Public Expenditures on K-12 and Student Outcomes in Wisconsin Before and After Act 10

Junjie Guo and Ananth Seshadri

Executive Summary:

• Wisconsin’s K-12 education expenditures per pupil have been declining relative to
  
  other states both before and after 2011.
• In contrast, Wisconsin’s ranking in terms of student performance dropped before
  
  2011 but increased afterwards.
• The evidence suggests that Wisconsin’s Act 10 of 2011 improved the efficiency of
  
  the state’s public K-12 education system, allowing student performance to improve
  
  relative to other states despite a decline in Wisconsin’s ranking of K-12 education
  
  expenditures per pupil.
• Among other things, Act 10 limited the scope of salary negotiations to base pay,
  
  prevented unions from negotiating salary schedules and including them in collective
  
  bargaining agreements. This allowed school districts to set pay more flexibly and
  
  without union consent, detaching compensation from seniority and credentials.