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Spring Election Sees Lowest Passage Rate for School District Referendums Statewide in the Past Decade

Tuesday, April 18th, 2023 -- 12:01 PM

(AnnMarie Hilton, Appleton Post-Crescent) -This spring’s election saw the lowest passage rate for school district referendums statewide in over a decade.

According to AnnMarie Hilton with the Appleton Post-Crescent, for the past few elections, voters overwhelmingly supported referendums, approving 80% of them last year across the state in both April and November.

But this spring’s election told a different story. Wisconsin voters approved a little over half of the 83 referendums on ballots earlier this month, according to an aggregated list of school district referendums across the state from the Department of Public Instruction.

Researchers from the Wisconsin Policy Forum told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin this is the lowest passage rate for school district referendums in over a decade. “One concern we have is if this is the beginning of a downward trend in support for those referendums,” said Dan Rossmiller, director of government relations for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.

School districts won't have another chance to go to referendum until spring 2024, so Rossmiller said some districts may now be left with tough choices to make. Referendum dollars can help a district with construction projects, staffing costs or buying new technology, and Rossmiller said many districts go to referendum for maintenance needs.

Last year, eight in 10 school district referendums were passed, which a report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum said was the third highest since 2000, behind only 2018 and 2020.

Twenty years ago, fewer than a quarter of referendums passed, said Jason Stein, vice president and research director for Wisconsin Policy Forum, so this election’s passage rate of about 55% was still more than double that, although still significantly lower than last year.

Ari Brown, senior research associate for the Wisconsin Policy Forum, said odd number years have seen comparatively lower passage rates since about the mid 2010s, but this year was still even lower than 2021, for example, which dipped to 60%.

This April’s total dollar amount of almost $650 million statewide is much lower than recent years when districts have seen record high referendum dollars flowing in:

  • April 2020: $1.74 billion,
  • November 2022: $1.7 billion,
  • November 2018: $1.3 billion,
  • November 2016: $984 million,
  • November 2020: $945 million,
  • And April 2022: $860 million.

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