Priorities

3. An Engine to Move Our State Forward

It is time to revive the State Treasurer’s role in pulling people together to find new ways forward for Wisconsin communities. Our broken systems of governance and funding are holding us back. And too often, big money interests and power brokers are happy to leave the people of Wisconsin behind. We need a State Treasurer who will fight to keep everyday people at the table.

Sarah Godlewski set the gold standard by using the Treasurer’s office to advance common sense reforms for our state and communities. From affordable housing construction, to college savings, and even retirement stability, Godlewski demonstrated how statewide leadership can tap local expertise and experience to find ideas that can work all across Wisconsin. As Treasurer, Dylan will carry on that mission to always be working to build a better future for working people in Wisconsin.

A Network for Change

Dylan will work with other statewide and local leaders to establish ongoing task forces that aim to tackle our biggest challenges: healthcare costs, housing affordability, datacenter impacts, educational opportunities, and more. As a local elected official, Dylan will make sure these task forces are led by local experts and community leaders who face these challenges head-on. This network of Wisconsin-based experts and leaders will counter out-of-state influencers and interests. In a world where so many feel drowned out by all of the noise, we need to put the megaphone back into the hands of the people of Wisconsin.

The Next Generation

Dylan knows the importance of including young, civically minded Wisconsinites in the process. To support the work of the Treasurer’s office, he will bring interns and fellows into the office to gain direct experience in government transparency and accountability.

It will be a core focus of the State Treasurer’s office to work to train the next generation of leaders who will have the skills to make government accessible.

2. The State Budget’s Impacts Today

Budgets are statements of our values. That is true for our family, business, and government budgets alike. As a voter, you serve a clear view into what your representatives have decided to prioritize and value. Our state lacks a reliable, accessible view of the state budget for residents. Dylan believes it is the State Treasurer’s job to provide the tools that are needed for budget transparency and accountability.

As State Treasurer, Dylan will work to create and maintain a publicly available digital budget dashboard. This dashboard will use modern technology to help you connect the dots for public finance. It shouldn’t require a master's degree in policy just to understand where our state’s taxes are coming from and how they are spent. Current financial information and resources are written for lawyers and legislative staffers, not for everyday Wisconsinites that are trying to keep the government accountable. The people of our state deserve an unfiltered look into the way our money flows to our most important services and sectors.

1. Clarity on the Systems That Impact us Today

Through careful planning and citizen involvement, Wisconsinites can come together to move our economy forward. But right now, our broken funding rules, overlapping levels of government, and outdated laws are getting in the way of that. Our systems in Wisconsin are so confusing that most people don’t even know where to start to make a change. As Treasurer, Dylan will be dedicated to explaining how the current rules impact Wisconsinites.

In today's world, there is a never-ending fire hose of information, takes, and gotcha moments. And in Wisconsin, it always seems like we are in the middle of election season. We need leadership that works to make government and policy accessible and understandable. As Treasurer, Dylan will use his experience in local and state government to keep you “in the know”.

“Treasurer’s Guides to the System”

Under Dylan’s leadership, the Treasurer’s Office will be a trusted source of clear, jargon-free, and reliable information. Our “Guides to the System” will support Wisconsinites in understanding the current laws and systems impacting their money. Dylan believes that a system can only be “for the people” if the people can clearly judge its performance. He will work to strip away the confusion, explain complexity, and shine a light on broken policies so that you can understand what is happening. Knowledge is power, and it is time to empower Wisconsin voters. The people must be in control of their own government, and that starts with understanding it.

Topics will include areas such as:

The Equalization Aid Formula for school funding
School District Revenue Limits
Minimum Wage and inflation
Property Tax and why they have been increasing
General Purpose Revenue
Agricultural Land Use and Markets
Childcare and Family Leave protections
Housing Development and Prices
Local EMS funding
Payday Loans in Wisconsin
The Unclaimed Property Program
Board of Commissioners of Public Lands

Topics will include areas such as:

The Equalization Aid Formula for school funding
School District Revenue Limits
Minimum Wage and Inflation
Property Tax and why they have been increasing
General Purpose Revenue
Agricultural Land Use and Markets

Childcare and Family Leave protections
Housing Development and Prices
Local EMS Funding
Payday Loans in Wisconsin
The Unclaimed Property Program
Board of Commissioners of Public Lands

Government Transparency

As State Treasurer, Dylan will work tirelessly to provide clarity and understanding for voters who want accountability and change. He will focus on:

How our systems of finance and policy work today
How our state budget impacts communities and families
New solutions that can move our state forward

School Funding

Moving Away From Over-taxing Property Owners

Funding our basic services, like education, on the backs of property owners is fundamentally unfair. Over the last few decades, the state legislature has pushed more and more of the tax burden for key services onto the property tax. We need to return to a fairer system of financing education. This means lower property taxes, and a state income tax that has the wealthiest in our state pay their fair share.

For many families in Wisconsin their home is the only property they own. So when the property tax bill arrives, there is no magic investment or realty account that they can pull from. Over the last decades, the state legislature has pushed more of the costs of education to property taxes. At the same time, they have drastically reduced income taxes for the highest earners in the state. Rising property taxes are pushing retirees out of the communities they helped to build and are stopping young families from being able to purchase a home. Wisconsin started this process back in the 1980s, when the state government began reducing taxes on the wealthiest residents of the state. The evidence is clear: that change has hurt our communities. Education is an investment into a future that benefits us all. We must fund our public schools. And to do that, we must return to a tax system that ensures the wealthy are paying just like the rest of us.

State Aid Based on Real Student Needs

Wisconsin’s school funding formula is broken. We need a system for funding public education that meets our constitutional requirement to provide all kids with a quality education. We must fund our public schools in a way that focuses on what resources kids need, and not on cookie-cutter estimates.

Right now, public school finance in Wisconsin treats most students as if they have all the same strengths and challenges. We know that is not the case. Each student comes to public schools with different areas where they excel and where they need extra help. Yet, our funding formula for state aid doesn’t take that into consideration. In fact, our current system cares more about land values and student counts than the true needs of our kids. A formula built in the 70’s is just too out of date to serve our state. We need a state aid formula and funding that reliably and fairly considers the diverse needs of our students including: English Language Learners, Students with Special Needs, and Students from Economically Disadvantaged Communities.

Replacing Revenue Limits

The logic of school revenue limits has fallen apart, and now school districts are being pushed to the brink due to decisions they cannot control. We must replace these fundamentally unfair limits with a fair and standard way to build school budgets.

New: A school’s Revenue Limit is the per-student maximum that a school can spend on education. They were introduced in the 1990s as a way to keep school spending in check. But ever since 2009, the legislature has not allowed revenue limits to rise with the rate of inflation. That means that schools have had to do more with less for over a decade. That failure is made worse due to wildly different revenue limits between districts. Certain districts are allowed to spend thousands of dollars more per-student than others, just because that is how it was in the 90’s. It has long been time to end these broken revenue limits and replace them with a system that treats communities and students equally.

Priorities in Action: Fixing Wisconsin’s School Funding System

Wisconsin’s school funding system is outdated and unfair. For decades, the state has pushed more costs onto local taxpayers, leaving communities dependent on property tax hikes and endless referenda just to keep schools running. Quality education for all students is not just a priority in this state, it’s a constitutional promise. To achieve this, we must replace damaging levy limits, reform how state aid to schools is calculated, and finance education with a fairer tax system. Fixing school funding strengthens every community and ensures every child, no matter their ZIP code, has access to a great public education.

State Trust Funds

Protecting and Growing the School Trusts Funds

As Treasurer, Dylan will work to safeguard and grow the Common and Normal School Trust Funds to ensure public schools and universities get the reliable funding they deserve. This includes continuing to pursue effective management of the remaining forestry lands and the Trust Fund Loan program.

The State Treasurer is one of three voting members on the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. The Board is the oldest state agency and manages over $1.6 billion in assets and over 75,000 acres of School Trust Lands. These assets are used annually to invest in Wisconsin’s public school libraries and the UW System. Thanks to over 170 years of continual stewardship, these funds deliver tens of millions of dollars to Wisconsin’s communities every year. These trusts and lands must be protected from political meddling and big money interests. As Treasurer, Dylan will protect the Board’s assets to ensure our communities get the support they need.

Dylan will use his experience from the Teacher’s Retirement Board of Wisconsin and his experience as a rural village trustee to guide his oversight as Treasurer. He will ensure that public forestry lands are well-managed and productive so that more money can be invested into the trust funds. He will also ensure that the Board uses sound strategy in its investments so that all Wisconsin communities benefit from our public trusts.