DPI director talks school funding at Northstar

Oct. 11—Eau Claire — An increasing number of rural school districts are losing enrollment across Wisconsin, and districts are seeing a higher number of students who identify as minorities, according to a state leader in education.

Tom McCarthy, executive director of the Office of the State Superintendent in the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, spoke Monday at Northstar Middle School about some of the challenges facing districts across the state, and the correlations between race, poverty, and academic performance.

In 2019, while only 19% of Wisconsin's population identified as people of color, 31% of Wisconsin's public school students identified as people of color, McCarthy said.

Additionally, statewide, nearly one in three school districts have student populations that are more than 50% economically disadvantaged.

McCarthy's speech was a community conversation hosted by the Wisconsin PTA and the Eau Claire School District. During a presentation before a group of 10 community members, including Eau Claire Superintendent Mike Johnson and school board Commissioner Stephanie Farrar, McCarthy explained how, with time, student poverty rates and enrollment growth have become less stratified across the state.

Between 2006 and 2012, the DPI found that poverty rates increased in rural areas, and decreased at major interstate convergence points and in UW System communities. Similarly, district enrollment rates decreased in rural areas, and increased at major transportation centers and around college towns.

The percent of districts with declining enrollment increased from 52% in 2006-2007 to 69% in 2020-2021. Today, McCarthy explained, 75% of Wisconsin students are located in just 30% of the state's school districts.

"It just goes to show that access to transportation matters," McCarthy said. "Having (Interstate) 94 in your backyard connects you to economic opportunities."

McCarthy noted that centers for industry have also seen enrollment growth, regardless of proximity to key interstate intersections and universities. He pointed to Abbotsford and Arcadia as key examples.

Why it matters

Based on state test performance from the 2018-2019 school year, the DPI found that students who are white and economically disadvantaged still tend to outperform students of color who are not economically disadvantaged in Wisconsin.

Per statewide Grade 3 language arts test results, 53% of economically disadvantaged white students tested proficient or advanced.

Thirty-eight percent of Hispanic, 32.4% of Indigenous, 51.2% of Asian, 30.6% of Black, 47.4% of Pacific Islander and 49.8% of multiracial students who are not economically disadvantaged tested proficient or advanced on that same test.

"What we are doing is trying to present culturally significant material to students, because what one kid may call something is not what somebody else calls that same exact thing," McCarthy said. "And then we base a standardized test on it and we get results that look like this. That's a problem."

The Eau Claire school district is predominantly white, at nearly 75%. Nearly 6% of Eau Claire students are multiracial, over 6% are Hispanic, nearly 10% are Asian, less than 3% are Black, 0.54% are Indigenous and only 0.22% are Pacific Islander.

According to welfareinfo.org, communities of color in Wisconsin experience poverty at higher rates than white communities, with 34.4% of Black, 18% of Asian and 24.8% of Hispanic Wisconsinites living below the poverty line. In contrast, only 9.2% of white Wisconsin residents live below the poverty line.

"Poverty correlates increasingly strongly with overall academic achievement," McCarthy said.

He explained how schools with higher rates of free or reduced lunches tend to strongly correlate with both higher poverty levels and lower academic test scores, and vice versa. In light of the clear connections between race, economic advantage and education, McCarthy said state schools need to start directing more efforts toward aiding more disadvantaged groups, because equity ultimately benefits everyone.

"I want to retire some day, and I want to live in a community that's going to take care of me," McCarthy said. "But if we're failing our youth of color, of disadvantage — and they are trending in the direction of being the majority of the state — I'm not sure I want to live in the state."