Education

La Crosse schools get state funding, as 52% of students are “economically disadvantaged”

Published

2 years ago

October 27, 2021

The La Crosse School District achieves a distinction it might prefer not to have.

The new district budget passed by the school board this week includes $337,000 in state aid set aside for “high poverty” school systems.

State figures show about 52% of students in the La Crosse School District are defined as “economically disadvantaged.” A district automatically gets the aid once it passes 50% of students at the poverty level.

By comparison, about 30% of Onalaska’s students are disadvantaged, and 23% in the Holmen district are at that same level.

Milwaukee has 86% of its public school students at the poverty level, while Madison is at 51%.

The state aid is designed to reduce a district’s tax levy.

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.