Editor's note: This story was originally published on WisconsinWatch.org and shared with Wisconsin Newspaper Association members.

By Hallie Claflin

Wisconsin Watch

Come Nov. 5, nearly half of all Wisconsin school districts will have gone to referendum in 2024, asking for almost $6 billion in total from Wisconsin residents in districts scattered across the state.

At least 192 school districts — of the state’s 421 — will have posed 241 referendum questions to residents of their districts this year, according to data from the state Department of Public Instruction. That includes seven school districts that posed 10 questions in February, 86 districts that posed 93 questions in April, one district that posed one question in August, and at least 121 school districts that will pose some 137 questions to voters in November. (Some school districts ask voters to consider more than one referendum question on the same ballot.) 

The push from districts for additional funding comes as the debate over state aid for K-12 public schools has become central to many competitive legislative races. Lawmakers increased funding for public schools by $1 billion during the state’s most recent budget cycle, though that increase was tied to additional funding for public charter and private voucher schools. Gov. Tony Evers and legislative Democrats are likely to once again push for additional funding during budget negotiations next summer.

Federal pandemic relief funds that Wisconsin school districts have been able to spend since 2020 will expire this month. 

Voters approved 62 of the 103 school referendums on the primary and general election ballots this spring — a record number since at least 2000. The 60% approval rate was the lowest in a midterm or presidential election year since 2010, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Why are schools pushing to referendum?

As districts across the state grapple with declining enrollment, many are forced to close and consolidate schools in their district to cut back on costs, particularly operating expenses. The Kenosha Unified School District closed six of its schools this year due to declining enrollment after facing a $15 million deficit.

“Schools are funded based on the number of students we have, so as we have fewer students, our budget shrinks,” Kenosha Superintendent Jeffrey Weiss told Wisconsin Watch. 

Wisconsin’s per-pupil K-12 spending has increased at a lower rate than every other state in the nation besides Indiana and Idaho between 2002 and 2020, according to the Policy Forum.

Enrollment losses create conditions where costs exceed the per-pupil revenue available to the district. State law allows school districts to then go to referendum to ask their voters to authorize their district to exceed their revenue caps at the expense of property taxpayers. 

In 2009, the state Legislature decoupled per-pupil revenue limits from inflation. Without matching inflation, school districts have been slashing their budgets for years. 

“Keeping the revenue limit up with inflation is probably the biggest need that the district has,” Weiss said. “For 2025-26, we’re looking at another significant deficit.” 

The La Crosse School District’s November referendum is asking for $53.5 million to build a new elementary school and add new classrooms to another. The district would subsequently close multiple elementary schools and relocate students.

“Frankly, when you have fewer kids you need fewer buildings,” Superintendent Aaron Engel said. “Changing revenue limits isn’t going to change the need for school districts across the state, if they’re larger like ours, to close buildings and consolidate.”

Engel said tying the revenue limits to inflation was a great model, and the gap between inflationary increases and what they are provided is now over $3,000 per student. That represents $18 million in lost revenue over the last 16 years. This significantly affects the district’s ability to operate its schools, he said.

Declining enrollment

There are multiple factors contributing to declining enrollment in schools, one of the largest being declining birth rates. But housing shortages in some districts like La Crosse have also made matters worse.

Much of the housing being built in La Crosse is multifamily or medium-density housing, according to Engel. The district has found that multifamily housing generates far fewer school-aged children than single-family housing.

“There isn’t really space for new housing or single-family homes,” Engel said. “With declining birth rates and people having fewer kids in their households — naturally, with the same level of housing — our enrollment has declined.”

Private school vouchers and open enrollment have also contributed to declining enrollment, Engel said. The use of open enrollment in Wisconsin has increased over the last decade.

How will candidates for office address it? 

Seven-term Rep. Steve Doyle — a Democrat seeking reelection in the La Crosse area — said that having to push to referendum “is the worst way to do it” and that funding public schools shouldn’t be left up to the property taxpayers. 

“It’s really kind of a stab in the back when we’re having to approve a referendum that we know needs to be passed, but it really is covering something that the state should be covering,” Doyle said. 

Last year Doyle co-authored a bill that would have allowed public schools with failed referendums to benefit from the state’s increased revenue limits.

But Rep. Tom Michalski — a Republican from Elm Grove seeking a second term — said the issue in Wauwatosa’s school district isn’t funding, and “the billion dollars that we’re giving out … demonstrates that.”

The Wauwatosa School District will go to both capital and operational referendum this November, totaling $124.4 million. The district is expected to face a $9.3 million deficit this school year.

“I don’t think raising taxes is ever popular, but the citizens of Wauwatosa need to question what they’re getting for their money,” Michalski said of referendums in the district. “If the school has dropped in its performance over the past years, they should really look at where the money is going.”

Since the school district is “on the decline,” parents have every right to send their kids to a private school, Michalski said. If Wauwatosa schools can’t compete, “that is their problem.” 

Last year, Michalski co-sponsored legislation passed as part of a compromise between Republicans and Evers that raised revenue ceilings for public schools and increased tax funding for private voucher schools at the same time.

— Jack Kelly contributed reporting to this story. Forward is a look ahead at the week in Wisconsin government and politics from the Wisconsin Watch statehouse team.