I saw an article that said the of the 30 first world countries US ranked 19th in education.
Not what I would like to see. Money is not the
answer as we spend more than any country on schools.
US is declining at a very rapid pace.
What is to be done?

love how the world is full of selfish people who only think of themselves and not past the nose on their face... schools educate our future citizens. do you want them to be productive tax paying citizens, or a burden to our society?

For the peaple that do not want to pay school taxes . someone made sure you had a school to help you get ready for the real would.

willy, it is nice to read an objective post on here. Thank you. NCC, I am with you. It is only going to get worse now. Hold onto your hat, big wind (bags) are coming!

Why should the people that have no children pay any taxes for the Schools. This is not fair and these people should be exempt from this tax!

Superdave - actually the mill rates do decrease as property values increase. For several years during the "booming" economy, I saw decreases in school taxes. It is backwards....isn't it? Perhaps we should allow schools to raise taxes more in good economic times and less in rough times. Unfortunately, the revenue limits the state places on schools don't allow this more logical solution.

Red-pretty radical idea don't you think? While I'm all for population control measures in the US, your statement is not really a plausible solution at this time.

Easy solution - stop having childern. A tax break for every man and woman who undergo voluntary sterilization. No kids - no schools - no school taxes.

So...."part of the reason for the increase is a 3 percent drop in the value of property taxed".
Why is that fair? When property values go UP, taxpayers pay MORE. So when property values go DOWN, then we need to increase the rate to make up the difference? Then why bother to use a rate in the first place, why not just send everyone a bill for whatever the school districts deem necessary????

The people of Wisconsin need to totally change your elected officials. You don't even have a clue as to how much your government is taking you for a ride. I live in Indiana and my school tax rate is just a hair more than half what you are seeing. And don't try to play it off to better schools. My children all attended public schools. They were national merit scholars, are finishing up PhDs, are graduates of Duke, Princeton, Emory, and more. Each of the three have started successful businesses. And they received educations from schools which cost half as much per $1,000 valuation. Plus it is probably even worse than that price tag sounds because your property valuations are much higher too.

Wake up people and throw the incumbents out of office. All of them. You need to make a massive change. Your tax rates in other areas are just as bad. You are losing businesses and are on an unsustainable course.

It seems the more money we throw into education, the educational results are worse. How long before WI is the MS of the north?

One thing the article fails to mention: The state backing away from their promise to fund schools leaves holes in budgets that can only be filled by raising property taxes. Look for much more of the same under Walker. He plans to cut state aid, forcing schools and other local taxing agencies to raise taxes or cut services.

Typical school district crap. Close a school claiming "poverty" but plan to build a new school. ALL school district should learn to live on a budget. Taxpayers cannot afford the tax increases year after year.

Try +14.5% for the Parkview School District.
Oh, and they still do not have enough money and may have to close a school.
And they would also like to build a new school.
Go figure.
No, really go and figure.