School districts are slated to take significant cuts in state aid in the 2011-13 biennial budget. In addition, the proposed budget would require most school districts to reduce the amount of property tax revenue they raise within their districts.
The Wisconsin Budget Project devoted two blog posts this week (here and here) to a new report by a University of Wisconsin professor that explained how the reductions in general aid and the decrease in the revenue limit will affect districts. The budget proposes a decrease in districts’ revenue limits, which are the sum of general school aid from the state and property taxes raised at the local level. If the reduction in state aid is less than the reduction in the revenue limits, schools will have to cut property taxes to stay under the revenue limit. Here are some highlights from the Wisconsin Budget Project series of posts on this report:
- Poorer districts will be harder hit by the reduction in state general aid. Districts with less than 20 percent of their students eligible for free or reduced price school lunch will have an average general aid reduction of $378 per student, compared to $467 for schools with half or more of their students eligible.
- Wealthier districts will have to cut their property taxes more, unless they get approval through a local referendum to exceed their district’s cap. Getting such referenda approved is never easy, but the property-rich districts will probably fare better in that regard than poorer districts.
- The budget could be modified so that no school district would have to reduce its revenue limit by an amount greater than the reduction in general school aid.
The Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on general school aids and revenue limits on Thursday, May 19th; the Legislative Fiscal Bureau budget paper for this item is here.
