MADISON —The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has launched an enhanced public platform for accessing school finance data. The public will be able to download, sort, search, and access information through the portal at no cost.

The new tool, known as the Wisconsin School Finance Public Reports (WiSFPR) dashboard, combines data collected from districts and schools through the State Aid Financial Reporting (SAFR) system, WISEdata Finance, and the Wisconsin School Finance Portal (WiSFiP). It continues the Department’s work of transitioning to reports based on WISEdata Finance submissions.

“This new tool will increase fiscal transparency and help Wisconsinites understand how their districts and schools operate financially,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jill Underly. “Building on our existing publicly available data systems, the WiSFPR dashboard will enhance the accessibility of our educational data to the public.”

Under 2021 Wisconsin Act 89, the DPI was tasked with developing a new online portal, using financial data collected from all school districts, county children with disabilities education boards (CCDEBs), and independent charter schools. Within the dashboard, visitors can access year-to-year and district-by-district data on:

school district referenda

tax levies by fund, equalized levy rates, and tax appointment

debt service payments and debt balances

shared cost comparisons

comparative revenue and cost reports

the status of required education agency reports

The new dashboard also converts reports into charts for visual representation of the data. In the future, the DPI will continue to build on this online public resource as funding permits. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the WiSFPR dashboard to learn more about how schools and districts serve students in their communities and across the state.