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Priority Legislative Alert – Sparsity Aid/Low Revenue Ceiling
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | January 23, 2018
The SAA is issuing a Priority Legislative Alert on Assembly Bill 835, relating to sparsity aid and the low revenue ceiling for school districts.
Assembly Bill 835 has been scheduled for public hearing before the Assembly Committee on Education this Thursday, January 25th at 10:00 am in Room 417 North, State Capitol. The SAA supports the bill. However, we do have concerns about the provision of the bill that prevents a school district from utilizing the low revenue adjustment if, during the three prior school years, an operating referendum failed in the district.
See Public Hearing Notice here.
We urge SAA members to take action now! Please contact your legislators and ask them to support AB 835. The SAA will also advocate for removing the “failed referendum” provision. At the very least we believe the effective date of the provision should be modified to focus on future operating referenda.
AB 835 does the following:
- Beginning in 2018-19, school districts that qualify for sparsity aid would receive $400 per pupil, an increase of $100 per pupil. The bill would provide additional sparsity aid funding of $6,454,600 in 2018-19.
- The low revenue ceiling would increase from the current $9,100 to $9,400 per pupil in 2018-19 and increase an additional $100 per pupil in each successive year until it reached $9,800 per pupil in 2022-23 and each year thereafter.
- Provides that a school district may not utilize the low revenue adjustment if, during the three prior school years, an operating referendum failed in the school district. After three years have passed, the district could then utilize the applicable low revenue ceiling amount for that year, if eligible.
In your communication please consider using the talking points listed below as well as any of your own thoughts about the bill based on your experiences and expertise. Make sure you share with your legislators what the additional sparsity aid and /or revenue cap authority under the bill would mean for your district and especially for the students you serve.
Sparsity Aid Talking Points:
- In 2017-18, 144 districts qualified for sparsity aid, with aid prorated at 98.8% (about $297) of the $300 per pupil appropriated under current law.
- The sparsity aid program was designed to address the significant operational challenges faced by small, rural districts in Wisconsin. These challenges include relatively large geographic size and distance from neighboring schools, the impact of declining enrollment and the resulting larger per pupil costs to maintain operations.
- Data also suggests that districts with the lowest student population density are among the districts with the lowest average income
- These districts also tend to have high poverty rates and high pupil transportation costs.
Low Revenue Adjustment Talking Points:
- School revenue limits were imposed by the state in 1993-94 and have been in place for 25 years.
- Frugal, low-spending districts were “locked in” to low per pupil revenue limits at their inception.
- Some districts have passed referenda to increase their revenue limit authority, but many others have found it difficult to do so, resulting in a widening revenue limit gap among districts throughout the state.
- Use of the low revenue ceiling is not required; it is an option for districts to utilize.
- The low revenue ceiling is the mechanism for low spending districts to narrow the disparity with the highest spending districts in Wisconsin.
- No school districts are eligible for the low revenue adjustment in the current school year.
- The educational opportunities afforded to every child in Wisconsin should not be determined by their zip code. An improved low revenue ceiling policy in Wisconsin is an important part of ensuring equitable resources for all children no matter where they live.
- The current low revenue ceiling of $9,100 per pupil has now fallen to 86.2% of the statewide average revenue limit per pupil. Quite frankly, that is too low for a state that considers its school funding system equitable for all children.
“Failed Referendum” Talking Points:
- The “retroactive” portion of this provision is estimated to affect the following nine districts in 2018-19: Bonduel, Cameron, Chilton, Darlington Community, Freedom, Gillett, Howard-Suamico, Osceola, and Southern Door County.
- There are nine additional school districts with referenda that are slated for this spring (2018).
- The low revenue ceiling was designed, at least in part, to provide a state-determined level of per pupil resources for those districts that have found it difficult to pass operating referenda.
- Once again, the educational opportunities afforded to every child in Wisconsin should not be determined by their zip code.
- One could argue that the voters in these districts did not have all the information about the high-stakes nature of their operating referendum.
- At the very least, the effective date of this provision should be modified to remove the retroactivity and to accommodate referenda that are already in the pipeline for this spring.
For your convenience in contacting your legislators, we have provided links to the Assembly Directory, the Senate Directory and Who Are My Legislators.
If you should have any questions please email me. Thanks for listening and, as always, thank you for everything you do on behalf of Wisconsin school children.
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