Wisconsin public school districts are mainly funded by a combination of state money and local property taxes. The state aid that school districts receives has not, since 2010, increased to cover inflation. In fact, that gap has increased to $3,380 per student—or around $1.18 million for LCSD per year.
That means most districts require more money from local taxpayers to operate. Because districts are limited by their revenue limits, in order to receive additional local money, they must ask to increase these revenue limits through operational referendum.
Additionally, beginning in September 2024, Federal COVID-19 pandemic aid (ESSER funds) were no longer available to schools.
Unless the school funding formula and state funding changes, it's likely that operational referendums will continue to be more common. The Wisconsin Policy Forum study found that school districts asked voters to sign off on a record 241 referenda, eclipsing the old record of 240 set in 1998. The referenda sought a total of $5.9 billion, a new record ask. The old record was $3.3 billion set in 2022.
