Wisconsin Heights enters final stretch for referendum pitch

The die was cast for Wisconsin Heights taxpayers back in the fall of 1993 when the Wisconsin Legislature passed Act 16, which placed restrictions on the revenue a school district is entitled to receive each year from state sources and local property taxes. The 91st Wisconsin Legislature, with Wisconsin Heights’ interests represented by Assemblyperson and then Majority Leader David Travis. In the Senate, Russ Feingold vacated his seat to become U.S. Senator, and the Heights area was unrepresented for a few months until Democrat Joe Wineke was elected. Republican Tommy Thompson was Governor. The Country was entering a recession that year, and governments were tightening their belts. The State wanted to reign in what they perceived as surge in local property tax levies, so they passed Act 16 which restricted those levies, but promised the state would provide two-thirds of school funding—the so-called “three-legged stool of school finance.” In 2003 Democratic Governor Jim Doyle and the Legislature would abandon that two-thirds pledge. Since then, school funding in Wisconsin has been irretrievably broken, as it is based on a promise no longer fulfilled by the state. School districts are left to come up with what the state doesn’t pay. How much does the state pay in the Wisconsin Heights School District? About 20 percent. That’s far less than what was promised in 1993—66 percent. So Wisconsin Heights, and many of its fellow districts in the same position, are left to using operating referenda to make up the shortfall. Why is the state aid so low in Wisconsin Heights? Because land values in the Wisconsin Heights area—the Driftless Area—are high, according to the State’s formulae. The state’s formula dictates that if land values are high, a district is to tax its landowners for revenue, and receive less from the State.  What does Wisconsin Heights spend per student, compared to other districts? The district is among the lowest spending districts in the state per student, spending near the state minimum. Yet from that frugal spending Wisconsin Heights academics excels, scoring 78.5 on the State Department of Instruction’s Report card, besting local districts Middleton-Cross Plains at 77.2, Mount Horeb at 73.6, River Valley at 71.7, and Sauk Prairie at 61.7. How much is Wisconsin Heights asking for? The ballot question will ask if the district can exceed the revenue limit by $3.2 million for four years, or alternatively, $12.8 million total. Over the past five years the district has been getting by on a 5-year, $2.2 million a year operational referendum passed in 2019. This 5-year source of funding will come to an end this year. The new 4-year, $3.2 million a year operating referendum will replace this funding. The extra $1 million a year in the new operating referendum is due to inflation in operating costs such as transportation, salaries, utilities, and maintenance. Didn’t the district just go to a referendum? The last operating referendum, like the one being proposed, was in 2019, for five years. It is expiring. In the fall of 2020, the district passed am initial $27 million capital referendum to create the single campus building. In the spring of 2021, a capital referendum for a new auditorium failed. What happens if the referendum fails? If the vote fails, Wisconsin Heights will see revenues drop by $2.2 million a year, at minimum, as that is the amount of the expiring operating referendum that isn’t being replaced. A $2.2 million shortfall on a budget that averages $10 million a year is a 20 percent cut in funding. Class sizes would most likely increase, programs would have to be cut, among other things, and athletics and other programs could be curtailed. Retaining good staff would be even more difficult. When the board made the decision to go to referendum last year, they knew they could face voter fatigue. They knew they could face opposition to higher taxes. They weighed the risks against the needs and decided the best path forward for the school district was the operating referendum. And there has been some pushback. As Interim District Administrator Craig Gerlach makes his way to village and town board meetings across the area to explain, elected officials about higher property taxes and less state aid and increasing costs too. At listening sessions, the district has been holding about the referendum, Gerlach has heard from property owners that taxes are just too high. One suggestion was to wait for potential legislation to pass, which is supposed to modify the school funding formula. Instead of a four-year referendum, pass a one-year stopgap referendum and hope the legislation passes. But as Gerlach pointed out, any changes to the school funding formula will end up with winners and losers, and because of that he feels the status quo is here to stay. The reside said the district could rely on its fund balance in case of a shortfall. Gerlach pointed out the district needs that fund balance as both a safety net and as a way to pay bills between revenue payments. A detailed article on the tax impact of the referendum will follow in a few weeks. The next in-person listening session hosted by Gerlach will be on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at 6:00 p.m., in the Step Room.