The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) is providing a useful tool to inform voters about how the upcoming school referenda questions on the November ballot can affect their bottom line. WILL’s calculator was developed with data from local school districts via information available online and open records requests. Gathering that data also showcased some of the shortfalls in accountability and transparency that exist at the local level related to ballot referenda.  

The Quotes: WILL Senior Research Analyst, Noah Diekemper, remarked, “WILL is helping voters make an educated decision about the upcoming referenda on the November ballot. In this work, we discovered some major transparency issues with how local governments communicate with their constituents. It has become very clear to us that more work needs to be done to protect taxpayers.”  

Additional Background: This November, school district referenda are putting a grand total of $4,284,530,513.00 on the ballot. Voters typically hear from their school districts about what the expenses are needed for, but specific information about what that would mean to their taxes might be buried or not explained at all. 

At least eight of the referenda include the word “athletic,” suggesting the purpose of the referendum is something beyond the core academic functions of the school district. Others are described in such an ambiguous way that it is difficult to understand what the district plans to do with the money. 

For example, the description of a referendum in Ithaca states: “Resolution providing for a referendum election on the question of the approval of a resolution authorizing the school district budget to exceed the revenue limit by $1,300,000 per year for four years for non-recurring purposes.” What those “purposes” are is apparently left completely to the imagination of district leadership. 

School districts continue to rationalize the need for so many referenda with the claim that spending has not kept up with inflation. But when inflation is factored in, the reality is we are spending more than we did twenty-five years ago.  

Transparency: Voters have the right to decide if education spending should increase through the referendum process, but this relies on full transparency to ensure taxpayers know exactly what they are voting on. Several school districts required open records requests and repeated follow-ups before this important data became available. Others never responded. 

Read More:  

• Analysis: More Property Taxes to Come? WILL Informs Wisconsin Property Taxpayers About Upcoming Referenda, October 2024  

• Piercing the Fog: Shedding Light on School District Referenda in Wisconsin, April 2024