On The Ballot: 80 School District Referenda

School Districts Requesting $1.6 Billion

72 school districts throughout Wisconsin want voters to approve $1.6 billion in referendum requests in the Nov. 3^rd election.

But some school districts are putting more than one referendum on voters' ballots, asking for both greater operations funding and debt issuance. That brings the total number of school district referendum "questions" this year to 80. The seven districts with multiple referenda––Brown Deer, Greenfield, Little Chute, Lodi, Princeton, Unity, and Waunakee––together account for 19% of total funding requests, or about $310 million.

While the total dollar amount for the year is $1.6 billion, $802 million of that is in the form of debt. That means that if these referenda are approved, school district funding will increase by at least $1.6 billion, but the actual amount taxpayers would end up paying is much, much higher.

Recurring, Non-Recurring, and Debt Referendums

$802 million of the requests (50%) are to “issue debt.” That’s just the amount the districts want to borrow. It does not include interest. If approved, taxpayers end up paying a lot more than the referendum amount because their taxes must not only cover the principal amount of that debt, but also the interest.

$40 million of the requests (2.5%) are for “recurring" referenda. That means these referenda would increase districts' annual tax levy by $40 million. It is impossible to add up exactly how much extra taxpayers would end up paying if those referenda pass, but voters who approve a $5 million recurring referendum (the average request) will pay an additional $20 million in taxes over four years. Over a child's entire career in the public school system (13 years), that's an additional $65 million for the school district.

The bottom line is this: while the dollar amount of recurring referenda may seem low (usually only a few million bucks), if passed, these result in permanent increases in school district funding. If a school district is currently authorized to collect $100 million from taxpayers and a $1 million recurring referendum passes, that district can now collect $101 million from taxpayers every year thereafter.

Finally, $776 million of the requests (48%) are for “non-recurring" referenda. This is the only dollar amount stated in the referendum questions that you can take to the bank (or rather the school districts can take to the bank). Each question states how many years the district would increase its tax levy for and how much it plans to collect over that time period. You have to divide the requested amount by the number of years in the question to calculate the per year amount.

So for example, this year Janesville School District is requesting $98 million in a four-year nonrecurring referendum. If it passes, JSD taxpayers would pay an additional $24.5 million in taxes for four years ($98 million / 4 years), but then school district taxes would revert to their pre-referendum level.

School District Referenda Data

Below is an interactive spreadsheet of every school district going to referendum on November 3rd. Scroll down to check whether your school district is going to referendum.

The table includes the type of referendum, the amount being requested, the duration of the referendum, and a brief description of the referendum's purpose.

Rows highlighted in gray identify districts with multiple referenda. Cells highlighted in orange identify debt issuance referenda. Cells highlighted in red identify recurring referenda.

A summary table appears at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

If you are having trouble viewing the spreadsheet on your mobile device or would like to view the spreadsheet in a new tab, click HERE.

If you would like to view the raw data yourself, visit DPI's Wisconsin School Finance Public Reports webpage (HERE) and click on "School District Referenda Report," or, click HERE.