The SPN affiliate did not just argue that Act 10 still mattered. It produced research showing what repeal could cost and built a calculator that let taxpayers see the likely effect in their own communities. That work earned WILL recognition as a finalist for the 2025 SPN Bob Williams Award for Most Influential Research.
WILL Translated a Statewide Issue into Local Costs
Opponents had tried unsuccessfully to repeal Act 10 for years, including by forcing a recall election of then-Gov. Scott Walker. Walker won re-election, and the law survived.
During that time, WILL had already estimated that repealing Act 10 could impose major new costs on taxpayers — hundreds of millions of dollars worth. But large figures alone do not always land.
So in 2025, WILL built a calculator that allowed Wisconsinites to enter their school district and home value and estimate how much more they could pay in property taxes if Act 10 were repealed. For an average Wisconsin home valued at $300,000, WILL estimated an increase of at least $624 a year if added school district costs were passed on to taxpayers. The calculator quickly became one of the most viewed pages on the organization’s website.
That changed the way the issue could be discussed. Repeal was no longer just a court case or a political argument. It became a practical question for homeowners, local officials, and school leaders.
The findings drew coverage from outlets including WisPolitics and Wisconsin talk radio. They gave lawmakers firmer numbers to use in public debate and helped center discussion on taxpayer cost, district budgets, and local tradeoffs.
The Research Behind the Calculator
While the calculator itself is simple, the research behind it was not.
To estimate the cost of repeal for school districts, WILL used publicly available data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, including its “All Staff” file, which tracks salary and fringe benefit information over time. The analysis compared inflation-adjusted 2009 compensation levels with actual 2024 figures to estimate how much more districts would likely be paying without Act 10’s employee contribution requirements for pensions and health insurance.
That produced an estimate of $1.788 billion in added annual school district costs. WILL noted that this closely matched an earlier estimate of $1.6 billion generated through a different method, which strengthened the case that the findings were sound.
The research also showed that the burden would not fall evenly. A typical district with 100 full-time equivalent employees could face roughly $2.2 million in additional costs. Some districts would face much sharper pressure than others. And because Wisconsin school districts operate under revenue limits, those costs could not simply be absorbed. In practice, repeal could mean service cuts, referenda to raise local taxes, or pressure for more state aid.
That gave the debate more precision. It showed not just that repeal would be costly, but how those costs could move through local budgets.
A Strong Example of Influential Research
WILL’s research gave Wisconsin taxpayers a way to see the cost of repeal for themselves. That moved the issue out of broad argument and into school budgets, local government finances, and property tax bills. It also gave lawmakers and local leaders a clearer picture of what repeal could mean in their own communities.
While white papers and reports are valuable, sometimes the most effective tool is simpler. In this case, it was a calculator that showed taxpayers what repeal could cost them.
