Tax transparency proposal would itemize for taxpayers how much money supports vouchers
Last year, taxpayers in the Appleton Area School District spent over $9 million, or roughly 11% of its total property tax levy, to fund private and parochial school vouchers. Homeowners are not aware of that breakdown because those costs are lumped into the overall public school district levy.
That is apparently about to change. Mayor Jake Woodford is seeking endorsement from the Appleton Common Council on Oct. 7 to proceed with a tax transparency proposal that would itemize the cost of private school vouchers on city property tax bills.
The resolution was initially submitted to the Finance Committee by Alders Denise Fenton and Vered Meltzer, where it passed on a 3-1 vote.
“Throughout my time as an alderperson in the City of Appleton, I have been proud of Appleton's transparency regarding the city budget and the tax levy,” said Fenton. “Without the proposed change to Appleton's tax bills, we have no visibility to the portion of our tax dollars that are being diverted away from the public schools toward private voucher schools, whose budgets and spending are not freely available to the public.”
This proposal was spurred by a resolution from the Appleton Area School District Board of Education requesting that municipalities in the AASD area “include a line-item stating the amount of the AASD levy withheld from the AASD to fund voucher and independent charter school payments.”
All municipalities that fall within the Appleton Area School District can choose to vote to add the line item, including the City of Appleton, Town of Grand Chute, City of Menasha, Village of Little Chute, Village of Harrison, and Village of Fox Crossing.
The Grand Chute Town Board will be considering the proposal on Oct. 6.
Green Bay was the first city to add a direct line-item note onto the actual tax bill in 2025. Additional municipalities that have either itemized the voucher cost on the tax bill or included an insert include Kaukauna, Two Rivers, Milwaukee, and Racine.
Several other school districts, including Freedom, Neenah, Menasha, Ashland, and Manitowoc, have pushed or passed resolutions requesting their local city councils to do the same.
“I support tax transparency on property tax bills,” said Appleton resident Jane Parish Yang. “With state aid to public education stuck at historic lows and more and more schools resorting to referendums, it is more important than ever that taxpayers are informed about the amount of their property taxes being diverted to private voucher schools.”
The total cost of voucher and independent (non-district) charter programs in the 2025-2027 biennial budget is more than $1.8 billion statewide. You can view costs for individual school districts on this website.
