The bills would:
Eliminate so-called recurring referendums for operating expenses — those that raise taxes indefinitely — and cap non-recurring referendums at five years.
Dock a district’s state aid by an amount equal to 20% of whatever it generates in an operating referendum. So, if voters approve, say, $5 million, they lose $1 million in aid.
Require all referendum questions be placed on a spring or fall general election.
Limit when school districts can decide to go to referendum. A school board could vote on an operating referendum only during a regularly scheduled board meeting, and on a debt issue only at the annual meeting where the tax levy is set.
Require districts to disclose the costs of debt service and interest payments on any debt issue.
And provide a 50% match for district funds placed in a long-term capital improvement trust fund, so-called Fund 46, to encourage cash financing of maintenance and construction projects.
Wisconsin school districts have increasingly turned to referendums — to raise operating funds and take on debt for capital projects — as their budgets were squeezed by a combination of revenue caps, declining enrollments and hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to state aid in recent years. Last year alone, voters agreed to borrow $1.35 billion for capital projects, 10 times more than in 2011 and the most since 1993, according to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Similarly, there were 71 requests to exceed revenue caps last year, up from an average 41 annually between 2009 and 2013.
Locally, Madison has turned to referendums a number of times, augmenting it’s $460M annual budget (about $18k/student).