A new report found a growing disparity between the Wisconsin public school districts receiving the most and least amount of overall funding and experts said referendums are a major contributing factor.
School districts across the state are increasingly relying on operational referendums to cover basic expenses. Despite declining support amid property tax concerns, 61% of referendums still passed in the state’s spring election.
Sara Shaw, deputy research director for the Wisconsin Policy Forum, said a growing dependence on local tax revenue, combined with the current school funding system, is contributing to revenue inconsistencies which cannot be explained by differences in cost of living or student population.
"Something is happening to cause a widening gap that is increasingly putting some districts in a much stronger financial position and other districts in a really weak financial position," Shaw observed. "What we hope this report brings up is asking that question of why, and what do we do about it?"
Shaw emphasized while some funding differences are expected, increasing discrepancies suggest deeper structural problems are hindering schools. She argued the issue calls for examining both revenue and cost pressures.
Wisconsin’s funding system is operating on a model from the 1990s, which Shaw explained functioned relatively well until revenue limits stopped keeping pace with inflation. Now, rising costs, expiring federal aid, tight labor markets and declining enrollment continue to strain the system, creating both cost and revenue issues, accounting for an increase in referendum requests.
"Districts do have to manage their costs when they're facing declining enrollment, but that is not the whole of the picture here," Shaw emphasized. "These widening disparities point to something in the system not quite working the way policymakers intended."
Shaw stressed anything to open up the funding formula again will be a cause for large debate. As lawmakers continue to negotiate using the state’s general fund balance to provide school funding and property tax relief, a group of school districts and parents recently sued the Wisconsin Legislature, alleging it systemically underfunds K-12 school districts.
