Priorities in Action: Defending Public Education
Wisconsin’s school funding system is outdated and unfair.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.
A Leader Who Acts
Dylan rallied the school boards of Wisconsin to demand the Special Education funding our students and communities were promised. After many long nights of work, 93% of the voting school boards supported Dylan’s resolution calling for that necessary funding.
After learning that the state budget would drastically underfund the special education funding promise made to schools, Dylan got to work. He led his hometown school board to unanimously recommend an emergency resolution to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards conference. This resolution made a simple demand: The state must keep its promises to local communities and our state’s students. Across the state, districts were facing surprise budget shortages, months after kids were already in class.
Dylan worked tirelessly to draft the resolution and build a coalition to support it. In the end, the resolution passed with firm support from 93% of voting school boards. This resolution brought leaders from rural, urban, liberal, and conservative districts together to speak with one voice.
When we focus on our common ideals, Wisconsinites still come together to do what is right. We need a leader as State Treasurer who knows how to find those areas of agreement, and how to turn them into action and change.
Dylan has endorsements from School Board members, presidents, and leaders from across the State and the political spectrum. They know that Dylan fights for Wisconsin public schools and our communities.
Dylan is the Wisconsin public education candidate.
Stability in School Funding
The Common School Trust fund of $1.6 billion delivers stable funding for our public school libraries every year. All parts of our funding system for public schools should provide that type of stability for our communities. Yet, our current funding system comes with more surprises than solutions.
Right now, each year can be a different story for districts in Wisconsin. Last school year, 2025-2026, over 70% of school districts received less state support than the prior year. Dylan’s own school district, where he serves on the school board, received over $400,000 less than the prior year. Schools only learn about those shortfalls a few months before classes start.
When the state fails to deliver, property taxes rise. Property taxes are a fundamentally unfair way to fund a critical, basic service such as public education. Our schools are the foundation for our communities. We need a funding system that gives schools the resources they need without surprises or pushing property tax payers to the brink.
The Common School Trust fund is an example of how we can use public power for the public good. It was created in our Wisconsin constitution! We have used public power for the public good before, and we need to do it again. That way, we can deliver stable, quality public education to kids in every zip code in Wisconsin
Reforming the Broken Funding System
We need to return to a fairer system of financing education. This means lower property taxes and a state income tax that makes sure everyone pays their fair share, including the wealthiest in our state. Ever since our state went down the “trickle-down economics” route, we have not been able to fund our schools without unfair property taxes. 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.
Our current funding formula for schools was created in the 1990’s. It doesn’t work for 21st century Wisconsin. 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, and rural transportation costs.