This rural WI school district has a creative idea to help the childcare crisis and school funding issues

But they’ll need ‘yes’ votes on Nov. 5 to make it work.

When the dust settles on the Nov. 5 election, Wisconsin voters will have decided in nearly half of all school districts in the state, whether or not to help fund new projects or maintain the level of current services.

That’s because more than 190 of Wisconsin’s 421 school districts have had referendums on the ballot already this year, or will have in November. 

Back in April, 62 Wisconsin school districts had referendum elections. And last year, it was the same story. And the year before that. And so on. 

Referendums ask voters in a school district to choose to raise their property taxes in order to help the district pay for things like broken bathrooms and teacher and staff paychecks. They’re so common in Wisconsin these days because of three critical points in recent history that every taxpayer should know about.

Two Problems—One Creative Solution

Photo courtesy: Lincoln School District

Before looking at those, let’s take a look at one referendum that’s a little different than the others this election season.  

Referendums typically fund things like new boilers or bringing old gymnasiums up to code. But one of the two referendums in rural Jackson County this November is to help fund a project that could bring more taxpayer dollars to town—and keep existing folks from moving away.

“We’re trying to come at this and bring a solution to a problem that every small town is facing right now—which is a changing demographic,” said Drew Semingson, superintendent of the Lincoln School District. “It’s harder for young families to move to communities that don’t have childcare infrastructure in place. So we see this as a partnership with our community.”

The Lincoln School District serves the Alma Center, Humbird, and Merrillan communities. Voters who live there will see a question on their ballots Nov. 5, asking them to approve a capital referendum to build a childcare center onto the elementary school in Merrillan. If approved, there will be no change to the tax mill rate for voters.

Semingson said losing kids to other school districts is costly, and they’ve too often seen parents move to other areas where childcare is more available.

Read more: The WI childcare crisis explained—including what everyday Wisconsinites can do to force a change

Offering childcare is a long-term plan that keeps families in town, keeps kids in their schools, and makes the district an attractive place for new families considering a move to the area.

“Over the last five years, we’re going to be down around 50 kids, and if each kiddo is worth about $11,500 in state funding, you can see where that really starts to tank a budget,” Semingson said.

Administrators aren’t expecting taxpayers to foot the whole bill, either. They’ve done some creative thinking to fund about half the construction through a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant, by designing the childcare center to also serve as a storm or emergency shelter. Semingson said they’re likely to win the grant—and anticipates about $3 million in FEMA funding for the project. 

“They really like a grant application like ours that says the secondary purpose is solving a crisis in our community, which is childcare,” he said. “It’s not for a gym, it’s not for a fitness center—it’s for childcare.”

Photo courtesy: Lincoln School District

How We Got Here

Those three critical moments in history referenced above? Here they are:

1. Summer 2023: A new education budget is rendered ineffective due to the wealthy Republican agenda. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers increased school funding to the tune of $1 billion. It sounds like a lot of money—and Evers has been fighting for every penny since he took office in 2019. But the only way he could get the bill signed by the state’s Republican-majority Legislature was to connect any dollars for public schools to dollars for private schools and independent charter schools (which can discriminate when choosing who they take as students). So if education funding in Wisconsin is a big pie, public schools are getting just a tiny slice. “What people forget is every time we have a budget for public schools, our money for vouchers goes up too and so there’s almost nothing different than last time,” Evers said in a story by the Wisconsin Examiner.
   What’s notable: All 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly are up for election on Nov. 5. Currently, 64 seats are occupied by Republicans—who generally favor private and charter school vouchers—and 35 by Democrats, who generally favor funding public schools with public tax dollars. Find who and what is on your ballot here.
2. Spring 2021: Republicans take free money from public schools. Wisconsin received $1.5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief aid specifically for schools to use to help kids catch up from pandemic learning loss. Republicans, however, decided that money should go into the state’s general coffers instead, and passed a budget with absolutely no increase in per-pupil aid for two years.
   
3. Great Recession of 2009: Republican leaders separate caps on tax levies from inflation. Prior to the Great Recession, there was a cap on how much districts could request from local taxpayers in referendums, which was linked to the amount of inflation each year. That forced the state government to get serious about how to fund public schools from the state’s budget. But after 2009, Republicans removed that cap—fast- forward to today, when students get $3,300 less than they should per kid per year from the state. In 2002, Wisconsin ranked 11th in the nation for per-pupil spending. In 2021, it ranked 25th, and was even worse for rural districts, at 39th in the nation. As of 2024, state education funding has not kept up with inflation for 16 years. 

Read more: Wisconsin daycares could serve 33,000 more kids